We had never been to Cincinnati, OH before & were just driving around looking at the sites. The city wasn't very warm & welcoming, but we stopped at the Fire Museum. We parked in the adjacent parking lot & asked the lady at the museum where we should park since it was labeled at a monthly rate. She told us to move the car to the front of the building. It was labeled a tow away zone all along that street until 4pm. We moved the car & decided that just didn't seem right so we parked in the library parking lot taking the handicap space. The lady at the museum met us at the door & told us to move our car or it would be towed. She reiterated that she said to park in front. I told her the signs clearly state no parking 10am-4pm. She said she knows but she wouldn't tell us to park there if it wasn't the place to park. We moved our car & went into the museum. We would have enjoyed the museum much more if it hadn't been for the parking situation. We felt we needed to hurry & get out of the no parking zone.

Overall, the museum was very informative & had a lot to show about the history of firefighting & we were very surprised they had a paid professional fire company in 1853! We took lots of pictures & did enjoy the museum.

It would have been a real asset for them to have a better parking situation. To have one or two spaces in some parking lot would probably be enough, but somewhere should be designated as Museum parking. If you can legally park in front of the building, a sign stating that would have been appreciated.

$8 adults, $6 for seniors, children & veterans, free for under 6 yrs.

Learn about fire prevention and the history of fire fighters in the US. 20 minute film, old working models of stream pumpers, wagons, tour the house set up in the basement to see how to deal with home fires. Great for families even with young kids!

We usually try to get to a fire museum when we're on vacation so we decided to check this one out. They have some very interesting old pieces including the last Ahrens-Fox ever built, which makes sense since Ahrens-Foxes were built in Cincinnati. They also have several hose wagons, old hand pumpers, and antique aerial apparatus. They also tell the history of the Cincinnati Fire Department, which we learned is the oldest paid fire department in the country. Well worth a visit!

Be sure to start your tour viewing the video in the basement level, as it provides an excellent history of Cincinnati's experience and influence on fire fighting locally and internationally! There is a reasonable array of past fire fighting equipment, but not current, and would have been even better with an exhibit of a regular firehall with a sliding pole.