Fire Museum to Host FREE Community Hero Day

Aurora, IL – The Aurora Regional Fire Museum will host our Third Annual Community Hero Day on Saturday, October 3 from 10am-2pm. Community Hero Day is a free, community event. The event will feature a social-distanced viewing of vehicles from eight community organizations spanning from safety to community services. Families will have an opportunity to get up close and personal with the twelve vehicles and visit with our community partners, including the Northern Illinois Fire Sprinkler Advisory Board who will be on hand with their residential fire sprinkler demonstration trailer.

Hosted at the beginning of Fire Prevention Month, Community Hero Day allows the Museum to educate the entire community about fire safety and safety in our community. “Although this year has made it challenging to host community event, we are excited to provide the opportunity to put this event on safely and connect visitors with vital safety information,” said executive director Brian Failing.

The event will include vehicles from the Aurora Fire Department, Aurora Police Department, Nicor Gas, Ozinga, Groot, Kane County Sheriff, West & Sons Towing, and the Illinois Toll Highway Authority.

Community Hero Day is presented by First Alert and is free to the entire community due to the generous support of First Alert and all of our generous sponsors. “The Aurora Regional Fire Museum is an outstanding organization that shares our mission to educate communities about fire safety, and we are thrilled to continue our valuable partnership this year,” said Tarsila Wey, director of marketing for First Alert. “We are grateful to be able to safely support Community Hero Day and support education in our local community on the importance of home fire safety.”

 A, free, timed ticket is required for entry to Community Hero Day. Tickets are available online by visiting; http://bit.ly/2020ARFMHeroDay.

Aurora Regional Fire Museum Launches New Project

The Aurora Regional Fire Museum is launching a program, Essential Stories: Firefighting in a Pandemic, to collect, preserve and present stories relating to COVID-19. The museum will create an exhibit and virtual record highlighting the ways in which firefighters in our community responded to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a museum devoted to the history of firefighting, it is crucial for us to collect the stories of history that is happening right now in order to preserve them for future generations of firefighters and for our community as a whole.  

We will be collecting anecdotes from current firefighters through the survey linked below. Responders will also be asked to submit a picture of themselves and a picture of them in their PPE. The survey will be available from August 27th to September 30th. We are hoping to collect at least 30 responses in order to cover a range of experiences. Additionally, responders will be able to indicate if they would be interested in taking part in a video interview to be included in the virtual exhibit. The exhibit will open the first week of November with a concurrent opening of the virtual portion of the exhibit.

If there are any questions please feel free to reach out to Rachel at stories@auroraregionalfiremuseum.org

The survey can be found here: https://forms.gle/Q7km2NkcYxD82Kke6

Compass Mortgage stops by the Fire Museum

Compass Mortgage stopped by the Fire Museum for their Community Spotlight feature! Check out the whole video and more Community Spotlights on their Youtube channel

2020 Ornament Reveal!

The Aurora Regional Fire Museum’s 2020 ornament is a replica of AFD’s 1942 American LaFrance engine! The 1942 American LaFrance Engine served the City of Aurora out of Central Station as part of Company No. 1. Purchased in the midst of World War II, the engine was Aurora’s first enclosed cab fire engine. Our annual holiday ornament commemorates this historic piece of fire history. Two dollars from every ornament sold will go towards the Museum’s restoration fund for this vehicle. By purchasing an ornament, you are helping lay the groundwork for us to restore this engine and supporting the work of the Aurora Regional Fire Museum.

The ornament is available for pre-order at https://bit.ly/2020Ornament

Ornaments will be available for pick-up or delivery in October.

Fire Museum Receives Landmarks Illinois Relief Grant

The Aurora Regional Fire Museum was one of 13 nonprofits throughout the state to receive a $2,000 grant from the COVID-19 Organization Relief Grant Program set up by Landmarks Illinois. Funds from this grant were utilized to create a new website and continue to pay staff during our closure and reopening.

Landmarks Illinois, a statewide historic preservation advocacy organization, created its COVID-19 Organization Relief Grant Program this spring to help community development, preservation and other partner nonprofits throughout the state during the coronavirus health crisis. Landmarks Illinois received an overwhelming response to the grant program, with 94 applications for the 13 available grants.

Check out the full press release for more information about Landmarks Illinois and the COVID-19 Organization Relief Grant Program.

7 join Aurora Fire Museum board

The Aurora Regional Fire Museum welcomed seven new member to its Board of Directors