I got a tip about an abandoned school in this town. Using Google maps I was able to identify a large boarded up building that definitely could have been a school. I dropped in through a window and was quite surprised to find this.




Boom! A large warehouse full of antique fire trucks! Wow, what a find! They were Dusty but well kept, the paint was perfect on them, they were very well preserved. After talking to an ex-firefighter friend of mine, he felt strongly that this was someone's personnel collection. There was also quite a bit of firefighter gear, and a few other antique vehicles.
There were about 75 full size fire trucks here. They were parked 3-4 deep in some places. This place should be a museum, but there were no signs of any use as such.
Near the entrance there was some landscaping equipment, but the vast majority of the space was fire trucks.









I'm pretty sure they meant something else...















Hand crank ladder



Hovercraft!



Ambulance was cool



Lots of gear



The metal backpacks are pretty sweet

Hell yeah this is sick!

The graffiti on the wall in one of your pictures shows us that the building really isn't that secure, especially if you were able to get in via a window.

The American LaFrance in pic 2 is sick, that company went extinct. I'm seeing vehicles from probably the 50's all the way up to the 80's and early 90's The newest looks like that yellowish-green Engine. If you ever go back I'd like to see more photos of the white and yellow aerial, its hard to tell but it looks like its tractor driven (like an 18-wheeler)

Lot of cool stuff here, can't believe you found an AirBoat. I was an EMT so the ambulance is right up my alley.

The metal backpacks, aka water can, are pressurized water pumps, it probably holds about 5 gallons of water. If you have a small kitchen fire or a fire in the walls that a firefighter can throw the backpack on and run into the building to put out the fire super quick, then they won't have to get a water supply from a hydrant and drag a hose all the way through the building. You can even use that the rustle some feathers at campgrounds and put peoples cooking fires out. LOL.

cool!

That's pretty fucking special.

Wow

SUPER WHITE POWER!!! Lol.

That's a cool collection. My dad and I had an old car we needed to store somewhere for a bit and ended up keeping it at a place like this (with a much much smaller collection). I agree it's really too bad this collection isn't in some sort of museum.

as someone who collects out turnout gear, i love seeing photos like this. thanks for sharing.

Posted by RescueMe1060 Hell yeah this is sick! The graffiti on the wall in one of your pictures shows us that the building really isn't that secure, especially if you were able to get in via a window. The American LaFrance in pic 2 is sick, that company went extinct. I'm seeing vehicles from probably the 50's all the way up to the 80's and early 90's The newest looks like that yellowish-green Engine. If you ever go back I'd like to see more photos of the white and yellow aerial, its hard to tell but it looks like its tractor driven (like an 18-wheeler) Lot of cool stuff here, can't believe you found an AirBoat. I was an EMT so the ambulance is right up my alley. The metal backpacks, aka water can, are pressurized water pumps, it probably holds about 5 gallons of water. If you have a small kitchen fire or a fire in the walls that a firefighter can throw the backpack on and run into the building to put out the fire super quick, then they won't have to get a water supply from a hydrant and drag a hose all the way through the building. You can even use that the rustle some feathers at campgrounds and put peoples cooking fires out. LOL.

Thanks! It wasn't easy getting it, but it's not hard if you're determined. There was a big drop from most of the windows. Cool info about the cans, makes sense. At first they seemed impractical.
The only other picture I have of the white and yellow truck is this snip from the video I took.



Here's another shot of the hovercraft because that thing is sick

Do you plan on posting the video?

And Sam, collecting turn outs has got to be the weirdest thing I've heard in a while. You know those jackets carry disease and chemicals right?

HOLY!

That place looks like a great find! All those vehicles! Well done!

Posted by RescueMe1060 Do you plan on posting the video? And Sam, collecting turn outs has got to be the weirdest thing I've heard in a while. You know those jackets carry disease and chemicals right?

that's what I am hoping for... you can't scare me with the chemical part considering what I did for 11 years. (I know what you mean, settle down.)

honestly, most of the stuff that I have is 20+ years old, has been laundered up the ying yang and is pretty unused. remember, i used to be a volunteer fireguy years and years ago.

older ARFF gear i've had for a decade or so... this was actually given to me by a friend in the air force over in vermont.

This is cool as hell. Not only fire trucks, but a hovercraft too? That's got to be a first. Nice work dude!

Posted by Philodis a hovercraft too?

Right?!

Nice find indeed....

Wild find

That's awesome, those old firetrucks are so cool.

Posted by RescueMe1060 Do you plan on posting the video?

I'll probably post it at some point, I have a backlog of stuff to post which I plan to get to this winter. I walk around the whole place in the video, it really conveys how massive this collection is.

We have a Fire museum here in San Jose, CA. Its really a shame that this collection isn't put on display for the enjoyment of all, these machines are lost to time and darkness sitting inside this warehouse.

Wow! That's awesome. I love it when you go exploring and you expect one thing, but then you find a bunch of antique firetrucks. Very cool, looks like a lot of fun.

Fuck me, this is 'find of the year' material. Thanks for sharing.

Great shoot! The kind of spot where you can kick back, relax, and take your time to get the pictures you want. Thanks.