PHOTOS: The bell sounded, and the Ypsilanti Fire Department sprung into action. Only this time, the fleet was operating out of a building that hadnโt been their home for 50 years โ the Michigan Firehouse Museum.
The department returned to the building they used from 1898 to 1975 for three days, from 7 a.m. Wednesday, July 23, to 7 a.m. Saturday, July 25. The stay was split into three 24-hour shifts, each running from 7 a.m. to 7 a.m. They slept in the old cots, spent time in the kitchen and did their job: responding to emergency calls in the area. When the alarms rang out Thursday, the firefighters experienced a unique aspect of their temporary historic quarters: sliding down the firepole. Their current station is only one story, so the firefighters had to adjust.
โI donโt think people realize that itโs like 20 feet down,โ firefighter Dean Doyle said. โSo itโs not like a 10 foot drop. When I was looking down, I was like,โ Oh, I still have a long way to go.โโ But it is a cool experience, too, he said. โItโs something unique about old fire stations that new fire stations donโt really have.โ
Then, they squeezed their modern truck out of the old garage, built for horse-drawn carriages with large manual swing doors. โOperating out of this historic firehouse is a different animal,โ Capt. Jeff Schulz said. โAt our modern station, one button opens the bay doors and weโre rolling. Here? Weโre manually unlocking heavy barn-style doors, turning on exhaust fans, and carefully backing trucks into tight quarters on a busy road, without a traffic light to hold cars. โItโs a slower process, but itโs also a window into how things used to be done and makes you appreciate the grind firefighters dealt with decades ago.โ
Schulz and the department still enjoyed embracing the history of the fire department and inhabiting a building constructed in 1898. โItโs just awesome to kind of relive history and honor the firefighters that came before us,โ Schulz said. โThis old station really connects us to the roots of the fire service, and thereโs something humbling about working in the same space they did โ knowing the sacrifices they made and how much things have evolved.โ
It was the second time the fire department had returned to the old station, which had been converted into a museum that displays many of their vehicles and gear from over the years. The departmentโs last operated out of the station in 2023 for Ypsilantiโs bicentennial. Though, this time, visitors could pass through to meet the firefighters: whether they were eating lunch, responding to an emergency call, or, in the case of one visitor Thursday, bringing the firefighters donuts.
โItโs always fun to interact with the public, especially in a museum setting like this,โ Doyle said. People get a glimpse of how firefighters live and realize that โweโre just regular folks doing a really cool job,โ he said. โWeโve got many of the same amenities that they have at home: we cook, we sleep, we live. But when the tones go off, we get to do something extraordinary.โ
Though their stint at the old firehouse wrapped up Saturday morning, firefighters hope they can inhabit the historical site again soon. โThe fire service being so based in history, itโs important to not forget that when we have opportunities to relive it and honor the people who came before us, itโs a cool experience that I think we should keep doing,โ Doyle said.
