The New York City Fire Museum houses one of the nation's most important collections of fire related art and artifacts from the late 18th century to the present. Among its holdings are painted leather buckets, helmets, parade hats and belts, lanterns and tools, pre Civil War hand pumped fire engines, horse drawn vehicles and early motorized apparatus. Besides apparatus, the museum exhibits an astonishing number of other fire service accouterments from New York City's early years. Rare painted parade hats, speaking trumpets, leather fire buckets, uniform parts and insignia, tools and lanterns, and decorative elements from equipment are on view in quantity. lso on display are the modern tools and clothing of the modern firerfighters. The transition from turnout coats to all encompassing bunker gear can be seen on a series of mannequins. Tools such as the Halligan forcible entry tool and the Jaws of Life shown here help to inform one as to what it it is like to be a firefighter. And of course there are always real firefighters on hand to talk to too.