Leonard J. DeFrancisci via Wikimedia Commons
The New York City Fire Museum reopened to the public at 10 a.m. on Thursday, Aug. 20, ending a closure that began in May 2024 over concerns about the building’s structural integrity.
The museum sits in a renovated 1904 firehouse at 278 Spring Street in Hudson Square, the former quarters of Engine Company 30 and Rescue 1, the FDNY’s Manhattan rescue company.
It reopened about three weeks before the 25th anniversary of Sept. 11, the deadliest day in FDNY history. The museum holds what it describes as the first permanent memorial to the 343 firefighters killed that day.
The repairs changed the way visitors get in. There is a new glass entrance, with flooring decorated with enlarged patches from FDNY and EMS houses across the city, ABC7 reported. Thousands of artifacts stayed in place through the repairs, including apparatus from the era when engines were pulled by horses.
“I can’t believe we’re back,” Executive Director Dominick DeRubbio said. “It’s been a long road since last October.”
DeRubbio and FDNY Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore cut the reopening ribbon with a fire ax, per Our Town Downtown, which covered the ceremony. Holding the ribbon were Council Members Christopher Marte, whose district includes the museum, and Joann Ariola, a Queens Republican. Co-Chief FDNY Chaplain Rabbi Joseph Potasnik also attended.
The two Council members secured $900,000 to renovate the museum’s roof, working with Speaker Julie Menin. Both told Our Town Downtown the negotiations were the easiest budget discussions they had ever had.
“It was because people understood what this building means,” Marte said.
“It is a bipartisan team, which is how this city should always work,” Ariola said. “For the fire department, it will always work that way.” Asked why she got involved, she offered a shorter answer: “Who could resist?”
Bonsignore spoke to what the timing means for the department. “Everything here, all the equipment, the pictures, the artifacts, the exhibits, they all tell a story of courage, innovation, sacrifice, and service,” she said. “With the 25th anniversary of 9/11 right around the corner, the museum takes on an even greater significance.”
DeRubbio, who started running the museum in October 2025, lost his uncle, David P. DeRubbio, in the South Tower. “The members who have died and who have died from illnesses carry me throughout my day,” he said.
The museum has also commissioned a World Trade Center Responder Bell from the Marinelli Foundry in Agnone, Italy. It has not arrived yet, and the museum plans to unveil it at the 25-year anniversary ceremony in September.
“The bell is to serve as a permanent memorial to the FDNY members who died from illnesses as a result of their exposure at Ground Zero, and the other responders who served alongside them,” DeRubbio said.
The full archive reaches back to the 17th century, though only about three percent of it can be displayed at any one time. Reopening day was free; regular admission runs $3 to $15.
