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In 1901 Perth's new fire station was opened on a site off Murray Street not far from the main Perth hospital (now Called Royal Perth Hospital.)

The station was originally designed to accommodate 3 horse drawn appliances and was later extended to house 5 in total. You would have to assume that response times for horse drawn fire engines were not what they are today!

A horse stable, watch tower, paddock, workshops and other sundry buildings once made up the fire precinct.

The initial building was extended in 1906 and again in 1915.

In the early years the buildings housed both the fire department and the ambulance service.

The ambulance service became separate in 1922 and a building to the east of the fire station became the headquarters for the St. John Ambulance Brigade. The ambulance building was later demolished.

In 1979 a large new FESA combined operations building was completed off Hay Street (directly behind the old fire house.)

Most of the original buildings that made up Perth's fire department were demolished in 1977 to make room for the current FESA multi storey building but the main fire house was converted into a museum and education centre.

The museum that we see today almost did not get off the ground as there were initially plans to demolish the building an build a multi-storey car park.

Thankfully, then Premier, Brian Burke, decided to approve a plan to refurbish the building and open a heritage and educations centre.

The museum opened on July 16th 1985. Entry to the museum is currently (2013) free. The museum is open from 10am to 4pm on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

To find out more about the museum and about FESA services you can visit the website via the link above.

As with many of Western Australia's heritage attractions, the museum relies heavily on a band of dedicated volunteers. If you are interested in helping out at the museum then you can contact the centre Manager on (08) 9416 3402 or email 

educationandheritage@dfes.wa.gov.au

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