Page 7 Foothills Sentry FEBRUARY 2026 Family. Friends. Community. We’re all in this together. State Farm, Bloomington, IL 1801073 Ron Esparza, Agent Insurance Lic#: 0C79663 827 S. Tustin Ave Orange, CA 92866 Bus: 714-505-3400 ron@ronesparza.com LOVE Orange! dan@DanSlater.com 714-744-2219 1537 E. Chapman Ave. Orange, CA 92866 DAN SLATER The Call to Adventure Fire Museum and Learning Center soon to open The Call to Adventure Fire Museum and Learning Center is slated for a soft opening at its Old Towne Orange location, Feb. 21. Featuring fire safety exhibits, personalized experiences, educational programs, rotating galleries, and vintage fire fighting equipment and trucks, the museum is set up, on a temporary basis, in the former Orange Fire Department headquarters on Grand and Almond. Call to Adventure is leasing the building from the City of Orange for $1 a year until it moves into its planned permanent home in the Great Park. “This is the proof of concept,” Hiddo Horlings, Call to Adventure president, explains. “It’s not just displays, it’s what can we teach people about fire safety that they can use in their daily lives. We plan to offer learning experiences for adults and children. We hope to connect with the Orange Unified School District and bring students here to the learning center.” Most of the displays and artifacts are from private collections. The museum is taking shape strictly through the efforts of volunteers. It will initially be open to the public with docent-led tours on Saturdays. Call to Adventure President Hiddo Horlings stands with a 1945 C grade triple combination pumper built for the military and stationed in Guam. When it was being transported back to the states, it fell off the barge that was carrying it. No one remembers how it was recovered from the sea, but the Emerald Bay Fire Department bought it. The Orange County Fire Department refurbished it and “the drowned truck” served Emerald Bay until 1974. A fire simulator trailer, on loan from the OC Fire Authority, features interactive experiences in at-home fire prevention. Visitors learn how to avoid or suppress stovetop or outdoor BBQ fires, identify indoor fire hazards and shut off the gas at the supply line. In the 18th and 19th centuries, fires were fought with a hand pump and bucket brigade. Every resident had a personalized bucket. When the alarm sounded (hand-carried clackers and bells), they raced to the scene to transport water from the nearest water source to the hand pump. Water was collected in the apparatus’s reservoir and pumped by able-bodied volunteers (sometimes two or three on each end) through an attached hose to douse the flames. An 1850 French hand pump was fashioned on skids because the ground was either muddy or snowy, and wheels wouldn’t work. The pump could throw water 30 to 50 feet through a riveted leather fire hose. Fire boxes used to grace the corners of city streets and intersections. If a person spotted smoke, he or she would pull on the box handle. Telegraphy would immediately send a message to every fire station, which had a person monitoring the telegraph 24/7. The telegraph would print out the number of the call box. If the box number indicated the fire was located in a particular station’s area, the operator would dispatch the crew and equipment. If more than one station’s response was needed, the telegraph would signal a “two,” or “three” (or higher) alarm fire, and additional fire crews would be alerted. Once the fire was extinguished, the chief would flip back the switch on the call box, indicating the incident was over. Volunteer Don Forsyth, seen here, reports that this system was used in San Diego until 1970. Volunteers are setting up the museum and learning center. From left, Don Forsyth, Rose Argo, Ralph Wright, Steve Palmer, Roger Fitschen and Hiddo Horlings. Telegraph tape indicated the identifying number on the box where the fire alarm originated, allowing the operator to determine its location. Fire house dogs were originally kept to calm the station's horses. Vintage artwork is on display. Photos by Tony Richards
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