There were so many fire apparatus at the Crowne Plaza last week that one would have thought it was a 50 alarm fire.  The good thing: there was no smoke and no fire.

But there was lots of talk and interest in all things to do with fire apparatus at the national convention of The Society for the Preservation and Appreciation of Antique Motor Fire Apparatus in America (SPAAMFAA).

Association members and 140 fire trucks from 17 states and two Canadian provinces arrived at the Crowne for a series of conferences attended by more than 400 enthusiasts of everything to do with firefighting and firefighting apparatus said Peter Kaczorowski of the Rhode Island SPAAMFAA Chapter who served director of the muster and conference. He said some of the apparatus were driven hundreds of miles to reach the Ocean State while others were trucked in.

Kaczorowski explained that the association meets twice annually and that as part of the Rhode Island visit members were bused to three places, one of them being the Cranston Volunteer Firefighter museum, at 470 Hope Rd, where relics and memorabilia from the Cranston’s last four volunteer fire departments are displayed.

Organized fire protection in Cranston began with volunteer fire companies starting with the Pawtuxet Fire Company in 1891. By 1908 the number of fire companies had grown to ten. These included Arlington, East Arlington, Auburn, Edgewood, Pocasset, Cranston, Eden Park, Fiskeville, and Oak Lawn.

The last one was disbanded in 1995, and later that year the museum was born. The four volunteer departments were the Meshanticut department, originally chartered in 1895, the Pawtuxet department, chartered in 1891, the Fiskville department, chartered in 1900 and the Oak Lawn Volunteer Firefighters, originally chartered in 1906.

Upon being disbanded the Oak Lawn and Meshanticut departments sold their equipment and merged to form the Cranston Volunteer Fire Department Museum. The museum’s goal is to preserve the history of the volunteer departments that predate the city departments, which started 1920.

Over 300 people attended the convention and almost half of them took the time to tour the museum on July 14 and take in a piece of Cranston’s history.

Kaczorowski said conference topics focused on such issues as education, planning of future musters and staffing. He was especially pleased to see a 1938 Woonsocket apparatus at the event, relating a story of how it had been bought and sold after being decommissioned  and made the trip home to the Ocean State from Canada. (Photos by Steve Popiel)