One of our museum volunteers looking after a red 1930s Merryweather fire engine.

The Essex Fire Museum

The Essex Fire Museum gives visitors the opportunity to take a fascinating look at the history of the fire service here in Essex.

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About the museum

The Essex Fire Museum brings the history of firefighting to life, with a unique collection of historic fire engines, equipment, uniforms and photographs. Visitors can explore how firefighting has evolved over the years through changing technology and techniques.

Founded by former Grays firefighter Roger Pickett, the museum offers a fascinating insight into the fire service and the brave men and women who have kept communities safe.

It’s also a vital part of our education programme, giving local schools a hands-on, immersive experience of fire service history.

Our dedicated volunteer team has carried out extensive research into the fire service in Essex, helping preserve and share this proud legacy.

school children sitting at the fire museum

Museum opening dates/times

We are open on Tuesdays and Thursdays 10am to 3.30pm and on our family fun open days we are open from 10.30am to 4.00pm. If you would like to visit us, please email us to book a place: museum@essex-fire.gov.uk. All visits to the museum must be pre-booked as it is on the site of an operational fire station.

Family Fun Open Days

We also organise a number of special open days where we will have lots of themed arts/crafts, activities and displays. They are a great day out for all the family. To book your place, please email us with a date and time you'd like to visit us: museum@essex-fire.gov.uk

2025 dates

Sunday 27 July (Summer holidays)	Sunday 26 October
Tuesday 19 August (Summer holidays)	Tuesday 28 October (half term)
Sunday 31 August (Summer holidays)	Sunday 23 November
Sunday 28 September	Sunday 14December (Christmas / Santa’s Grotto)

Museum articles and research

‘All Fired Up’ is a series of articles written by our Museum volunteers about the history of the fire service in Essex.

Volunteers spend many hours researching the collection, often uncovering untold stories and finding interesting facts that would otherwise be lost.

To share these invaluable snippets of history with you we are making some of this research available here.

1. A Bit of Gas by Mick Ford

2. The Pump Escape by Murray Beale

3. HK Hudson Abbreviated by David Hughes

4. The Fire Brigades Act 1938 by Mike Smith

5. All Creatures Great and Small by Mick Ford

6. Hooked! by Murray Beale

7. The Silvertown Explosion by D.P Hughes

8. The Fire Brigade is on the Job! by M Smith

9. Francis Charles Wilson

10. All Fired Up Hydrant Plates

11. James Charles Diaper

12. All fired up - Over the Border

13. Biography of an Enthusiast by Mick Ford

14. AFU Fire Helmets by M Beale

15. A Woman's Place

16. What Goes Up Must Come Down

17. Not Just A Van

18. A Century of Women in the Fire Service

19. AFU The Happy Drummer - Mick Ford

20. Shout - an explanation of terms

21.Firemen and Victory

22. Alf Norman - an unsung hero

23. The Way Things Used To Be

WW1 Firemen's Biographies

24. Henry Whitehurst

25. Long ladders to the Alps and beyond - part 1

26. Long Ladders to the Alps and beyond - part 2

27. Death by Fire

28. Benfleet Boys' Night on the Town

29. Douglas Howard Morgan: Captain of the Felsted School Fire Brigade

30. Off Road in Essex

31. A Warning from History

32. The National Fire Service part 1

33. The National Fire Service part 2

34. Ups and Downs atthe Top of the Ladder part 1

35. Ups and Downs at the Top of the Ladder part 2

36. Hoses by Murray Beale

37. A Winter's Tale by Mike Smith

38. The Ups and Downs at the Top of the Ladder part 3

39. My First Shout

40. A Life on the Ocean Wave

41. The Ups and Downs part 4

42. The Green Goddess Brigade by Murray Beale

43. Ups and Down P5

44. Mike's Old War Horses

45. Southend's Unlucky Pier

46. British Firemen's Wartime Continental Tour  

47. Ancient Wheels of Fire – Article One

48. Ancient Wheels of Fire - Article Two

How to find us:

Essex Fire Museum
Grays Fire Station
Hogg Lane
Grays
Essex
RM17 5QS

Access

The museum is situated to the rear of Grays Fire Station. During open days or larger events we would ask that you park on the grass outside the front of Grays Fire Station (making sure that the exit pathway for operational fire appliances is kept clear). For smaller group visits, there may be spaces free in the yard outside the front of the museum. If not, please park on the grass outside the front of Grays Fire Station.

If you are walking from the grass area (outside the front of Grays Fire station) to the museum, can you please keep to the pedestrian pathway to the left of the station. This is clearly marked.

Facilities

The museum is all on one level and there is appropriate access for wheel chair users.