VIDEO: Lee Ryan and Will Grow met about 16 years ago as research volunteers at the Fireman’s Hall Museum in Old City. They are united in their mission to preserve the past. “We go all the way back to Ben Franklin and the Union Fire Company,” says Will Grow, volunteer researcher for the Fireman’s Hall Museum.
And by their brotherhood in the fire service. “I was a volunteer firefighter in Oaklyn, New Jersey,” says Lee Ryan, volunteer researcher with the Fireman’s Hall Museum. “I’m the vice president of the fire department.” He’s been a member of the Oaklyn Fire Department for 59 years, serving in various roles, including chief in the 1980s. Grow was a Philadelphia firefighter for 30 years, retiring in 2016 as a lieutenant.
“I spent most of my career at Engine 16 over in West Philly. I got promoted and then every three years rotated to a different company,” says Grow. Their work is important to the museum’s overall mission. “We are not only giving positive fire prevention messages, but we’re telling the history of the fire service,” says Brian Anderson, firefighter and curator at the Fireman’s Hall Museum. “We tell the story of firefighting in Philadelphia.”
WPVI-TV ABC 6 Philadelphia
The post Retired firefighters volunteer at Fireman’s Hall Museum to preserve history of service in Philadelphia appeared first on Daily Dispatch.