Warren Engine Co. celebrating 150 years with open house

The 150th anniversary of Warren Engine Co. No. 1 will be marked June 15 with an open house at its museum at Carson City Fire Station No. 1.

The event will include tours of the fire station, an interactive fire-safety/fire-prevention trailer and the museum open house. Anniversary commemorative items and food will be available.

The Warren Engine Co. No. 1 museum includes fire apparatus and artifacts from Carson City’s three fire companies — Warren Engine Co. No. 1, which was organized June 17, 1863; Curry Engine Co. No. 2, which was organized May 14, 1864; and S.T. Swift Engine Co. No. 3, organized in 1873. Gov. Brian Sandoval has proclaimed June 17 as Warren Engine Co. No. 1 Day in Nevada to mark the anniversary.

One of the focal points in the museum is a rare four-wheel hose carriage built for Warren Engine Co. No. 1 in 1888 by the California Fire Apparatus Manufacturing Co. of San Francisco; it retains its original patriotic red, white and blue paint scheme. Few examples of apparatus from this manufacturer are known to exist.

Other focal points include an 1847 Hunneman hand-drawn and hand-pumped fire engine; a 1913 Seagrave chemical-hosewagon, thought to be the first motorized fire apparatus in the state; a 1927 Seagrave Suburbanite, purchased by Warren Engine Co. No. 1 for its size and maneuverability on the capitol grounds; and a circa-1909 Obenchain-Boyer chemical engine that once was used at Glenbrook at Lake Tahoe by the Tahoe Flume & Lumber Co.

Uniforms, silk banners, leather helmets and parade belts, a set of original lithographs by Currier & Ives portraying “The Life of a Fireman,” photos and other artifacts also are displayed in the museum.