Civil Defence Heritage Gallery
Vacation at Singapore is not all
about luxury hotel or big spa and expensive tourist spot. In Singapore, we also
can have fun without the cost, even we can gain knowledge and new information
from it. One example of such enjoyable place is a fire brigade museum in
Singapore named Civil Defence Heritage Gallery.
Singapore’s Civil Defence Heritage
Gallery is a lot more fun than the name suggests, with antique fire engines you
can climb aboard and the opportunity to stick your arm into a hazmat (hazardous
material) suit. It’s the perfect place to take aspiring firefighters and admission
is free. At this museum you’re welcome to touch — or sit in — the exhibits.
Just a five-minute walk from City
Hall MRT station, the Civil Defence Heritage Gallery is located in the Central
Fire Station, the oldest surviving fire station in Singapore. The gallery
features an interesting mix of old and new, with the first level commemorating
the history of firefighting in Singapore and the second level showcasing the
technology used by the city-state’s Civil Defence Force.
Entering the gallery, the first thing
you see are the three antique fire engines. These were the first motorized fire
engines to be used in Singapore, which was a colony at the time, and were
imported from Britain. It’s possible to climb inside the cab of the fire engine
and watch black-and-white videos of firefighters in colonial Singapore. There
are some other collectibles on display, including old uniforms and hand-held
water pumps, and stories about the tragic Bukit Ho Swee fire that destroyed
over 2,000 homes in 1961, long before Singapore was built from concrete and
glass.
The second level of the gallery is
all about current technology designed to keep Singapore safe from fires and other disasters. There is a complete
ambulance and dioramas showing how powerful machines can rescue people from
collapsed subway tunnels or malfunctioning elevators. Some of the exhibits
resemble video games, such as a disaster simulation where you put your arm in a
hazmat suit and have five seconds to turn a valve or where you use a fire hose
to put out a burning building on a TV screen.
To get the most out of a visit, come
on a Saturday morning from 09:00–11:00 when there is also an open house at the
active fire station beside the gallery. Alternatively, on Tuesday and Friday
nights visitors are allowed to climb to the top of the station’s 30-metre tower
that Singapore’s firemen used as an observation point in the early 1900s. This
is also free, but requires advance registration online.
The Civil Defence Heritage Gallery
is one of the few freebies in downtown Singapore. Admission to the Civil
Defence Heritage Gallery is completely free; you will simply be asked to sign
the registration book with your name and nationality. A small gift shop sells unique
souvenirs like Singapore Fire Department T-shirts and badges.
If you visit Singapore, it must to
be happy to visit this kind of museum. You can try it, I swear.
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