What a workday! Much of the work needed on our Fire Museum is labor intensive and anyone willing can do much of the work. We did a little of everything that day. Working from the scaffolding, Phil Laboy, rover in B 3 and Chris Cook from Engine 43 scraped and filled the entire apparatus bay ceiling, making it ready to paint. On the ground scraping were Phil’s wife Heida Laboy, Scott Carpenter our project director, and Fire Museum board member Pat Poole. Scott and Pat did a number of different jobs that day including hauling concrete, loading dumpsters, sweeping, ladder work, scraping ceilings, and much more. 

NOTE:  The Laboy family made it a family affair with their girls Gabby and Alex, they spent the day working on the Fire Museum Project. What a great idea!!  That gave several of us some new ideas for quality time together with our families!! 

Mark Miller from Ladder 11 made the basement priming his project. Dressed in his painting jumper and a mask, he primed almost the entire basement from floor to ceiling. Ask Mark to do a job then stand back as far as you can or you too will be covered in paint. Dean Murad from Engine 30 had his hand in just about every job including his specialty, demolition. He was seen often tearing down something and hauling it to the dumpster. Helping Dean were Roy Ziganti from the F.T.A. and his son Pete Ziganti. Pete became the “strong, young kid” when some of us older volunteers needed muscle which we no longer have. Roy adopted one of the remaining demolition projects. He couldn’t stand looking at the falling ceiling in the entranceway so in less than an hour Roy and friends had cut down the ceiling and cleared the debris, making the ceiling ready to be redone. John and Pat Zangerle, our board president and his wife, prepared lunch and helped with a number of jobs throughout the day. Rob Sheldon, Geneva Fire Department Retired, was helping all over the building working mainly as cleanup crew. Dan Hayden, our Executive Director and retired C.F.D. firefighter, helped move scaffolding, taped up plastic in the basement, picked up lunch, cleaned up the floors, along with many other jobs. He also lived up to his old department nickname, Ziggy, with his work in the basement. When all the basement lights went out, one name rang out!!

Then as we were cleaning up, and after several of the volunteers had left, a volunteer who will remain nameless, arrived to “work”. I guess he wasn’t really listening when the starting time was announced, but he took the kidding well and was a real “sport” about the whole thing. The next workday we will send him a personal invitation to his firehouse across the Lorain-Carnegie Bridge.

Did you notice the couples and families who came out to work?  What a great way to spend the day together, doing work at the Fire Museum while having a good time with friends. Next time bring your family and we will find appropriate work for the kids as well as the adults. Old or young we can use your help and will make sure you leave in one piece.

If you want to become a volunteer and help put on the  finishing touches please call the Fire Museum at (216) 664-6312.

—Joe Mason