PUSH TO PRESERVE HISTORIC PUMPS

Military fire engine collection could be homeless within six weeks

Lincolnshire’s Museum of RAF Firefighting – which is facing re-location for the fourth time in four years – needs your help.

Founder, Steve Shirley MBE, said that the museum, which is also a registered charity, needs a 50,000 square foot home until at least 2024. By then, it is hoped that the 15-strong collection of military fire engines and memorabilia can return to RAF Scampton, where the cache of pumps was originally based.

Steve told Classic Car Weekly: ‘ We’ve had no offers so far. We would ideally like to find somewhere in central Lincolnshire because our 40 volunteers are all based in the county.’

The museum has had several temporary homes across Lincolnshire over the years, including an empty factory in Gainsborough and a former warehouse in Scunthorpe. Both spaces were taken back by their landlords, and the collection’s current home, a closed-down dealership in Alford, only houses the museum’s smaller vehicles; the dealership’s owners are selling up and may need the building back within a matter of six to eight weeks if it changes hands.

The museum’s other exhibits and memorabilia – the latter of which is considered the world’s largest – is stored elsewhere, with other pumps parked outside.

Steve said: ‘ We’ve led a fairly nomadic existence for the past four years and the longer the engines sit outdoors, the further they’ll deteriorate.’

Steve can be contacted with offers of space via email.

IMAGE: Fire Brigade Society The world’s largest collection of military fire engines and memorabilia has appealed for help in finding storage.

Many of the museum’s pumps are too large for its current building in Alford, so they’re sitting outside.