The first of the four exhibitions about the history of the Arad firefighters, at Sala Clio

On Wednesday, May 8, in the Clio Hall of the Arad Museum Complex, the “History of the Arad Civilian Firefighters” exhibition was opened, the first part of the exhibition project that reflects the impressive history of the Arad firemen, intrinsically linked to the history of the county and the municipality of Arad. There will be, in total, four thematic exhibitions until June 2.

“Today is the first part of the exhibition, it will consist of four exhibitions, every week everything inside the exhibition will change so that we can show as much as possible of the equipment and first of all the history that the fire department has in Arad County”said Bogdan Blaga, deputy director of the Arad Museum Complex, at the opening of the exhibition.

The framework title of the exhibition project is “Arada Firefighters – history and identity”.

The first exhibition, entitled “History of the Arada civilian firefighters”, remains open until May 12, 2024, after which, from May 14-19, Arada residents are invited to explore the history and technology used by volunteer firefighters through the exhibition “Technique and innovation: the evolution of means of extinguishing fires in Arad lands”, also in Sala Clio.

Between May 21-26, 2024, Sala Clio will host the exhibition “Heroes on duty: the firefighters and the Arada community”, and the fourth thematic exhibition focuses on the “lance tips”, the newest and most spectacular equipment of the military firefighters for the fight everyday with fire or other types of risk.

The last part of the exhibition will be about the present of the Inspectorate for Emergency Situations, announced the prefect of Arad county, Toth Csaba. “I think it’s important to see, those who come here to visit every week, including where they ended up, what it means to be a firefighter today, what technique and what knowledge are behind these rescuers”said the prefect.

The “Virtual Museum of Firefighters from Arad County” is being prepared

The documents and artifacts on display, including the history of firefighters in Arad County, will be integrated into the “Virtual Museum of Arad County Firefighters” project, a digital platform that responds to the cultural needs of the present, say the organizers.

“What you see here, we started with the idea of ​​making the first digital museum of firefighters in Romania, focusing on the tradition of civilian fire brigades, on the tradition of military firefighters, up to the present day. I have been to every locality in Arad county and photographed, inventoried, filmed the vestiges which are extraordinary, starting with Lipova, Zabrani, Pecica, Pâncota, Sebiș, everywhere there are civilian fire brigades, maintained by warm-hearted people, where you find, with great sacrifices, each a flag of several hundred years, each a cap… and that multi-century one, a fire engine, a fire truck”said sub-prefect Doru Sinaci, the initiator of the exhibition, together with colonel Dan Paicu, former first deputy of the chief inspector of ISU Arad and with the help of professor Horia Truţă.

The co-organizer of the exhibition, Colonel Dan Paicu, said that his sources show that the Arad firefighters appeared earlier than previously thought, in 1834, immediately after Arad became a Free Royal City, even though the archives indicate that a fire was extinguished only in ’35 . The professional fire service was established in Arad in 1892.

“In Timișoara, each neighborhood did its own service, they united in the end and only in 1922 did they become professional firefighters, that is, they realized that volunteer firefighters were not enough for them. Arad was faster and in 1892 they established the professional firefighters. There were only 12, really, but they also had two fire brigades and what I want to highlight is that at the level of the 1860-70s they had 800 volunteers in the two fire services. I did a calculation: 2.5% of the population of Arad were volunteers at the fire department. We find the same situation in Gherla and Satu Mare, all of Transylvania was very dedicated to this rescue and protection activity”said Colonel Dan Paicu at the opening of the exhibition.

“I, personally, and my colleagues from the Inspectorate, are so proud and honored that in Arad county, more than 25% of Emergency Volunteer Services are approved. Arad County is in 2nd place at the national level in terms of approval of emergency volunteer services”, said the chief inspector of ISU Arad, col. Cristian Gârbău.