From Flames to Flowers to Fire Department History

I saw the birth of this mural, which was created as not just another urban mural beautifying our fair city, but to embody the first ever art show – From Fire to the Flowers – to be hosted by the historical fire house – also known as the Gong Club – on Bay Street.

The gallery show, which is open to the public through October 1 but I’m not sure of the schedule or where to get one, eschews a documentation view of 9-11. It’s visionary. Finding meaning, beauty and ultimately strength from the devastation, suffering and hard work of the awful day of the terrorist attacks.

The mural remembers the twin towers, emphasizes the buildings of Jersey City that surrounded our view of the towers that once stood and the billowing smoke that replaced them in the empty sky.

The artists featured were Richard Larovere, who was the muralist and has a local reputation as a renderer of historic J.C. buildings and Rafael Torres, also a firefighter and the main curator of the show, was responsible for 9-11 themed photographs as well as constructing two facsimiles of the WTC towers, the tops of which, where the plains struck, held flowers. Another artist, John Ruddy, a painter was also featured but was not presented at the opening and his work had yet to be displayed. There were also statuettes, although I’m not sure who the sculptor was. One was of Saint Florian, patron saint of fire fighters

Inside the fire house, the garage was converted into a makeshift gallery. The mural and the art show it promoted were provocative, moving and original tributes to 9-11 – fitting for the 9-11 weekend. But what turned out to be even more original and unusual was the rare opening of the Fire House Museum.

Up two long flights up is a collection of more than century’s worth of Jersey City Fire Department memorabilia and artifacts. Here were the remnants of fire fighting equipment of yore, like the telegraph station, old helmets and uniforms, various oxygen water tanks, an old style metal ladder – before the fire trucks of today, these portable ladders affixed to the window sill and when a fire fighter got to the sill, he would swing it over to the next sill, climb up, story by story until they reached the people they had to save and the flames they had to extinguish.

What looked like small angels, I was told, were actually ornaments from a long gone J.C. Firehouse. Then you see a charred helmet, a card for the fireman who made the ultimate sacrifice and are reminded of the seriousness of purpose of this profession, and perhaps somewhat explains the need to make flowers out of those destructive flames.

Most of the crowd attending the firehouse turned art gallery exhibit were firemen and their friends and family and most of them hadn’t taken this rare trip up the stairs to see the fire department museum. Experiencing their enthusiam for the artifacts and history of their profession added to the enjoyment of this rare glimpse. The collection was slightly dusty, there are not funds available yet to make this a going exhibit. It was utterly fascinating. Let’s hope this unique historical treasure trove of the fire fighting niche of urban life is open to the public again soon.