The Reading Area Fire Museum has reopened after being closed more than a year for renovations.<\/p>\n
Located in the former Liberty Fire Company building at 501 S. Fifth St., the nonprofit museum preserves and displays artifacts that tell the story of firefighting in Reading and surrounding communities.<\/p>\n
The city, which owns the building, invested $1,007,069 in the project through its American Rescue Plan Act, or ARPA, funds, according to David W. Anspach III, city capital project manager.<\/p>\n
The upgrades included a new fire alarm panel and accessories, new HVAC and electrical systems, and structural engineering for the stair tower and elevator.<\/p>\n
The city\u2019s Public Works Department provided some of the labor and materials, Anspach said.<\/p>\n
Richard Boyer, a former city fire chief who helped guide planning for the project, said he was relieved to see the museum reopen.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were closed 13 months,\u201d Boyer said. \u201cIt affects us in several ways, not only financially, but in keeping the interest of members and volunteers. When you have volunteers, you\u2019ve got to keep them active.\u201d<\/p>\n
Boyer said he and museum volunteer William Rehr, also a former city fire chief, worked with Burkey Construction on a capital project list in 2017. Of the seven identified improvement needs, only two \u2014 the HVAC system and electrical upgrades<\/a> \u2014 have been completed so far, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe HVAC was a big one,\u201d Boyer said, noting it cost more than $800,000.<\/p>\n Plans are moving forward for additional improvements, he said.<\/p>\n With remaining funds, the city awarded a contract for preliminary engineering work for a new stair tower and elevator shaft on the building\u2019s east end. Those features will eventually provide greater accessibility and safety for visitors, he noted.<\/p>\n Although much of the available COVID-era funding has been spent, Boyer said the museum is hopeful future support can help complete the remaining projects.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s progress,\u201d he said. \u201cWe were able to reopen and get people interested again.\u201d<\/p>\n The reopening celebration earlier this month drew about 40 visitors, Boyer estimated.<\/p>\n The museum is open Thursdays from 9 a.m. to noon and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.<\/p>\n Hours and updates are posted on the Reading Area Fire Museum website<\/a> and Facebook page<\/a>.<\/p>\n Donations can be made through the museum\u2019s website or in person during open hours.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019d love to have donations,\u201d Boyer said. \u201cEvery bit helps us preserve this history for future generations.\u201d<\/p>\n Originally Published: October 21, 2025 at 9:00 AM EDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Reading Area Fire Museum has reopened after being closed more than a year for renovations. Located in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10048,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[349,182,139,28,736,128,130,129],"class_list":{"0":"post-12159","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-reading","8":"tag-berks-county","9":"tag-local-news","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-pennsylvania","12":"tag-reading","13":"tag-reading-city","14":"tag-reading-city-headlines","15":"tag-reading-city-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12159"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12159\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}