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“Only a few people, mainly those who know the past of the town, know that the town got the mill from the church in the last century, which after having been renovated, and later totally rebuilt, was the home of the fire station.”

The first watch house of the firemen was the old building of the State Salt House. It was only a temporary solution to have the watch house in the salt house and in 1881 the Treasury sold the house so the firemen had to look for a new place. They got a new base in the street known as Almagyar street today, but this also turned out to be temporary since that watch house was not suitable for the requirements of the firemen. There were only a few rooms and those were too narrow. It was too far from the town centre and was very expensive to rent, as they had to pay 400 forints for it every year.

The problem of finding a perfect place to the firemen was solved in 1884. It was the year when the town got the area in Tűzoltó square (Fireman square). The area, and the mill standing there, were the property of the Bishopric. Archbishop dr. József Samassa bought the area and the building and accorded it to the town in order to build a fire station. The town had the old building renovated during that year and it was given to the firemen to use it as a watch house. They moved into the new place on 1st October 1884.

Itt épült fel hosszú évtizedek során a tűzoltó laktanya nagyrészt még most is álló épületegyüttese, amely közel száz esztendőn át szolgálta Eger tűzvédelmét. 1891-ben adták át a város és az érsekség anyagi támogatásával épített szertárat és istállót, mely utóbbi 3 pár ló elhelyezését tette lehetővé. 1897. június 29-én pedig az új őrtanyaépület felszentelésére került sor.

It took decades to build the fire station that can still be seen here today and it served the town for almost one hundred years. In 1891 a new stable and a new storage building, which had been built with the aid of the town and the Bishopric, were given to the firemen. The stable was suitable for three horses. On 29th June 1987 the new watch house was christened.
The new building, containing all the major technical improvements of the age, was built in the place of the old mill. All its rooms including the stable and other storage houses had electric lights in them. There was an area for the telephone service surrounded by a glass wall and Watchmen worked day and night to deal with the calls. The telephone centre of the fire station was in a permanent connection with the night watchtowers of the town. These watchtowers had been created by Captain Károly Simonyi a year before. The state telephone system could only be used during the day so it was the night watch that took care of the fires at night. This service was unreliable however, partly because it was such a long stint, and partly because it was outside the normal disciplines of the fireman.

The Hungarian Royal Post Office gave permission to have seven of its fire stations connected all night to make it easier to signal fires 24 hours a day. There were six watchtowers in the town: in the Maklári area, in the Weisz steam mill and in the Perszler alcohol factory, in the Hatvani area, in the Wind factory, in the police station in downtown and in the tobacco factory. These places were in permanent connection with each other and with the home of the Captain and with the watch house.

It was dr Pál Danilovich who had a garden made for the watch house, which was a pleasant meeting place for the firemen. In 1889 there was a bowling alley built which also made the association a more pleasant place for its members.

By the middle of the 1920’s the much-needed renovation of the watch house was inevitable. Most things were stored open air and it was even impossible to store the fire engine, which cost a lot of money. The weather, especially in winter, caused a lot of damage. The old climbing tower needed to be rebuilt since the wooden parts of the tower were in such a bad condition that it was dangerous to train on it. In September 1926 therefore, the council of the town decided to have the Fire station rebuilt. They decided to spend 250 million korona on the building of a new climbing tower made of armoured concrete, a new workshop, a stable, a new garage and all the usual offices. The new storage building and the climbing tower were inaugurated a year later.

The garden opened again after a long time in July 1925. During war times, the firemen of Eger felt that their equipment was not really up-to-date and, in 1943, the fire station got two new tractors and a new water engine as part of the national campaign of the Ministry of the Interior. In that year the number of professional firemen increased by six people. It was obvious that the old barracks and the storage rooms were not big enough for the new professional firemen and all of their equipments, so it was time to rebuild the station again.

The 5090/1848 Executive decree nationalised the fire stations in Hungary. So the barracks became state property.

- Catches form the book titled “125 aniversary of the fire station in Eger” by Csaba Bíró and Mátyás Berecz

After the fire station was nationalised there were no important events in connection with the building for a long time. The fire station left its old building on 1st May 1981 and after that the building became property of the Heves County Undertaking Company. Later it became property of the Egri Városfejlesztő Kft, a company owned by the government of Eger.

In the late 1990’s The Fire Station Museum of Eger Foundation, and The National Fire Station Museum, decided the renovate the old building which was in very bad condition This was carried out with the financial help and permission of the owner. The museum, exhibiting several unique machines and equipment, opened in the renovated tower and the two storey building next to it in 1999 when the 125th anniversary of the fire station in Eger was celebrated. You can see several pictures on the following pages of the renovated buildings along with the equipments that can be seen in the museum, which is highly recommended to everybody.

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