Boss Baby with a plushie from the Museum of Fire Shop In July 2025 I took a step back from the museum to begin a new chapter of my life. As I began my maternity leave, I was thankful for the support that our museum staff and volunteers gave both myself and Ben Dickson, who was to act as CEO in my absence. It was around this time that I attained ten years’ service at the Museum of Fire (MOF), having begun my MOF journey as the senior heritage officer in 2015 before becoming CE

This week we are looking back thirty years to the year 1996. As Australia looked towards a new century, life was beginning to feel increasingly modern, while many of the traditions and technologies of earlier decades remained familiar parts of everyday life. For the NSW Fire Brigades, 1996 was another busy year, shaped by the people, incidents and developments that form part of our firefighting history. As we look back three decades, we revisit some of the stories that made 1

For decades, bright red was synonymous with the fire brigade. From hose carts to motor engines, fire engines have carried the same red paint as they sped to incidents and the rescue of others. Interest in reducing the impact and severity of fire and emergencies through the decreased response times saw permanent change to the traditional livery that decorated fire engines for over a century. FirePacs in their new test livery outside City of Sydney Fire Station, 1996 [Museum of