Northern Illinois Fire Museum in Marengo Needs New Location

MARENGO, Ill. (AP) — A fire museum in northern Illinois that includes equipment used in the Great Chicago Fire needs to move to a new location in the next year.

Tom McDermott is board secretary of the Northern Illinois Fire Museum in Marengo. He tells the (Crystal Lake) Northwest Herald that their current lease expires in two years and he's worried they'll be asked to move early.

Board members estimate they'll need $250,000 to find a location that would fit their needs. That means about 10,000-square-feet of space. McDermott says the museum operates on about $10,000 a year.

The museum has about 20 vehicles and pieces of equipment from those used in the Great Chicago Fire in 1871 to those used in the 1990s.