Children are advised to never play with fire, unless they are playing the popular playground game rock, paper, fire: the unfun game where fire beats everything. Learn about the brave men and women who beat fire every day with today’s Groupon: for $6, you get two admission tickets to the Hall of Flame Fire Museum and National Firefighting Hall of Heroes (up to a $12 value), a museum of firefighting machines, methods, and firepersons. This Groupon is valid for any two tickets: adult (a $6 value each), senior (ages 62 and up, a $5 value each), or children 6–17 (a $4 value each). Admission for children 3–6 is $1.50, so the Groupon's value is best used for older hominids—children under three get in for free.

The Hall of Flame Fire Museum and National Firefighting Hall of Heroes have almost one whole acre of fire history packed into their exhibits, including more than 90 fully restored pieces of firefighting equipment from across the ages and the world. The four galleries of machinery are grouped by era, for the most part, making the grounds a virtual tour through time. Take in the view of one of America's earliest motorized fire engines with the Type 400 and contrast it with an English Angus engine formerly used by the Nottinghamshire department, among many others. Or head to the helmet collection to see more than 400 helmets from Great Britain, Germany, France, and America. There are also many hands-on activities for children, such as interactive exhibits, an American LaFrance truck to gambol and cavort upon, Junior Firefighting workshops, and storytimes for the littlest firefighters.

The National Firefighting Hall of Heroes, located in the museum's sixth gallery area, is dedicated to the thousands of American firefighters who have died in the line of duty since 1981, the first year in which national records were kept. The walls are covered with the names of these heroic men and women, and museum-goers can also access a computer database of nearly 9,000 names dating back to 1800. A memorial for the first responders to the World Trade Center attacks is also housed in gallery six.

Reviews

Frommer's highly recommends the Hall of Flame. Five TripAdvisors give it four owl eyes, and five Yelpers give it a 4.5-star average rating:

• This world's largest firefighting museum houses a fascinating collection of vintage fire trucks. – Frommer's
• …a good place to go if you're interested in firefighting memorabilia or to at least pay your respects to those who have died in the line of duty. – w w., Yelp