In October of 2020, recognizing that in person tours and school field trips would not take place due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Bangor Fire Department unveiled a virtual tour of the fire station located on Main Street.
This interactive firehouse tour uses state-of-the-art technology. This project was done in partnership with Realty of Maine.
We haven't been able to do any tours since (spring of 2020),
said Jason Johnson, Bangor Fire Department's Public Education Officer. While this may never be able to fully replace the traditional fire house tour, this is the closest thing to being here in person.
The virtual tour is similar to the tour one might see on a real estate listing where you can move from room to room, walk up and down stairs and look around a room. The high definition views also allow you to zoom in on items of interest and includes thumb tacks which will give information about the item it's tacked to when you hover the mouse pointer on the thumb tack.
To be frank, there are things in this tour we don't normally show folks, such as the fire boat or Ice Rescue Sled,
says Johnson. We often don't have the time to set things up, or it would be unsafe for example to take young children up the steps of the Heavy Rescue to show them the equipment stored on top. With this tour, you can do that.
I don't use the word 'unique' very often,
says Johnson. But this is really and truly unique.