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Glite Dictionary
🚒 A fire station 👨‍🚒 Firefighters group
fire hall

fire hall

2.3
A building where firefighters keep equipment, work, and hold community events
  • noun
  • /ˈfaɪər hɔl/
  • Canadian
translation icon : estación de bomberos
  • The town council decided to renovate the old fire hall to better serve local events.

Examples

  • The community gathered for the annual celebration at the fire hall to enjoy food and music.

  • The council meets in the fire hall.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • Yeah, but like in countries with government funded fire, like fire halls, like I feel like this is just directly going to increase.

  • In emergencies, firefighters quickly return to the fire hall to grab their gear and respond.

Synonyms

firehouse
vsfire hall
  • US
58 1.8

A building where firefighters stay, keep equipment, and leave to fight fires

is often community space as well as an operations base
fire station
vsfire hall
22 1.3

A building where firefighters and fire engines stay and go to fires

is also used for community events and meetings rather than only operations
caserne
vsfire hall
9.9

A building where firefighters live and work

is mainly a community meeting and equipment base rather than living quarters

How Big

fire hall
  • Canadian
2.3
fire station
22 1.3
outpost
110 6.0

Surface Forms

fire hall singular
fire halls plural

Morphology

fire + hall

The meaning 'the building/group of firefighters' is directly derivable from combining 'fire' (relating to firefighting) with 'hall' (a building or public meeting place), indicating a building or organization associated with fire services. This modifier+building composition is common cross-linguistically (cf. 'town hall', 'city hall') so a B1 learner who knows both words would most likely infer the MWE's meaning, despite regional variation with 'fire station'.

Etymology

The noun fire hall comes from small towns where the fire crew kept their trucks and gear in a large hall and used the same space for pancake breakfasts and meetings. So, fire hall means 'the building' where the firefighters are based and the community meets.