In 2007 the Hamilton County Fallen Firefighters Memorial Committee was formed after conversations with members of both career and volunteer fire departments in Hamilton County expressed a desire to honor three Hamilton County firefighters that have given their life in the line of duty. The committee’s vision is to honor these fallen heroes on the local level in the county’s seat.
The committee is working with artists to design a memorial that will best illustrate what firefighters do as all hazard responders. The use of bronze statues and various stones native to Indiana will be used to create a memorial in a public common space that truly honors those who gave all to help their community and their fellow citizens. As mentioned, the steel beam artifact from the rubble of the WTC towers tragedy will be incorporated in this memorial as a prominent reminder of the terrible loss of life that took place on September 11, 2001 and those that have subsequently died as a result in the years that followed.
In March of 2009, after conversations with Hamilton County commissioners and council members, the Hamilton County Fallen Firefighters Memorial Committee attended a meeting of the River Walk Inc. Committee. The River Walk Committee approved a memorial to be one of the centerpieces of their county project to construct a park area on the banks of the White River adjacent to the County Judicial Center.
The site of the planned memorial’s location is within in feet of the area that one fire fighter lost his life battling a fire in 1967.