LEBANON — Clearcreek Fire Chief Bernie Becker pushed for years to build a monument to firefighters and EMS workers in Warren County.

        It was a hard sell — until Sept. 11.

This artist's rendition is a preliminary design for the rescuers' memorial for Warren County. (Laser Imaging & Design Inc. photo) | ZOOM |

        Now, he and colleagues in the Warren County Fire Chief's Association are laying plans and raising money to make sure emergency workers here get a proper tribute.

        “I told the guys, we need to give something back to the people that serve our community,” Chief Becker said. “It was more accepted after the 9-11 tragedy.”

        The $15,000 black granite monument is tentatively planned for an area off Justice Drive. The fire chiefs are waiting for county approval to place it at the driveway entrance to the Warren County Administration Building, opposite the recently installed Fraternal Order of Police memorial.

        Planners are still tweaking the final design, which will include the EMS Star of Life, the EMS prayer, the Maltese Cross and Firefighter's Prayer. The names of county firefighters who died in the line of duty will be inscribed somewhere on the monument. Association officials are still tracking down those names, none of them recent.

        The centerpiece will be a laser etching of Bergen (N.J.) Record photographer Tom Franklin'spictureof New York City firefighters raising the American flag in the rubble of the World Trade Center.

        “This memorial isn't about the Sept. 11 attacks,” said Franklin Fire Chief Jonathan Westendorf, who is president of the county fire chiefs association. “That photo symbolizes worldwide heroism in the fire service.”

        Chiefs had hoped to have the monument completed and installed by the anniversary of the World Trade Center attack, but it probably won't happen until early next year. The granite must be ordered from India before Dodd Monuments in Lebanon can start on the piece, and money must be raised, Chief Westendorf said.

        A fire chief has loaned the organization $6,000 to get started.

        The association will pay him back and raise the rest of the money through donations and the sale of inscribed pavers that will be laid in a walkway at the site.

        The fund-raising campaign kicks off this weekend, during a showing of “343,” an exhibit of the photographs and representative uniforms of emergency workers who died at the World Trade Center.

        The exhibit, by Troy, Ohio, artist Stella Gasvoda, is part of the Springboro Freedom Festival and is sponsored by the city historical society.

        Open to the public, it will be displayed in the bay of the Clearcreek fire station at 925 S. Main St. in Springboro from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Firefighters can view the exhibit during a private showing after 6 p.m. Saturday.

        Contributions can be mailed to Warren County Firefighter's Memorial, Lebanon Citizens National Bank, P.O. Box 59, Lebanon, OH, 45036. For information on how to order the inscribed pavers, call Franklin Chief Jonathan Westendorf at 937-746-4542. Three sizes of pavers are available, ranging from $500 for a square-foot paver to $100 for a brick size.

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