NEW CITY − Long-held dreams of a memorial honoring Rockland firefighters who died in the line of duty took a step toward reality on Monday.
Officials and firefighters broke ground for the project on June 16 by stabbing shovels into the lawn of the Rockland County Courthouse fronting Main Street.
“This will remember and honor our brothers and sisters and pass on their legacy,” said Evan Humphrey, president of the Rockland County Volunteer Firefighters Association. “We started this project four years ago. This time next year, our vision will be a reality.”
Humphrey was a member of the committee that discussed designs for the granite memorial and moving around and rehabilitating other memorials in the courtyard of the courthouse that honored police and military personnel.
Rockland Sheriff Louis Falco, a committee member, noted that year after year, family friends and colleagues stand in front of the monuments honoring the police and military who gave the ultimate sacrifice.
Falco noted that the time is long past for fallen firefighters to join their brethren in the courtyard of the honored.
This memorial will be “for those who gave the supreme sacrifice since 9/11 and earlier,” Falco said, noting the monument will hold the names of the unpaid volunteers, and those who lived in Rockland and worked elsewhere.
A few dozen people attended the ground-breaking, with a couple of fire trucks from local departments.
The memorial will feature the names of at least an estimated 50 firefighters who died in the line of duty since 1906, chiseled into three granite blocks. The site will have two white stone benches, surrounded by shrubbery. Many of the firefighters died responding to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the World Trade Center Twin Towers in Manhattan or from illnesses from the body search and cleanup.
The memorial site will include a life-sized sculpture of the three firefighters. The statue comes from the Rockland Fire Training Center in Ramapo. The statue, called “Honor the Brave,” represents firefighters — past, present, and future. The sculpture came from the Randolph Rose Collection Inc. of Yonkers.
Humphrey said the association committee is still researching the names of Rockland firefighters who died, especially the residents who worked for departments outside the county.
Rockland’s estimated 1,900 active volunteer firefighters are part of an 80,000-strong force of volunteers across New York state that saves taxpayers an estimated $4.7 billion annually, according to an economic study released by the Firefighters Association of the State of New York, known as FASNY.
The Rockland Legislature approved the $976,000 memorial construction contract to the ADP Group Inc. of Paterson, New Jersey. The company created the “Firefighter Brothers” statue in honor of FDNY Thomas and Daniel Foley of the FDNY. The statue was dedicated in 2023 on the West Nyack Hamlet Green. Thomas Foley died on Sept. 11, 2001, and Daniel Foley died from a disease attributed to his searching for his older brother amid the toxic remains. Both men served with the FDNY and the West Nyack Fire Department.
The overall memorial project — estimated to cost $1.9 million — goes beyond the firefighters’ memorial. The work includes relocation of existing World War I and II, Korea and Vietnam memorials for service members in the courtyard and the renovation of two older military memorials.
Rockland County Executive Ed Day and Rockland Emergency Services Coordinator Chris Kear said the memorial for firefighters is long overdue.
“This is something everybody in the community wants,” Day said before jabbing the shovel into the ground.
Names of local firefighters who died on duty to be included
The roll call of honor, or list of firefighters’ names to be included on the memorial, will include the first known line-of-duty death of Thomas Pomplin in 1906 to the most recent, 2nd Lt. Jarad Lloyd, of the Spring Valley Fire Department, in March 2021. The most recent line of duty deaths included Nyack firefighter David Jahnes and Nyack Firefighter Joseph Maragliano.
Steve Lieberman covers government, breaking news, courts, police, and investigations. Reach him at slieberm@lohud.com Twitter: @lohudlegal Read more articles and bio. Our local coverage is only possible with support from our readers.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Rockland breaks ground on memorial for fallen firefighters. See what it’ll look like
Reporting by Steve Lieberman, Rockland/Westchester Journal News / Rockland/Westchester Journal News
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