New Memorial to Honor Arizona’s Fallen Firefighters and Paramedics

PHOENIX - March 10, 2015 - PRLog -- Firefighters and paramedics from across the state of Arizona commemorated the groundbreaking of the Arizona Fallen Firefighter Memorial today at Wesley Bolin Memorial Plaza in Phoenix. Governor Ducey participated in the ceremony with the construction team, comprised of McCarthy Building Companies, Smithgroup, CVL and PK Associates and major memorial sponsors, including Arizona Public Service.

Groundbreaking marks the beginning of construction on this, the first statewide memorial dedicated to the courage and memory of Arizona firefighters and paramedics who gave their lives in service of others. To date, 105 firefighters and paramedics have lost their lives in Arizona since 1902. The memorial is intended to provide a quiet place to consider the sacrifice and dedication of those firefighters who gave their lives on behalf of Arizona and its families. Construction is expected to complete in September 2015, and will be celebrated with a formal dedication in October.

Two Arizona sculptors – Rusty Bowers from Mesa and Paul Olesniewicz from Tucson, who was also in attendance for the groundbreaking – are donating their time to create 10 life-size bronze sculptures as part of the memorial representing wildland firefighters, paramedics, volunteers and professional firefighters, male and female, representing the diverse culture of the state. One of the bronze sculptures was featured at today’s groundbreaking ceremony. Each sculpture requires approximately 800 man-hours to create.

The memorial is being built entirely through donations. To date, approximately $1.25 million has been raised via corporate contributions, about $70,000 has been raised from individual contributions and $150,000 is being contributed via in-kind donations by the design and construction team. The total project cost is $1.7 million; no public or taxpayer funds are being utilized in this effort.

About the Arizona Fallen Firefighter Memorial:

In May 2013, Governor Brewer signed House Bill 2136, sponsored by Representative Bob Robson, authorizing the construction of a statewide memorial on Wesley Bolin Plaza to commemorate the loss of 105 firefighters and paramedics in Arizona since 1902.  Arizona is one of only nine states without a statewide memorial. This will be one of only a handful of state memorials commemorating wildland firefighters, paramedics, volunteers and professional firefighters. For more information or to make a donation, visit: www.azfirefightersmemorial.com.

About McCarthy Building Companies:

McCarthy Building Companies (http://www.mccarthy.com/), Inc. is the nation’s 9th largest domestic general contractor (Engineering News-Record, May 2014) and was named 2014 Contractor of the Year by Engineering News-Record Southwest during the same year it celebrated its 150^th anniversary. The McCarthy Southwest Region is based in Phoenix. McCarthy also has offices in Newport Beach, San Diego, Sacramento and San Francisco, Calif.; Las Vegas; Albuquerque; Dallas and Houston; St. Louis and Atlanta.  McCarthy is 100 percent employee-owned.