City Council unanimously OKs use of memorial site for six Worcester firefighters
November 19, 2003
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WORCESTER, Mass. -- The City Council has given the go-ahead for creation of a memorial to the six Worcester firefighters killed during rescue operations in a warehouse fire almost four years ago.
The council voted unanimously Tuesday night, Nov. 18, to give the Worcester Fire Fighters Memorial Committee temporary control of the almost nine-acre site for design and construction of the memorial. The council also approved a measure calling for the memorial committee to donate the memorial to the city of Worcester under a trust agreement and for control of the site to revert to the city once the memorial is built.
The memorial site is on Fire Department land next to the department's headquarters off Grove Street and on scenic Salisbury Pond near Institute Park.
Several councilors praised the memorial committee for selecting the site, and for their efforts to establish a memorial there. No one spoke in opposition.
Councilor Stephen G. Abraham noted that the memorial committee has pledged to keep the public involved in the process of creating the memorial. Abraham is chairman of the council’s Youth, Parks and Recreation Committee, which voted unanimously last week to recommend that the council approve the memorial committee’s use of the site. Councilors Joseph M. Petty and Juan A. Gomez, the other members of the Youth, Parks and Recreation Committee, also spoke in favor of the memorial site and of the memorial committee’s work.
Mayor Timothy P. Murray said the council’s vote would provide the next important step in creating a memorial that would continue the healing for the community and for the relatives of the six firefighters, some of whom attended the council meeting. Murray predicted that the memorial would succeed because the process toward building it "will value community involvement."
City Manager Thomas R. Hoover, who had recommended that the council approve the memorial site proposal, said the city administration would remain committed to the memorial project and to the betterment of the adjacent Salisbury Pond and Institute Park. The memorial site is on former park land on the edge of Salisbury Pond across from Institute Park.
Michael V. O’Brien, Worcester’s commissioner of parks, recreation and cemetery, said the city would soon be announcing an initiative to create a master plan for Institute Park that would take into account the establishment of the firefighters’ memorial nearby.
Michael J. Donoghue, chairman of the Worcester Fire Fighters Memorial Committee, said some people have questioned the size of the site, even though only a portion of it will be used for the memorial itself.
"The size of this memorial park reflects the magnitude of the sense of loss this community has felt since December 1999," Donoghue said.
The Worcester Fire Fighters Memorial Committee began its work in late 2001 to establish a memorial to honor Firefighters Paul A. Brotherton, Timothy P. Jackson, Jeremiah M. Lucey, James F. "Jay" Lyons III, Joseph T. McGuirk, and Lt. Thomas E. Spencer. The nation joined Worcester in mourning their deaths. About 30,000 firefighters and 10,000 civilians attended a memorial service six days after their deaths. It was believed to have been the largest such service for firefighters killed on duty. Firefighters from across the country and from other countries attended, as did scores of prominent officials, among them President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore.
Obtaining control of the site will permit the memorial committee to begin:
Seeking proposals for the first stage of a two-stage design competition that will determine what the memorial will look like and how it will fit into the site. Mounting a fund-raising campaign to finance the memorial and to create an endowment that will pay for its maintenance and possibly for educational adjuncts to the memorial after it is built. Ensuring that the public is kept informed about progress toward building the memorial, and that public opinion is solicited during the design competition.
The committee, which includes relatives of two of the six fallen firefighters, voted unanimously more than a year ago to choose the Grove Street site for the memorial. Members of the other four firefighters' families also have endorsed the Grove Street site.
The committee has formally named the site "Worcester Fire Fighters Memorial Park 5-1438, December 3, 1999." The numbers represent the fire's five alarms and the Fire Department code for the location of the fire that evening at the abandoned Worcester Cold Storage and Warehouse Co. building. The six firefighters died during rescue operations in the building, located off Route 290 near downtown Worcester. Their deaths were the worst loss of firefighters' lives in more than 20 years in a building fire in America, and the third worst fire in Massachusetts' history.
The memorial committee's charge is to select the site of the memorial; to establish a process for community participation and awareness in the design and development of the memorial; and to raise money for the memorial's construction and maintenance.
Since choosing the Grove Street site, the committee has voted for a two-stage open national competition to determine the final design for the memorial. Proposals will be sought soon from architects, landscape architects, urban designers and environmental artists from throughout the United States. A jury of nationally known designers and local community representatives will decide on the winning design from finalists chosen after the first stage of the competition. The public will have an opportunity to review and comment on the finalists' choices before the second stage of the competition is held to award the design contract.
The committee has adopted as guidelines for the design that the memorial include a monument to the six firefighters; a bridge connecting the memorial site to Institute Park across Salisbury Pond; a chronology of the tragic fire and its aftermath; and tributes to others who fought the fire and to other Worcester firefighters who die in the line of duty.
The committee also has adopted a mission statement toward its goal of creating the memorial, with the theme "A Time to Honor Our Own."
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Last modified: Aug 12, 2004, 14:30 EDT