Grove St. fire headquarters site selected for memorial to six Worcester firefighters
October 9, 2002
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WORCESTER, Mass. -- A site next to Fire Department headquarters off Grove Street has been chosen for a permanent memorial to the six Worcester firefighters who died battling a fire in an abandoned warehouse here three years ago.
The Worcester Fire Fighters Memorial Committee announced its selection of the site today. The committee began working late last year on development of the memorial to honor the six men who died fighting a fire in the Worcester Cold Storage and Warehouse Co. building near Route 290 just outside downtown Worcester the evening of Dec. 3, 1999. Their deaths marked 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 deaths of Firefighters Paul A. Brotherton, Timothy P. Jackson, Jeremiah M. Lucey, James F. "Jay" Lyons III, Joseph T. McGuirk, and Lt. Thomas E. Spencer shocked and saddened Worcester and the nation. A memorial service six days after their deaths drew 30,000 firefighters and 10,000 civilians in what was believed to be the largest memorial service for firefighters killed on duty. Those attending included firefighters from across the country and from other countries and scores of prominent officials, including President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore.
The Worcester Fire Fighters Memorial Committee has been established to identify 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.
"We have gathered here today to stand with you on the site of the permanent memorial that will forever recall the courage and the sacrifice of six of Worcester's own, six of Worcester's best," Michael J. Donoghue, chairman of the Worcester Fire Fighters Memorial Committee, said at a press conference at the fire headquarters site attended by committee members, members of the firefighters' families, fire officials and rank-and-file members of the department, and city and state officials. "This is the first public step of many to come to celebrate the memories of these men in a way that appropriately honors the depth of their courage and the unselfishness of their sacrifice."
"The next step for the Worcester Fire Fighters Memorial Committee is to develop the procedures for selecting the best design for the memorial," said Kenneth W. Paolini, executive director of Design Competitions International of Boston and adviser to the committee. "The search for the best design will be based on a national or invited design competition with one or more stages of participation by architects, landscape architects, urban designers and environmental artists from around the United States. A jury of nationally known designers and local community representatives will choose the winning design."
The committee will spearhead a campaign to raise money for the memorial and its maintenance. The committee traveled to the New York Foundation Center, a clearinghouse of information for more than 42,000 foundations in the United States, to determine what money might be available from local, regional and national sources.
Donations to the permanent memorial can be made to Worcester Fire Fighters Memorial, in care of Worcester Fire Department Headquarters, 141 Grove Street, Worcester, MA 01605.
The memorial site is part of a 6.5-acre parcel where the Fire Department headquarters has stood for almost half a century. The memorial will be located on an undeveloped portion of this scenic acreage on Salisbury Pond across from Institute Park.
The Worcester Fire Fighters Memorial Committee has 12 members. Besides Donoghue, they are Denise Brotherton, widow of Firefighter Paul Brotherton; James F. Lyons Jr., father of Firefighter Jay Lyons; Fire Chief Gerard A. Dio; Firefighter Frank P. Raffa, president of Local 1009, International Association of Fire Fighters; Lt. John A. Daly Jr., secretary of Local 1009; Firefighter Ed Ryan; businessmen John F. O'Brien, Christopher E. Goode, Michael A. Carotta, and Michael D. Morgan; and Ruth Ann Penka, executive director of ARTSWorcester.
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