Construction Wraps Up on Lakewood's Fallen Firefighter Memorial

Ray Fisher just finished the “best work” of his 27-year career with the city of Lakewood. 

That realization came moments after he welded two rusted and torn steel beams from the to a permanent memorial in front of on Tuesday afternoon.

“It’s an honor, there’s no doubt about that,” he said. “It’s one of those goosebump things. You know you’re doing something that people are going to love and appreciate when they see it. It’s really an honor.” 

Fisher is one of a dozens of city employees — from departments that include public works, streets, forestry, grounds and maintenance and fire — working to complete the 9/11 memorial.

The — mounted to resemble the Twin Towers, fixed to a pentagonal concrete base — is set to be unveiled at a special ceremony Sept. 11 marking the 10^th anniversary of the attacks.

Hoping to keep the finished product shielded from the public until the ceremony, officials have asked the photos of the memorial not be published until Sept. 11.

A tarp keeps the memorial hidden from view.

, about a dozen firefighters from the Lakewood Fire Department drove motorcycles from Ohio to New York to pick up the beams taken from the wreckage of the Twin Towers.

was used to build a special memorial to honor those killed on Sept. 11 — as well as the four Lakewood firefighters who have died in the line of duty.

Fire Marshal Tim Dunphy, who spearheaded the effort, said an elaborate ceremony is planned to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the attacks on Sept. 11.

“We’re building this memorial so that we, as firefighters, never forget what happened on Sept. 11.”

The project has become a community effort.

Using a design submitted by , the plans show the two 12-foot beams — resembling the Twin Towers — rising up from a large concrete pad poured in a pentagonal shape.

, a local architecture firm, volunteered to engineer the plans. Stark Sandblasting and Painting Co., a Canton-based industrial coatings company, volunteered to shield the memorial from the elements.

And fire alarm boxes from the early 1900s were sold to raise money for the memorial, raising approximately $20,000.

“This project has taken on a life of its own,” Dunphy said. “This will be here for generations to come — long after we're gone."