The Fire Service has traditionally honoured members lost in the Line-of-Duty or as a result of direct occupational illness. With this concept in mind, the Strathcona Firefighters Honour Guard began raising funds in 1996 for the construction of a Fallen Fire Fighters Memorial in Sherwood Park. This Memorial would provide a location for members of the department and citizens of Strathcona County to honour all emergency service personnel who lose, or have lost, their lives while responding to the needs of the citizens they are honoured to protect.

The original business plan outlined progressive fundraising activities over a 10 year period with anticipation of a Memorial being constructed prior to 2008. Farthest from anyone’s imagination [at that time] were the events of September 11th, 2001—when emergency services would be dealt its greatest blow in recorded history with the loss of more than 350 fire fighters, emergency medical personnel and police officers. This unwelcome addition to [already] tragic annual statistics of line-of-duty deaths within the International Association of Fire Fighters (I.A.F.F.) gave rise to the realization that the time had come to construct the Fallen Fire Fighters Memorial in Sherwood Park.

In March of 2002, Deputy Chief Brian Parker and Lieutenant Michael (Todd) Nixon initiated discussions relative to the scope of the project. This included aspects of design and budget. The property to the west of SCES Station No. 1 appeared to be the obvious choice for locating the Memorial. Not only was this location adjacent to the department’s main place of business, it was located within the Broadmoor Lake area of Sherwood Park. This would provide a secure location for the Memorial while still allowing free access for residents of Strathcona County to visit the site.

On May 15, 2002, a series of conceptual photographs was forwarded to Behrend’s Bronze Inc. and onward to Artistic Visions Studio Gallery and a local sculptor by the name of Zazo. Well-known for his precise sculpting techniques and ability to capture facial details and life-like expressions in his work, Zazo accepted the challenge associated with sculpting the main feature for the Memorial. Using the preliminary photographs, Zazo sketched a firefighting scene that incorporated all aspects of fire, rescue and emergency medical response. This sketch would form the foundation for a 6-foot tall by 15-foot wide bronze plaque that would adorn the front of the feature wall at the Memorial site.

One of the many traditions of the Fire Service has been the sounding of the “last alarm” during a funeral service for a member who has perished in the line-of-duty. In days past, many fire departments rang the firehouse bell three consecutive times to signify the completion of a fireground operation and to indicate that all members had been accounted for and were returning home to their families. Born from that activity, modern day fire departments sound a funeral bell three consecutive times to signify the final calling for a fallen comrade—this is known as the “last alarm.”

Once the last alarm is sounded, all that remains is silence: silence for the spouse and children of the fallen member; silence for brothers and sisters within the fire service; and silence for members of a community who have [collectively] suffered a loss. Thus the inscription “… and then there was silence…” across the central portion of the memorial plaque.

With the sketch reviewed and accepted by members of the Honour Guard, Zazo began the process of redrawing his original sketch to full-scale size. This full-scale drawing was divided into a series of five separate panels, each measuring approximately 3 feet wide. Once this drawing was completed, Zazo colour-coded the various figures within the drawing according to their relative thickness. These colour-coded drawings were used as templates for cutting Styrofoam outlines of the various features within the sculpture. The Styrofoam pieces were [then] glued together to form the foundation of the sculpture and mounted onto a series of five 3 foot by 6 foot panels.

With all of the pieces glued into position, on August 1, 2002, Zazo began sculpting the Styrofoam shapes using the photographs to guide the smallest of details. Each of the five panels was sculpted in succession from left to right using small files and a construction knife.

With the sculpting process well underway, work started for planning and constructing the Memorial site in preparation for the bronze plaque. On August 14, 2002, a meeting was held with representatives from Stantec Consulting Ltd., Behrend’s Bronze Inc. and Strathcona County Public Works. The meeting helped to ensure that all parties were on the same page with respect to site design and construction.

In addition to the considerations for the excessive weight that the wall would have to support, careful attention was given to designing the concrete pad that would be used for future events at the site. In particular, the main walkway was designed to be 2.5 metres wide to permit the passage of three Honour Guard members in a single rank. The dimensions for the main pad [itself] were specifically chosen to permit Guard members to stand at attention along both borders with proper spacing. All of these considerations were addressed in the specifications set forth by Stantec Consulting Ltd. and Behrend’s Bronze Inc.

As the wall-design and site planning activities continued, the sculpting of the Stryrofoam foundation was [itself] approaching completion. The next stage involved Zazo covering the entire surface of the sculpture with a bonding material. This coating was necessary in order to ensure that the final plaster layer would adhere to the sculpture. Following completion of the bonding layer, Zazo began applying the final layer to the sculpted panel. This was the plaster layer that would allow Zazo to address the finer details of the sculpture.

With everything continuing according to schedule, groundbreaking activities at the site began on August 29, 2002 when personnel from Strathcona County Public Works began to grade the memorial site.

On September 3, 2002, following the clearing and surveying of the memorial site, Sharp’s Construction Services Ltd. and Burnco Rock Products Ltd. combined efforts to supply and install the pilings for the wall and pedestal. Steel for the pilings was supplied and formed by Sherwood Steel Ltd. and delivered to the site on the previous morning.

With the pilings installed, site activity increased as Sure-Form Construction Ltd. began to place forms for the pouring of the main wall and pedestal. In order to address the original design criteria for the wall and pedestal, the forming stage included some unique features. To address the jagged outline at the top of the wall, Sure-Form Construction Ltd. installed custom forms that were cut-out using the overhead router at Behrend’s Bronze Inc. To provide a means for mounting and supporting the weight of the bronze plaque, a series of 10 galvanized metal plates were placed directly onto the forms in the wall. These plates were custom made by Eskimo Steel.

With all forming activity on the memorial site completed, September 10th, 2002, was scheduled as the day for pouring the main wall and pedestal. Nine metres of coloured concrete were delivered to the site by Lafarge Canada Inc. A & B Concrete Pumping Ltd. provided the means for transferring the concrete to the top of the forms where Pat Maloney and the Sure-Form Construction crew supervised its placement.

With site activity on schedule, work on the bronze plaque was still underway at Behrend’s Bronze Inc. During the week of September 4, 2002, Zazo began moving each of the five panels to Behrend’s Bronze Inc. in preparation for the casting process. Separate sand moulds were created for each panel by the staff at Behrend’s Bronze Inc. Each mould took an entire day to prepare with two and sometimes three moulders working to pack the casting sand tightly around the detailed features.

Once the molds were completed, crews at Behrend’s Bronze Inc. melted and poured the ingot into the awaiting pattern pieces. Each mould was left to cool overnight before the casting was removed and prepared for the final finishing stages. This entire process was repeated five times, once for each piece of the main bronze plaque.

At the same time that the casting process was underway at Behrend’s Bronze Inc., construction continued back at the Memorial site. On September 13, 2002, following a three-day curing period for the concrete, all forms were removed and the wall and pedestal were sandblasted to expose the aggregate.

With the feature wall and pedestal nearing completion, it was time for members of Strathcona County Fire Fighters’ Union – I.A.F.F. Local 2461 to roll up their sleeves and get to work on placing the forms for the concrete pad and walkway. This task was made much easier with the assistance of members from Strathcona County Public Works who assisted with site preparation and provided metal forms along with some supportive words.

Over four consecutive days, several department members volunteered their time and expertise to overcome some interesting design specifications—not the least of which was forming a large Maltese Cross in the centre of the main pad. Once again, teamwork and dedication towards the project would triumph.

On September 23, 2002, T & T Concrete Service Ltd.. arrived on location to begin “phase one” of the concrete pad. This first step included the pouring and stamping of coloured concrete in the Maltese Cross as well as around the outside borders of the pad. Intermittent periods of rain and cooler temperatures resulted in the first pour running well into the evening hours. Despite these less-than-favorable conditions, it was obvious that the forming effort had been successful and the pouring of the Maltese Cross had met all expectations.

After allowing the initial pour a few days to harden, the forms were removed from around the Maltese Cross and the border pattern to permit pouring the second (larger) phase of the concrete pad. On September 26, 2002, T & T Concrete Service Ltd. returned to the site and poured an additional 9 ½ metres of concrete in and amongst the previously poured coloured portions of the pad. This second pour was [eventually] washed down and given an exposed aggregate finish matching that of the main wall and pedestal.

Following several days of less-than-desirable weather, T & T Concrete Service Ltd. returned to the site to spray the stamped concrete with a coating of patina acid to blend the final colours. At the same time, crews from Salisbury Landscaping began landscaping the site in preparation for the dedication ceremony.

On October 9, 2002, welders from Eskimo Steel worked to weld prefabricated metal plates to the feature wall at the site. The upward angles on each of these ten plates were designed to accept the opposing plates on the frame of the bronze plaque and support its entire weight.

With the site at a suitable stage of completion, October 10, 2002 marked the day when the main bronze plaque would arrive for its final mounting. With the five [individual] sections of the plaque having already been assembled and welded to the main frame at Behrend’s Bronze Inc.—the completed 16 foot by 6 foot plaque arrived on scene as a single unit.

Cradled within two large slings, the 2800 pound plaque was lifted carefully through the trees and down towards the memorial site by Encore Trucking & Transport Ltd where is was carefully mounted by the staff of Behrend’s Bronze Inc. Artist and Sculptor Zazo was [also] on hand to observe the final placement of his work.

Among the final features to arrive at the Memorial Site were the two park benches. These benches were designed, constructed and installed by Rick Long of Eagle Signs. Although the benches [themselves] were intended to provide a place of comfort for those visiting the site—they were also designed to form a part of the overall theme of the memorial site.

Following years of fundraising and months of design and construction, the Strathcona Fallen Firefighters Memorial stood complete and ready for dedication on the morning of October 18th, 2002. On that morning, the Strathcona Firefighters Honour Guard led a parade of fire fighters, emergency medical personnel and police officers in a combined march from Festival Place to SCES Station #1. Included at the end of the parade, were an engine and an ambulance that carried the four flags to the Memorial Site. Each of these flags (Canada, Alberta, Strathcona County and the International Association of Fire Fighters) was mounted and raised to full-staff at the beginning of the dedication ceremony.

The four flags remained at full-staff as the bronze plaque was revealed for the first time and the dedication ceremony began. At the conclusion of the ceremony, the “last alarm” was sounded and followed by a moment of silence in honour of all that have fallen in the past, and all that will fall in the future. At the conclusion of the moment of silence, the four flags were lowered to half-staff where they would remain until sunrise on October 19th, 2002.

In the days and years that lay ahead, we ask that each time you drive by the Memorial site, you take notice of the positions of the four flags. Whenever they are at half-staff, we ask that you take a moment to appreciate what you have and to acknowledge the community effort that built this Memorial. Most importantly, we ask that you take a moment to stand beside us as we honour the fallen members of our profession.