Monument Dedicated to O.C. Firefighters

The streets were filled with a parade of firetrucks Saturday as dozens of uniformed firefighters sat in bleachers at Civic Center to witness the dedication of Orange County’s first monument to their profession.

“I dedicate this as a symbol of what the fire family is and what it does,” said Msgr. John Sammon, who, as chaplain to the county’s fire departments, had first thought of creating the monument. “It is a living expression and reminder of the pledge to offer quality of service.”

Sammon, 77, said earlier in an interview that the idea of a monument to honor the county’s firefighters first occurred to him about 1980 when, attending an event at a nearby monument for law enforcement officers, he overheard a young boy ask his grandmother where the firefighters’ monument was.

“She said there wasn’t one and that’s what made me realize that we needed one,” Sammon said. “Firefighters need recognition, too.”

Sammon broached the idea with the Orange County Firefighters Assn., which began a fund-raising campaign that has netted $50,000 since 1986. Designed and constructed largely by volunteers, the monument consists of three 12-foot arching columns reaching up to a 3-foot-diameter disk from which a 20-inch bell, cast from brass hose couplings donated by fire departments from throughout the county, is suspended.

Eventually, according to Richard E. Jorgensen, the Fountain Valley fire chief who oversaw construction, a 5-foot-9 bronze statue of a firefighter holding a child will be added to the space inside the three columns.

The statue will cost an additional $30,000, which the firefighters have not yet raised. Planners say the statue’s face will bear Sammon’s likeness.

“The quality of life is protected by the service of the fire departments, and the work they do generally goes unrecognized,” Jorgensen said. “This is a focal point for firefighters past, present and future.”

Jorgensen said that Sammon will oversee at least one memorial service each year at the site to commemorate firefighters who have fallen in the line of duty. The monument, however, does not have a plaque containing their names.

Saturday’s dedication, however, was an upbeat affair with the assembled firefighters slapping each other’s backs in congratulations after repeating their professional pledge of dedication, loyalty and good service.

“This is fantastic,” Cliff Bramlette, president of the Orange County Firemen’s Assn., said when it was all over. “It was very emotional; people are beginning to realize that firefighters put their hearts and souls into their work.”