More than 25 years in the making, this memorial honors 119 Arizona firefighters and emergency medical responders who gave their lives in the line of duty since 1902. Located in Phoenix, near the state capitol, the memorial’s design incorporates an open courtyard surrounded by shaded trees and bronze statues.

The memorial wall and bell tower are a concrete superstructure covered in 2,300 sq ft of raven-black granite. The bell tower stands 30 ft tall and houses a bronze bell, while the statues represent firefighters and other emergency personnel.

Three center points were used to lay out the complex curves, with the design tolerance between concrete and granite less than one half of an inch. The memorial’s design was incorporated into a building information model that aided the Wisconsin-based granite contractor’s prefabrication, cutting, engraving and polishing of the material before shipment to the Arizona project site. The granite facade consists of 1,200 individual pieces.

Due to the thin dimensions and rebar congestion, crews placed 8-in. uni-strut inserts in the concrete to hang the stone on the bell tower’s vertical surface.

The memorial was built entirely through donations, with approximately $1.4 million raised through corporate and individual contributions and $150,000 contributed as in-kind donations from the project design and construction team.

This project has earned the 2016 Exposing the Best in Concrete Award from the Arizona Chapter of the International Concrete Institute.

The memorial was designed to accommodate fallen service men and women for another 100 years.
 

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