A year before the September 11 attacks made the United States realize just how important our firefighters really are, sculptor Carl Regutti and Landscape Architect Dan Sears, of Sears Design Group in Raleigh, North Carolina, began work on a memorial honoring fallen firefighters from that state. The memorial, titled "Heroism & Sacrifice" is a life-size bronze, granite/concrete monument featuring four firefighters working under severe stress in a hazardous collapsed building. "At the time this started we wanted to create the finest firefighter memorial in the U.S.," Regutti said. "So we looked around and nobody had created a collapsed building scene, and that?EUR??,,????'???s the situation in which most firefighters die in." Regutti, whose son-in-law is a firefighter, developed a concept with four firefighters. The scene portrays one firefighter laying on the ground with a fallen I-beam on him. A second firefighter is holding his head and motioning for other firefighters to help. The third is struggling to lift the I-beam off the first, and a fourth is in an adjacent area with a fire hose. The monument will reside in Nash Square, located in downtown Raleigh. "This square is right in the middle of downtown Raleigh where all of the traffic is," Regutti said. "This is a big, complex project and it?EUR??,,????'???s pretty messy. We?EUR??,,????'???ll have to stop traffic to move things in and we?EUR??,,????'???ll have to be careful about tearing up historic trees and other things." Regutti added the city of Raleigh is donating the grading for the project and the first of the four firefighter figures were unveiled on July 31. Every six months, a new figure will be unveiled. Regutti hopes to have the project completed in two years. He credits Sears and the tireless efforts of Capt. Andy Woodall of the Raleigh Fire Department who has worked closely with all involved to make the memorial a reality. "Right now we have a completed model and the skimpiest of site plans done," Sears said. "We just got the surveying done on the site." Sears is responsible for laying out the grass, walkways and lights, which are all being built into the sculpture. The base of the sculpture is constructed of concrete so that it looks like collapsed building components. That in turn will have a rounded walkway with a Maltese cross, which is a traditional firefighter symbol. Around that will be three granite pillars (2 ft. x 2 ft. x 12 ft.) on those pillars will be the names of fallen North Carolina firefighters from the first recorded casualty to present. On the top of those pillars will be sculptures of specialty groups like Hazardous Materials, Forest Service and Water Rescue. To help raise funds for this project, Regutti innovated a bonded marble piece that looks like real burnt wood. The piece is approximately 10" x 15" with high relief of the scene of the four firefighters in the memorial. When the World Trade Center was hit, Regutti said that one piece was donated to each of the 343 families of fallen New York City firefighters. In turn, New York firefighters are donating some of the tools used at the WTC to the memorial in North Carolina. "They have some actual tools used in the Ground Zero site," Regutti said. "We won?EUR??,,????'???t be putting the originals in our model, because I don?EUR??,,????'???t want people chiseling them out, but we?EUR??,,????'???ll make molds and bronze cast of those and eventually those original tools will go into a firefighter museum." To help make "Heroism & Sacrifice" a reality, send donations to North Carolina Fallen Firefighters Foundation, P.O. Box 187, Garner, NC 27529, or call 1-877-810-1800.