Firefighter shrine will be expanded

COLORADO SPRINGS A week after 168 union firefighters and emergency-service personnel are honored Saturday in Colorado Springs, the landmark memorial where the annual service takes place will be rebuilt to make room for thousands of additional names.

Nearly $4 million from the International Association of Fire Fighters' 300,000 members will pay for a redesigned and expanded memorial that will allow the addition of 3,469 names of firefighters who died in the line of duty from 1918 to 1975, IAFF Local 5 president Jeremy Kroto said.

The new memorial should have enough room on the walls for names to be added for 30 years.

"It is unfortunate to say that we've lost so many firefighters from line-of-duty risks and diseases that we need more room, but that's the case," Kroto said. "With the addition of all the names, we'll be looking at nearly 6,000 firefighters and emergency-service personnel memorialized. Sadly, we'll always need room for the memorial to grow."

Read more of the article Firefighter shrine will be expanded at Gazette.com.

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Firefighter shrine will be expanded