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Sept. 11 memorial to honor firefighters

Part of a steel girder recovered from ground zero will become the centerpiece of the monument.

By TAMARA EL-KHOURY
Published September 16, 2005

OLDSMAR - Four years after the collapse of the twin towers, a little piece of the skyscrapers will stand immortalized in Oldsmar.

In a tribute to firefighters who died on Sept. 11, 2001, the city will erect a monument in front of the fire station on Pine Avenue.

The $11,000 monument, funded through private donations, will showcase part of a steel beam recovered from ground zero. It is expected to be finished around December.

The beam is about 3 feet long and weighs about 300 pounds. It will be displayed on two slabs of granite. A walkway will have 343 bricks engraved with the names of the 343 firefighters who died. An engraved stone will list contributors to the monument.

Another will explain the significance of the rusted chunk of steel and how it got there.

The section of a steel girder was given to fire Capt. Jerry Gabardi by Lee Ielpi, the father of a New York firefighter who died on Sept. 11.

Gabardi sent about $3,000 in donations to Ielpi's group, which was working toward the preservation of ground zero.

The donations were collected by selling CDs of a song about the tragedy that Gabardi's Christian band wrote and recorded.

Gabardi said he and the committee he put together envisioned a simple, reflective monument. He said the community has been generous to the cause.

Tampa's Coloroc Materials donated the bricks for the walkway. Colwill Engineering, also in Tampa, donated the lighting. Oldsmar's Coating Technology has the piece of steel now and is putting a protective coating on it.

"To actually have a piece of the World Trade Center in little old Oldsmar, if you want to look at it that way, I think it's awesome," Gabardi said. "It's an honor to have it here."

[Last modified September 15, 2005, 11:02:11]