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Area’s fallen firefighters to be honored by sculpture

Artist Jon Barlow Hudson, working in his Yellow Springs studio, won the commission to create the Miami Valley Firefighters Memorial in Stubbs Park in Centerville. This is a 22-year dream of two Dayton-area firefighters who wanted to commemorate the friends they have lost in the line of duty. They have finally raised most of the money to commission the work.

Staff photo by Jim Witmer Artist Jon Barlow Hudson, working in his Yellow Springs studio, won the commission to create the Miami Valley Firefighters Memorial in Stubbs Park in Centerville. This is a 22-year dream of two Dayton-area firefighters who wanted to commemorate the friends they have lost in the line of duty. They have finally raised most of the money to commission the work.

ENLARGE PHOTO

‘Fire Wall’ a deserving memorial to Miami Valley firefighters

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A sculpture memorializing Miami Valley firefighters who have died in the line of duty will be placed in Stubbs Park in Centerville. Yellow Springs artist Jon Barlow Hudson has been selected to create the sculpture, which will look similar to the model seen here.

Submitted photo A sculpture memorializing Miami Valley firefighters who have died in the line of duty will be placed in Stubbs Park in Centerville. Yellow Springs artist Jon Barlow Hudson has been selected to create the sculpture, which will look similar to the model seen here.

58 firefighters in Miami Valley have died in line of duty

By Mary McCarty, Staff Writer Updated 9:39 PM Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Rod Longpre has held two jobs in his life: soldier and firefighter.

He never saw combat during his years in the Army patrolling the East German border. It wasn’t until he returned to Dayton as a firefighter that he witnessed comrades being carried away on a stretcher.

The Belmont man will never forget the day in 1988 when the call came in: an explosion on Sims Street in Dayton with multiple injuries.

“In the confusion we didn’t realize that it was our own who had been injured,” Longpre recalled.

His friend and mentor, Lt. Patrick Yahle, was among the half-dozen firefighters injured in the industrial explosion. “Seeing those guys being carried from the field of battle had a profound effect on me,” Longpre said.

At first it seemed that Yahle would recover, but during his hospitalization, he threw a blood clot and died.

Longpre still gets choked up talking about his friend: “He was the best of us.”

Over time it became his mission to make sure that Yahle’s sacrifice would never be forgotten. He and his union colleagues with Dayton Firefighters Local 136 dreamed of a memorial that would honor the 58 Miami Valley firefighters who have died in the line of duty since 1847. “We kept asking ourselves, ‘Why are there almost no memorials for firefighters?’ ”

Box 21 Rescue Squad Lt. Darrell Perkins joined him in his quest, organizing an annual memorial concert at Stubbs Park in Centerville and raising funds for the commission of a sculpture. A thousand fish fries later, volunteers have raised nearly $70,000 toward the $100,000 goal.

Yellow Springs artist Jon Barlow Hudson has started work on a sculpture to be installed at Stubbs Park that he calls “Fire Wall.”

Said Longpre, “A more conscientious firefighter than Pat Yahle never walked this earth. For me this sculpture means we’re never going to let anyone forget Pat or any of these men and women who gave their lives for us.”

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