This from Larry Shapiro:
On a visit to DCFD Rescue 1, a friend showed me a recent addition to the station grounds, the National Fire Dog Monument. Here are some photos of the memorial as well as a plaque commemorating two dogs from the Illinois State Fire Marshal’s Office.
Larry Shapiro photo
Larry Shapiro photo
Larry Shapiro photo
Larry Shapiro photo
Larry Shapiro photo
Excerpts from the WashingtonPost.com:
Austin Weishel, a Colorado artist whose work was dedicated … at Fifth and F streets NW [in Washington, DC] … depicts an arson dog gazing longingly up at his handler.
Before it was unveiled here, the National Fire Dog Monument went on a cross-country tour, going on display in eight cities over 15 days. The life-size bronze figures were on a wooden base. When the tour was done, Austin noticed that the wood was criss-crossed with odd striations: scratches left by dog claws when owners pulled back their curious canines.
At 16 he visited a bronze foundry near his grandparents’ Arizona home. The man who ran the foundry gave him a lump of clay and told Austin that if he shaped it into something, he’d cast it in bronze. A year later, Austin returned with what he’d fashioned from the clay: a tiny firefighter standing between New York’s twin towers. A career in art was born. It coincided with Austin’s joining a volunteer fire department.
The arson dog monument — titled “Ashes to Answers” — is catty-corner from the National Building Museum. Appropriately, it’s also behind the D.C. fire department’s Engine Company 2.
There are only 81 arson dog teams in the United States and Canada. (Washington’s fire department has two.) After a fire has been extinguished, the dogs visit the scene with their handlers. With their super-sensitive noses, the K-9s can detect various kinds of accelerants.
The sculpture is in place, but the memorial isn’t completely finished. Said Jerry: “Phase Two is to put a bronze fire hydrant with water coming out of it that goes to a dish, so dogs walking by can have a place to chill out.”
