Politics & Government

History in the Making: Groundbreaking for 9/11 Memorial at Cranberry Fire Station Set for Sunday

The event is scheduled for the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on America.

On Sunday, the Cranberry Township Volunteer Fire Company will mark the of the terrorist attacks of 9/11 with its own piece of American history.

The department has planned a groundbreaking ceremony for a that fell from one of the World Trade Center towers on the day of the terrorist attacks. The I-beam in April after a two-year application process.

Bruce Hezlep, fire company president, initially hoped to have the memorial finished before Sunday, but he said the task proved too difficult. Design work for the memorial began after the steel came to Cranberry. Hezlep said no one had any idea what the I-beam would look like.

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“We didn’t want to do this haphazardly,” he added. “We want to put forth our best effort and get it right.”

There will be a at 12:30 p.m. in the area in front of the on Route 19 where the monument eventually will be erected. Hezlep said he and nine others, including  township officials and members of the Cranberry , and services will use silver shovels to scatter dirt on the site.

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Jeff Berneburg, 9/11 committee chairman, will unveil a drawing of the finished memorial. Along with the steel, the final monument will include a flagpole that will be lighted 24 hours a day. There also will be a memorial stone that presents a timeline of the events of Sept. 11 starting at 8:46 a.m., the time the first hijacked plane hit the North Tower of the World Trade Center.

Hezlep said the timeline is important to help people remember the shock and the horror of that day. He noted that some of the station’s younger firefighters were still in elementary school in 2001. His own daughter wasn’t born.

“We don’t want people to forget this in 20 years,” he said. “If there’s nothing around, there’s nothing to make it real, but to actually come over here and touch a piece of history, how can you measure that?"

No glass will shelter the steel in the memorial’s design. When the steel first arrived in Cranberry, Hezlep said folks in the department couldn't resist touching it. He wants the rest of the community to have the same opportunity.

“I think it’s important that people can come up and touch it,” he said.

Hebert, Rowland & Grubic Inc. of Cranberry is designing the memorial. Berneburg’s engineering company, McIlvried, DiDiano & Mox LLC of Warrendale, donated the drawings for the project’s site work. 

Hezlep said no tax dollars would be used for the monument. Firefighters are hoping to raise $50,000 for the project. He said the Cranberry Township Community Chest, an organization that partners with local nonprofit organizations to benefit the community, already has given a $10,000 grant for the memorial.

Volunteers will kick off a fundraising drive after Sunday’s groundbreaking. Anyone interested in giving to memorial may go to the fire company’s website for information about how to donate.

Hezlep said all donors would be recognized on the memorial. A donor who gives $5,000 or more will be recognized at the “chief” level. Those who give less than $100 will be on the “firefighter” level. There also will be levels for deputy chief, battalion chief, captain, lieutenant and rescue officer.

“The idea is we want to recognize everyone who gives,” Hezlep said.

He hopes the monument will be completed by April 21, one year to the day that firefighters brought the piece of steel from New York to Cranberry.

“This isn’t just going to be a firefighter memorial,” Hezlep said. “This is the community’s memorial. [Sept. 11, 2001] was a day that impacted everyone.”

If you’re going:

The groundbreaking ceremony will begin at 12:30 p.m. Sunday at the Cranberry Township Volunteer Fire Company’s on Route 19. The department's honor guard will perform a presentation of the colors and fire company chaplain Jim Cole will offer an invocation.

After the Pledge of Allegiance, Katielyn Ahlgren will sing the national anthem. Light refreshments will be served. The ceremony is expected to last 30 minutes.


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