South Zanesville Fire Department Begins Memorial Construction

The South Zanesville Fire Department has lost two firefighters over its 100 years of service to the community and a memorial in their honor started construction this week.

In honor of Lawrence “Runt” Savage and Richard “Dick” Guss, a memorial is being built outside the South Zanesville Fire House which also serves as a reminder to stay safe when answering calls. A project that Fire Chief Russell Taylor and Finscape Services owner Shane Finney had been working toward for a while.

“Well we come up with the concept about a year and a half ago, we started talking about it and for the last year we put a plan together, work with Shane. Got everything put together and for the last six months I’ve been hitting the pavement pretty hard trying to raise money. We was able to raise enough to get this part done. We still need about $20,000 to buy a plaque that goes on the wall with everybody’s name on it and a bronze helmet that goes in the thing too.”

While $20,000 still needs raised to complete the project, Taylor shared his appreciation for the $40,000 that has been donated so far to get the project started.

“It’s a great relief and it’s a big thank you to people that donated. We’ve had a couple of people that really stepped up with donations and it’s just, it’s just a wonderful feeling that people do care about first responders.”

Anybody interested in donating $100 to the project will have a memorial brick with their name engraved on it, to be installed in the perimeter of the memorial’s walk way. More information and a link to donate can be found on the South Zanesville Fire Department’s website.