Retired fire chief Doug Wylie has lost friends -- people he calls brothers. He says a monument to honour them is overdue.
Now, what they'll get is a permanent place to be remembered. The monument will be built on Lebreton Flats.
"It means to me what it would mean to any firefighter in Canada -- to have a place to honour and respect and memorialize what they gave," Wylie said.
Added Karen Mills from the Fallen Firefighters Foundation, "There is a weight and importance to this space. It's a dedicated space that deals with honouring all of these individuals, and it has a national forum."
It will be located right beside a condo development and the Canadian War Museum: a central part of Ottawa's downtown.
Public weighs in on five designs
There are five designs on the table, with firms and artists from across the country going head to head for the honour.
The National Capital Commission is a partner, but gives most of the credit to the fallen firefighter's foundation.
"It was fantastic," says the NCC's Sylvie Tilden. "We had quite a lot of people. The public came and viewed all five proposals, and left their comments."
Monument to go up in 2012
A winner was selected Friday, but that will stay a secret until September.
Every September, firefighters from across the country make their way to Parliament Hill to pay tribute to their fallen comrades.
Come 2012, they'll have a place to call their own.
With a report from CTV Ottawa's Stefan Keyes
