Fundraising underway to place new bronze statue at 9/11 memorial at Clear Lake Fire Department

CLEAR LAKE — Fundraising is underway in an effort to place a new bronze statue honoring both the firefighters who lost their lives during the 9/11 attacks and the firefighters who have served in Clear Lake at the 9/11 Memorial at the Clear Lake Fire Department.

Assistant Chief Mike Keefe says Brodin Studios of Kimball Minnesota will be creating the new sculpture.  “A company that did the memorial for Buddy Holly is the same company that’s doing ours. If you want to look at something they’ve done, you can take a look at what they did for Buddy Holly, but they also put three statues at the Purple Heart Memorial in San Antonio Texas. They showed us the pictures of that the day they were here to take pictures. It’s pretty incredible, the three military people they put together down there. It’s just amazing what they can do. They came here, and they have a very unique camera they use for our model for that. That particular statue is going to be a Clear Lake firefighter.”

Keefe says they already have received a substantial donation for the $65,000 project.   “We’ve already received some and you know we’re already working on it. As you know, we have an anonymous gift for that memorial. A large anonymous gift, and it’s going to be a really cool event for us.”

Donations can be mailed and be payable to the Clear Lake Fire Association at Post Office box 332, Clear Lake, Iowa, 50428. The Clear Lake City Council earlier this week approved a resolution of support for the Clear Lake Fire Association’s fundraising efforts for the new statue.