Fire Station Display of Twin Towers Relic To Honor 9/11 Survivors and Victims

A haunting piece of recent American history is scheduled to go on permanent view at Birmingham's fire headquarters in early September. 

A portion of a damaged steel beam from the World Trade Center, sent to Birmingham by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, will be mounted for display in the 's small lobby.

A ceremony will be arranged to dedicate the symbolic reminder of the Sept. 11 attacks 10 years ago, said Barbara Heller, chair of the city's Public Arts Board. City commissioners approved the donor-financed plan in March, and the arts board has solicited bids for a base, plaque and glass case. "We plan to unveil it before the anniversary," said Heller, a Detroit Institute of Arts curator who lives in Birmingham.

What seems like a stark, simple artifact pulled from the rubble in lower Manhattan is an evocative reminder of that shocking day. "I was surprised to see a slight twist in the heavy steel," said Birmingham Fire Chief Michael Metz, who recently looked at the memento stored at . "It shows the force of the collapse."

Only two others in state

The I-beam remnant is one foot in each dimension — length, height and width. The Port Authority, the owner of the iconic twin towers, has distributed thousands of steel sections and other artifacts for memorials nationwide.

Birmingham is the third Michigan fire department to receive "Ground Zero" remnants. In Saginaw County, Frankenmuth will use a piece as the centerpiece for a 9/11 memorial outside the fire house. In Macomb, New Haven is preparing a low-key display at its fire station apparatus bay — also to be dedicated on or before the 10th anniversary, which falls on a Sunday this year.

"There's a brotherhood of firefighters," said Metz. Two framed artworks commemorating 9/11 hang in the station's front hall. "We were all affected."

On the morning of Sept. 11 nearly a decade ago, 343 New York City firefighters died as the towers fell after being hit by terrorist-hijacked passenger jets.   

The city's main firehouse wasn't the setting envisioned originally by the Public Arts Board and its donor, Lilly Epstein Stotland and her Birmingham family, which owns Vesco Oil in Southfield. In late 2009, the Stotland family asked the city to request pieces of metal and other building materials for a memorial sculpture to be displayed outdoors on city property.

That vision changed after commissioners heard emotional objections last September from the local widow of a 9/11 victim and others uncomfortable with a public monument. Birmingham resident Deann Forbes-Ervin submitted a petition urging an alternate approach.

'It's just a piece of steel'

"This is a compromise they reached to satisfy all parties," said Joe Valentine, assistant city manager. "It will be a symbolic element, not an artistic element."

Valentine assured commissioners, who approved the plan March 7, that the cost of less than $5,000 is covered by the contributor.  

Speaking separately, Heller said: "It's not a work of art," she emphasized. "It's totally symbolic, dedicated to survivors and victims. It's just a piece of steel, not a sculpture."

While the one-cubic-foot section will be in a public space, the setting is behind a locked entry where visitors gain access via an intercom. "People would have to make a special trip," Metz said.

As it happens, there's an easier way to see the new display early this fall. "We'll be excited to show it off at our open house Oct. 15," the chief says. "It will be special to us." The three-hour Saturday event, wrapping up national Fire Prevention Week, typically draws more than 100 families each year.

Indelible first-hand memories

The idea and financial support for the memorial comes from a 1996 Detroit Country Day graduate who witnessed the horror of 9/11 during her second year as a financial analyst at Goldman Sachs on Broad Street, a few blocks from the World Trade Center. Epstein Stotland, mourning friends and colleagues, moved back to Birmingham a few months later and joined her family's automotive and industrial supplier as business development manager.

"We can't forget what happened that day," she was quoted in the Oakland Press as saying of the sculpture idea in 2009. "Plus, we need to remember the heroism and bravery of so many people who helped to save lives."

City leaders also heard from Birmingham resident Kia Pavloff-Pecorelli, who was 10 weeks pregnant when her husband Thomas died aboard the American Airlines flight that struck the North Tower. Pavloff-Pecorelli, who still lives in Birmingham with her son Nicholas, 9, spoke against a sculpted memorial at a commission meeting last Sept. 13.

In a WDIV interview one year earlier, Pavloff-Pecorelli said her husband loved nature and would have preferred a garden or reflection pool. "There's no reason for a memorial with the steel of such destruction and tragedy to come home, following me back here," the station quoted her as saying in November 2009.

The scaled-back alternative will have a plaque with wording that Epstein Stotland is drafting for Public Arts Board review, Heller says.