Memorial Hall

The entrance to the IFSI Learning Resource and Research Center serves as a Firefighter Memorial Hall documenting firefighter fatalities and supporting tradition- and values-based education, which is essential for firefighter development. The Firefighter Memorial Hall provides a permanent home for the IFSI Firefighter Line of Duty Deaths Honor Book, which memorializes more than 850 Illinois firefighters who have died in the line of duty since 1857. Fallen firefighters are listed on the day that they died, and the pages are turned every day to remember those firefighters. Originally compiled by former IFSI Deputy Director David F. Clark, the book inspired the creation of "IFLODD: The Illinois Firefighter Line of Duty Deaths Digital Image Collection Database" (http://www.fsi.illinois.edu/content/library/IFLODD/).

The Firefighter Memorial Hall also features space for permanent and temporary exhibits related to Illinois fire service history. Current exhibits include an assortment of artifacts, photographs, and text that document "Illinois Firefighter Line of Duty Death Events," "Historic Illinois Fires and Emergencies," and the "History of the Illinois Fire Service Institute." Displays will be rotated regularly so that key events that have shaped the Illinois fire service are remembered at appropriate times throughout the year. For example, materials describing Chicago's Hubbard Street Fire, in which nine firefighters died in the line of duty on January 28, 1961, were displayed during the dedication of the Learning Resource and Research Center, which occurred on the fiftieth anniversary of the tragic fire.

 Back to LRRC Main