New Fallen Firefighters Memorial to Include Richfield Hero’s Name—Finally

For more than 20 years a memorial honoring Minnesota’s fallen firefighters has stood in the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

However, the list was incomplete. Jim Spillane, Richfield’s only firefighter to die in the line of duty in 1955, was accidentally overlooked. The mistake was caught in the midst of the Minnesota Fire Service Foundation’s efforts to raise $600,000 for a new memorial at the State Capitol.

The foundation announced Wednesday that it had reached its fundraising goal. The project will begin in the spring and should be completed—with Spillane’s name and more than 190 others—by National Fallen Firefighters Memorial Weekend in early October 2012.