Stockton Firefighters' Memorial Vandalized
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) - The memorial of two fallen Stockton firefighters is shining again tonight after it was vandalized Monday. And firefighters had to assemble a "strike team" to clean it up.
"It reaps at the very core of who we are as first responders," said Ken Johnson, a Stockton Fire Department division chief.
Johnson saw this firefighter memorial go up in 1997 in honor of two firefighters who perished while trying to save an elderly woman trapped in her burning home.
Bryan Jacob Golden was just out of the academy, working his very first fire. And just a day before academy graduation, someone spray painted his face white.
"This was erected as a tribute, as a healing mechanism for our community and our fire department. To have it vandalized, it's just disgusting," said Johnson.
Firefighters responded instantly, assembling a team to scrub and treat every crack, every wrinkle on the sculptures.
"Earlier this year, the plaque was stolen from the monument as well…and actually the people who were installing the new plaque had the means to help us," said Toby Trana, a Stockton Fire Department captain.
Firefighters had just spent thousands of dollars fixing the memorial from the last time it was vandalized. This time, Johnson says the team has a message for the person or people who have the audacity to do something like this: "We would ask for the respect for something we hold sacred, a gift that we've given to the community to help understand celebrate the service and understand the sacrifice."
The firefighters' union hired security to guard this memorial until the academy graduates. So what comes next? Firefighters are hoping to raise enough money to install security cameras near the memorial.
The academy graduation is Thursday night at 5:30 p.m. It's a public ceremony.
