Fundraising goal met for firefighter statue to be placed in Tomball

Tomball City Council members voted Nov. 4 to accept the donation and installation of a firefighter monument at Tomball Fire Station No. 1, as all funds have been raised to pay for the design and installation of the statue, Chief Randy Parr said during the meeting.

The statue pays tribute to the founding firefighters of the Tomball Fire Department as well as honors current and future firefighters, Community Impact Newspaper previously reported.

The finished statue will cost about $35,000, Parr said in an interview, which has been raised over the last several years. According to city information, no city funds have been spent on the project.

“I’m just very happy that the community honored us by contributing funds to show the folks that started this organization back in 1934 and have come before us and who are here now and those who will come after us that we are important to them, we are important to the community and that they appreciate what we do,” Parr said.

The statue will stand about 6.5-feet tall and has been designed by Shirley Scarpetta who also designed the statue of former volunteer station agent Ken Walden, which is located at the Tomball Historic Depot Plaza. Parr said a timeline should be developed later this month for when the statue might be available to be installed.

Parr said the department will hold an official unveiling ceremony once the statue is installed at Station No. 1, located at 1200 Rudel Drive, Tomball. He estimates it will be installed in about three months.

“We’ll do an unveiling similar to what they did down at the Depot for the other statues,” he said.