Tempe Firefighter Tommy Arriaga honored with art installation
TEMPE, Ariz. - A new fire department opens in Tempe, adorned with a heart sculpture to honor a fallen firefighter whose death changed the department.
The backstory:
"A giant heart that had to be craned in here. It's massive. It's about 10 feet tall, it's hugging the building," Tempe Fire Assistant Chief Kyle Carman said.
It's a giant heart for the man who had a giant heart.
"We spent a lot of time together. Tommy was … the interview is not going to be long enough to tell you how awesome he was," Carman said.
Tommy Arriaga lost his life to cancer in 2020.
Tommy Arriaga
"Tommy would be honored. I really do think that Tommy would be honored. Tommy endured, at a young age, a very, very aggressive cancer that is atypical of the normal population due to his service to the community and to the things he was exposed to as a firefighter. To be able to show that his sacrifice, and he did not die in vain, and that we're making changes departmentally, across the fire service, because of people like him. He would be absolutely honored," Carman said.
His words grace the building on the inside: "It's cool to be clean."
"That meant to clean your gear, clean your body. We as a culture didn't take that seriously until guys like him have passed away from cancer. Black sooty gear was a badge of honor. It was something that showed that you've been in the tough times of working on a fire and something to show for it, but really, now we want clean gear, we want firefighters in clean gear and not taking that continuous exposure from black soot," Carman explained.
‘It takes a lot of heart’
What they're saying:
"I felt honored they chose me to do it, and we both came from the same neighborhood," the artist, Kevin Berry, said.
The artist of the sculpture said it took a year to fabricate, and the message was worth the time.
"It takes a lot of heart to do the jobs that they do here at the station and the words kind of describe that approach they take to their work," Berry said.
Words describe the work, but also the man Tommy was. A man who left a lasting legacy on this Tempe Fire Department, and hopefully that legacy will continue to save lives even though he's gone.
"Tommy's family is always going to have a place to go to and see the impact their dad and husband had," Carman said.