...Ottawa Fire Memorial...
 

The Fireman's Memorial is located on Court House Square in the 200 block of Main Street in Ottawa, Ohio. The sculpture depicts a uniformed fireman holding a young child in his left arm and a kerosene lantern in his right hand. Originally the base had four drinking fountains, as requested by the Putnam County commissioners. The bronze eight-foot-high (2.43 m) firefighter figure is mounted on a ten-foot (3.04 m) iron rectangular base with curving sides and beveled edges. The bottom of the base at the sidewalk level is 40" x 40" (101.60 x 101.60 cm). The base was contracted locally to Falke Brothers & Kerner Monument Works of Ottawa and the statue was sculpted by J. W. Fiske of New York . The Memorial was dedicated on November 25, 1915. The total cost of statue and base was $885.

The memorial honors John Krieger and Joseph Hermiller, two firemen who died on January 6, 1911 while fighting a fire in a blacksmith shop. The electrical lines outside the shop, used for street lighting, were burned or broken off. When the sparking wires hit the water-puddled ground, firemen were thrown in all directions. In addition to the two deaths, several firefighters were injured. On January 7, 1911, a group of citizens started to raise funds for the memorial