Following the 1908 drowning death of Deputy Fire Chief Charles W. Kruger in a flooded Canal Street basement, Bishop Henry C. Potter proposed a memorial to firefighters who had died while performing their duties.

Above the fountain, which extends from the box-like structure of the monument, is a large bas-relief scene of a horse drawn engine rushing to a fire.

[1] Piccirilli's independent fragment, Study of a Head, is derived from the Firemen's Memorial and is housed in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Attended by the mayor, the fire commissioner and thousands of firefighters, the ceremony gained even greater significance after the September 11 attacks of 2001.

The tablet, placed by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, is dedicated to the horses which, in earlier years, pulled the fire department's engines.