The Coos Bay Firefighters Memorial Committee has received a $20,000 donation to build a monument in honor of three local firefighters who died battling a blaze at Farwest Truck & Auto Supply in 2002.

The donation, from the family of deceased firefighter Randy Carpenter, gives the committee a large jump toward raising the approximately $100,000 it is estimated to cost to complete the monument to the three men. The group already has received a $5,000 donation from Menasha Forest Products.

"It will get us off the ground as far as getting the artistry and the statues done," said firefighter Mike Seldon. "The preliminary stuff on the statue will be done with that money."

The committee expects to begin fund-raising efforts in earnest at the beginning of the new year.

An Internet-based fund-raiser will rely on a Web site being developed to sell bricks that will be used to build the memorial. Each brick will be inscribed with the name of the donor and used to construct a wall around a statue of the three firefighters. The Web site is in its preliminary stages but should be operating by the end of November or early part of December, Seldon said.

More traditional means of fund-raising, including an advertising pamphlet that will introduce donors to the project, also are being developed.

"We're going to do a final copy of those within the next few weeks," said Seldon. "We'll be submitting them to the public for donations at the beginning of the year."

The committee has been meeting for nearly 16 months in an attempt to develop a memorial for firefighters R. Chuck Hanners, 33; Jeff E. Common, 30; and Randall Carpenter, 46. The men were killed battling a fire at the Farwest Truck & Auto Supply store in downtown Coos Bay on Nov. 25, 2002.

Earlier this year, the committee commissioned local artist Dutch Mostert to develop the preliminary drawings for the memorial, drawn to fit the Fourth Street Plaza in front of Coos Bay City Hall. Mostert's plan includes 11 trees, for 11 children left behind by the three men, located around a portion of a Maltese cross. The design also accommodates the flagpole from the Farwest Truck & Auto Supply store.

Three pathways will lead up to life-size statues of three kneeling firefighters with arms on each other's shoulders and placed on a pedestal in front of three flagpoles and a curving wall, where plaques identifying the men will retell the events of the fire.

"Basically, we're looking at some sort of groundbreaking by the next anniversary," he said.

Seldon said the committee hopes to have the memorial completed by the fourth anniversary in 2006.