ST. LOUIS — Jan. 13, 2023, marked one year since St. Louis firefighter Ben Polson died in the line of duty.
The community vowed to keep his legacy alive, one year later, in a continued process of healing.
The St. Louis Fire Department held a ceremony to rename a St. Louis street in honor of the young hero on Saturday, Jan. 14.
Family, friends and co-workers all gathered together to remember Ben Polson.
He died, paying the ultimate sacrifice while serving his community.
Speaker after speaker praised Polson for his bravery.
Captain Garon Mosby, with the St. Louis Fire Department, reiterated to Polson's family, that his name and memory will never be forgotten.
"One year ago, and one day we lost our brother, Ben, and that day, we all vowed to never forget. Never forget his courage. Never forget his sacrifice, to never forget his service, to never forget his love, his zest, his zeal for life, his friends, those he loved. Ultimately, to never forget his memory. That's why we're all here today," he said.
Captain Mosby and others who worked alongside Polson revealed the new street name "Benjamin Polson Pl," right on the corner of Shawmut Pl and Ridge Ave directly in front of Engine House 13.
Mosby said not only the street name, but Polson's legacy, will live on forever.
"Long after we are all gone that sign will remain, so when a little kid comes walking down the street in the Hamilton Heights neighborhood and looks at that side and wanders into this firehouse and asked the firefighter on duty, 'Who was Benjamin Polson?' His memory will live on," he said.
Polson was only 33 years old when he died while responding to a fire in a vacant building on January 13, 2022.
A roof collapsed on him while the young hero went back inside to check for victims.
Retired St. Louis Fire Deputy Chief Kenneth Smith said, it's hard to believe it's been a year since they lost one of their own.
"Ben died a year ago just doing his job. We can never change that. We just have to find a way to live with it. Anything we can do or say will never be enough. Events like this help us honor and remember Ben. We will never forget Ben and with the naming of the street, neither will the citizens of St. Louis," he said.
Picture after picture of the fallen St. Louis firefighter now cover the Engine House walls, where Polson left a mark on everyone he met.
Polson's former captain, Larry Conley, said he impacted everyone from his brothers beside him to the neighborhood kids.
Conley said Polson played catch with the kids regularly and even taught them how to dance.
"A lot of us are probably going to already be retired from here, but you know, who's going to be forever playing in the street? It's Ben Polson because the street is named 'Ben Polson Place', so the sign is going to be watching over as the kids continue to play in the street," he said.
City leaders, including Mayor Tishaura Jones and Public Safety Director Dan Isom, praised Polson's courage.
"Firefighter Polson embodied what it means to serve your community, to run towards danger on behalf of people you don't even know because that's what firefighters do every day," Mayor Jones said.
"We will continue to hold the memories of firefighter Polson in our hearts, and we will continue to uplift the sacrifice of his bravery that touched all of us. We are all justifiably proud of his life and his service as a city firefighter. With this legacy in mind and the dedicated street in his name, it will be a lasting monument to his life and service to the City of St. Louis," Isom said.
While those who worked alongside him still have to live with the pain every day, Conley said, Polson's death left them all with a gift.
"We're definitely closer. Tragedy brings out different things. Sometimes it brings out the worst and sometimes it brings out the best in people. With us it brought out the best in all of us, we became closer at the end, because we realized that any minute one of us can go," he said.
Polson's death expedited a project the department has said was long in the works — the creation of a database of the city's thousands of vacant buildings so that firefighters know more about potentially dangerous buildings before they arrive at a call.
Polson was a graduate of St. John Vianney High School in Kirkwood who went on to get degrees in economics, law and a master of business administration. The fire department described him as a hockey player, dancer and fisherman. He was working as a ski instructor when he chose to follow in the footsteps of his father, James Polson, who is a retired captain for the St. Louis Fire Department.
He joined the fire department in 2019 and served as a firefighter for more than two years.
The department said Polson was the first of its members to die in a fire in 20 years.