The Coeur d'Alene Fire Department hosted on Wednesday night a team responsible for helping to bring one of the last available 9/11 artifacts to the Pacific Northwest.

Two massive steel beams and sections of the concrete that were once part of the ceiling and floor of the parking garage under Tower Two will become part of a new firehouse on Mercer Island in Washington.

Tom Hiltenbrand, an engineer at Coeur d'Alene Fire Station 3 and nine-year veteran of the Coeur d'Alene Fire Department, said, "We had the opportunity to house it here and we were more than happy. It's an honor to have a piece of firefighting history here at the house."

The special materials will be used by Seattle-based sculptor John Sisko in a permanent installation at Mercer Island's Firehouse 92, where the beams will form the gate for a reconstructed house.

The artwork was commissioned by the Mercer Island Arts Council while creating a lasting tribute to the men and women who served at the World Trade Center disaster site.

Hiltenbrand and fellow firefighters Mike Frederick and Josh Sutherland at Station 3 aided Mercer Island Firefighter Thomas Guttu and flatbed driver Joey Jay Peterson in draping the valuable cargo with three American flags for the final leg of its 3,000 mile cross-country journey.

Peterson lives in Tacoma, and drove the 33,000 pound load alone from New York City. The 25-year veteran commercial truck driver said, "I felt proud because it is a part of history."

Peterson contributed to the memorial project by documenting stops along the route at different firehouses along the I-90 corridor, including Austintown, Ohio; Algona, Ind.; Humbolt and Sturgis, S.D.; Gillette, Wyo.; Billings and Missoula, Mont.

Mercer Island Fire Department Chief Chris Tubbs filed an application a year ago with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, requesting a 9/11 artifact for the art project that would create a special gate for the new firehouse.

"Fire service is a fairly small community so certainly there is a personal connection in that regard," Tubbs said. "To anything with the World Trade Center disaster, we in the fire department feel a very strong connection."

"This gateway creates a lens," said Sisko, who designed the project with Seattle architect Jim Brown.

Sisko said, "The way we look at this is, 9/11 was very informing. Now we can't see any firefighter and not think of 9/11."

The artwork is not intended as a memorial. Sisko wants the piece to spark conversation in the community.

"In doing public art, it's a social process in which the artist merely shepherds what is happening," said Sisko.