First responders in Rockland County were honored today with a very unique and colorful public art installation.

Two steel-cut red benches now welcome visitors and firefighters to the county's fire training center in Pomona.     

Rockland's Arts and Public Places commissioned the benches to pay tribute to the work firefighters and other first responders do throughout the area.

The benches were designed by a longtime Rockland resident Eric Laxman who says he intentionally wanted to depict fire trucks, Dalmatian dogs and the number "44," for the county's fire ID number. “Because I used imagery that is really specific to this space and to the work that these people do, and in certain instances it might seem a little hokey because it's so literal. But I saw it as an opportunity to do some Art Deco-inspired patterning that is as much about the imagery as it is about the whole  decorative quality,” says Laxman.

Laxman, whose work has been installed nationwide, designed the benches after winning a competition for the project.