News
Vinton County Highway Named After Fallen Firefighter
By: Katie Doup
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A small section of US Route 50 outside McArthur was closed today for about an hour to dedicate a portion of the highway to fallen firefighter Ryan Seitz.
Seitz was killed on September 26, 2010 while fighting a brush fire in Ross County with the McArthur fire department.
"Ryan was just, just such an easy person to get to know, and be around and I know a lot of people in the community miss him just like we do, but we want the things to memorialize him but this really is an honor," his mother Tonette Seitz said,
His father Steve Seitz says that this sign is the end of a long journey in finding closure in Seitz's death. "With these highway signs, to me, I think it's now time. We're able to let Ryan go we'll always remember him, he'll always be with us but there's a time when life goes on and the firefighters and everyone involved, it's time to go on I think," said Steve Seitz.
The Ohio Department of Transportation Deputy Director for District 10 says that ODOT will maintain the sign as long as they are around.
State Representative John Carey was also there and says that it takes an act of legislature to name a highway after someone and that it is "not done lightly and it needs to be reserved for people like Ryan that have gone beyond their duty to serve their community and their state and their country."
US Route 50 throughout all of Vinton County is now officially known as the Ryan Seitz Memorial Highway.