Staples High School senior Seamus Brannigan has many talents: actor, student athlete, musician.

Now, he can add carpentry to the list.

"We had a circular saw, we had to do a lot of sanding," Brannigan says. "Most of the cutting was done by a CNC machine."

For his Eagle Scout project, Brannigan helped construct an eight-foot-tall wooden display case for the helmets of Westport firefighters who have been killed in the line of duty.

"Before I built the case, they were kind of just hanging on a wall," Brannigan says. "I thought they really needed a place where they could be honored in a more substantial way."

The community gave him the idea.

"It really feels good to help people out," Brannigan says, "especially with something as meaningful as firefighters who died trying to help people living in this community."

The shrine pays homage to six Westport firefighters who have died in the line of duty.

Four of those deaths came from a single call back in 1946 when firefighters rescued a truck driver from flaming wreckage on the Post Road at Sylvan Road, but were then killed when the truck's cargo exploded.

The display case is the first thing firefighters see when they start their shifts at Westport Fire Headquarters.

Lt. Matt Wille says families of the fallen firefighters have written letters expressing gratitude to Brannigan for his gesture.

"It allows us to take a minute every time we walk by to say, 'that's why we're here, this is what it's all about,' Lt. Wille says. "This is about those who came before us."