GAINESVILLE - Gainesville's public safety personnel and city leaders gathered Tuesday morning for a solemn observance of the 11th anniversary of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York City that killed more than 3,000 people, including 343 firefighters and 72 law enforcement officers.
At Fire Station No. 1, Chief Jon Canada said that attack changed the face of public safety in many ways, and emphasized the fact that firefighting is not just a job, it is a calling.
"I never want to forget this moment," Chief Canada said. "I always want to honor them, it is their day of honor, not my day of honor, but their day of honor."
The fire station bell, attached to a piece of steel from the World Trade Center, chimed in three sets of five, signaling the death of a firefighter. Many at the ceremony recalled where they were and what they were doing when they got the news of 9/11.
Judith Escamilla, now living and working in Gainesville, was in Louisiana when the terrible images flashed across the TV screen in her office lobby.
"It was a normal day and I was shocked when the news came on," she recalled. "It was a tragedy but it was a time when our country united and started helping each other."
Hilda Cardenas was a student in Mexico when she saw the shocking television pictures that were going around the world.
"Even though I was in another country it was shocking to everyone in Mexico as well," she said. "I think we should remember what happened so it maybe won't happen again."
One of the 9/11 victims was from Gainesville.
Edna Stephens worked at the Pentagon and was at work when one of the hijacked planes slammed into the building not long after two hijacked jet liners smashed into the World Trade Center's Twin Towers and they collapsed. (See Separate story -'Gainesville native among those killed')
Thursday
October 17th, 2024
1:34AM
