Firefighters, police officers and emergency responders gathered along with Clallam and Jefferson county officials and members of the public at different locations to share in the remembrance of the events of Sept. 11, 2001.
About 15 people gathered shortly before 8:46 a.m. at the Port Townsend Bell Tower on Wednesday, including East Jefferson Fire Rescue (EJFR) Chief Bret Black, Port Townsend Police Chief Thomas Olson, Jefferson County Sheriff Joe Nole, County Commissioner Heidi Eisenhour, county employees, retired firefighters, a fire volunteer and a police officer.
Black recounted the numbers of lives lost in the disaster: 343 firefighters, 72 law enforcement officers and 2,977 lives in total.
At 8:46 a.m., when the first plane hit tower 1 of the World Trade Center 23 years ago, a message came over dispatch announcing the observation of a moment of silence.
The bell was rung in an 3-4-3 pattern by Deputy Fire Marshal Brian Tracer to honor the firefighters who lost their lives on that historic day.
“It brings up a lot of emotions and memories,” Black said. “Like one of the participants mentioned, I remember exactly where I was when it happened. I remember what we did the following days. I remember the co-workers and the members of the public who really rose to the occasion to support the country.
“I certainly think about the people we lost, but I also think about the people who took deliberate actions to their capacity and more, to improve the situation,” Black said.
“Some people here for the ceremony were at ground zero the days following, went back and attended funerals because there weren’t enough firefighters for the funerals.”
Black said EJFR pulled its rescue vehicles in front of its buildings and lowered its stations’ flags to half-staff at 8:30 a.m.
Later, firefighters, law enforcement, county employees and members of the public joined at the Jefferson County courthouse. At 10:28 a.m., when the north tower of the World Trade Center collapsed 23 years ago, the courthouse bell rang out in a 2-9-7-7 pattern to reflect the overall loss of life.
Nole spoke to about 40 people in front of the courthouse.
“One thing that it reminds me of is the idea that we could be faced with a similar situation at any second,” Nole said. “We all could be, at any time, compelled to respond to a situation. We respond to them every day, where lives are put at risk.
“I think it’s really true, not to be cliche, but we are the ones that will run into a burning building,” Nole continued. “For some reason, that’s how we’re wired. We put ourselves in harm’s way to help other people.”
Firefighter and EMT Brandon Jeske, who attended the ceremony, added: “A lot of what we do is pretty routine, not too exciting, but there’s always the potential for something really crazy to happen. We’ve gotta be ready for that.”
Local reminders
When asked about the 2620 Road Fire and if he sees disasters as being a galvanizing force for bringing people together, Black said: “I think there is a pattern, whenever there is a disaster, whether it’s local, regional, national, where we have seen that repeatedly. In the early ’70s, we had horrible fires in California that really created the mutual aid system in government. Then FEMA was created and took it. Then we had other disasters like 9/11 and Katrina, and the Camp Fire where all of us rallied as public servants, as emergency workers, not just firefighters and law enforcement, but the Red Cross and other agencies.
“We drop our lives for the time being and go to rally,” Black continued. “I think the Brinnon fire is the most recent example. We’ll do whatever it takes to help our neighbors and to help our community.”
EJFR Lieutenant Alex Morris said it wasn’t just the Brinnon community but all the way into Port Townsend.
“There was so much support for individuals down there,” he said. “It was just a good reminder that it could happen to any of us at any point. Thank you to anyone who did show that support, and hopefully we don’t have to look forward to anything like that in the near future.”
Black said he is inspired by the work of public servants who came together after Sept. 11, 2001.
“We have public servants, firefighters, who aren’t even able to participate in events like this today because they’re fighting disasters,” Black said. “We have over 25,000 people assigned to fighting fires in the West right now, this second. Twenty-five thousand. That’s astounding.
“We have one community that has 65,000 homes being threatened right this second in Southern California,” he said. “That’s more than double the population of the whole (Jefferson) county. When I think about us being able to commemorate this solemn day, some people can’t. I think it’s even more obligatory of all of us to take a second on their behalf, too.”
