This year marks the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks and Americans will look back on Saturday at 20 years since the events unfolded on September 11, 2001. For Central Emergency Services in Soldotna, the mission to protect and serve is not forgotten as Deputy Chief Dan Grimes says the station has a piece of the World Trade Center.
Grimes told KSRM:
“Our previous chief, Chris Mokracek was sort of the orchestrator of that event sometime between 2005 and 2009, I believe is when they participated in the program to obtain a piece of the twin towers as a memorial and remembrance piece along with the firefighters association at that time, who paid for the shipping to get it up here. That was the only caveat to obtaining a piece was that you had to handle the shipping.”
Grimes says there’s a lot of heavy feelings associated with remembering fellow firefighters lost during 9/11:
“We lost a lot of people. We lost a lot of civilians. We lost a lot of emergency responders. Not just at the events, but of course in the hours and days and weeks and months after that when they were still sorting through the rubble pile and we’re still seeing the effects of that. it is both a heavy sort of piece that reminds us of those we lost, but it’s also a symbol of the resolve that we showed. A lot of people talk about the feelings and display of unity that America was able to display immediately after 9/11 and how we came together as a country and showed that resolve and that strength that steel represents as we rebuild and as we fortified ourselves as a unified country.”
He says the world trade center piece sits in the day room at the central emergency services station, which is where many station tours are hosted. He says it’s also part of the 9/11 ceremonies that they host. Future plans are to incorporate the piece into foundational designs for a new station as CES is trying to replace the current aging station in Soldotna.
