So We May Never Forget!
Sunday, September 11, 8:45 a.m.
A 750-pound I-beam from the Twin Towers is on display at Orcas Fire Station. It will eventually be placed in a Memorial Garden.
by Lin McNulty
Although seven tons of World Trade Center steel went into building the USS New York (commissioned in November 2009), there were tons of steel left over. Someone, then, had a brilliant idea.
Two years ago, when the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey sent word to fire departments across the country that pieces of the World Trade Center were to be made available, Fire Chief Mike Harris says Orcas Fire and Rescue immediately responded.
The Port Authority was able to fulfill 1,218 requests from all around the world before running out of steel.
Two months ago, the Port Authority advised the fire department that the WTC artifact was ready to be shipped or that it could be picked up. Having it shipped was not an option. “We felt the piece needed to be honored, respected,” says Chief Harris.
A few weeks ago, volunteer EMT/Firefighter Ted McKey and his fire dog Merry drove to Hangar 17 at JFK where the piece was loaded into the back of his pickup truck. During the journey back to Orcas, McKey “accompanied” the relic, never leaving his truck.
The 5’10” I-beam weighs 750 pounds and is one of 18 that have been brought to Washington state so far.
It sits in the fire station lobby, now, but will eventually rest outside in a memorial garden where it can be visited, and touched. Pete Welty is working on the design and construction of the memorial which will incorporate a symbol of the fire service and the number “343.”
At 8:45 a.m. on Sunday, September 11, the public is invited to a remembrance for the 343 fallen firefighters. “One out of ten of those killed on 9/11 were firefighters,” says Harris. “That hits hard.”
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firefightersfor911truth.org
“An Appeal to Firefighters,
Present and Past from a retired FDNY Lieutenant
Fellow Firefighters, A great tragedy befell our community on September 11, 2001, an unprecedented 343 deaths in the line of duty. As horrible as that toll is, if there were a rational explanation for it, we could accept it and mourn. We all understood the risk we accepted when we took the oath of office, that chance might cut short our lives when we placed ourselves in harm’s way in the public’s service. This is what we are paid for and it is our honor. However, in short, the official explanation of the events of that day are not only insufficient, they are fantastic and cannot bear rational examination. We are asked to believe that on that day three structural steel buildings, which have never before in history collapsed because of fire, fell neatly into their basements at the speed of gravity, their concrete reduced to dust. We are asked to believe that jet fuel (kerosene) can melt steel. We are asked to believe that the most sophisticated air defense system in the world, that responded to sixty-eight emergencies in the year prior to 9-11 in less than twenty minutes allowed aircraft to wander about for up to an hour and a half. We are asked to believe that the steel and titanium components of an aircraft that supposedly hit the Pentagon “evaporated”. There is much, much more if anyone cares to look into it. Trade Tower #7 by itself is the “smoking gun”. Not hit by an aircraft, with only a few relatively small fires, it came down in a classic crimp and implosion, going straight into its basement, something only very precise demolition can accomplish, which takes days if not weeks to prepare. The 9-11 Commission didn’t even mention it, and F.E.M.A. actually stated they DIDN’T KNOW WHY IT COLLAPSED AND LEFT IT AT THAT. Brothers, I know that the implications of the above are hard, almost unthinkable, but the official explanation is utter nonsense, and three hundred and forty three murdered brothers are crying out for justice. Demand a genuine investigation into the events of September 11!
-Anton Vodvarka, Lt. FDNY (ret)
Lt. Vodvarka served on FDNY Ladder Co 26, Rescue Co. 3, Rescue Co. 1, Engine Co. 92, Ladder 82 and Ladder 101. He was awarded the Merit Class 1 award, the Prentice Medal.”