Firefighters honor 9/11 fallen

WASILLA – Local firefighters commemorated one of the darkest – and proudest – days in emergency responder history by placing hundreds of American flags outside Mat-Su fire stations on Friday, the 14th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York.

Central Mat-Su Fire Department engineer Max Sager of Station 65 in Wasilla said he and other members of the station house, along with local Boy Scouts, placed 343 flags in rows on Thursday night. The flags represent each of the New York City Fire Department personnel killed while responding to the attacks on the World Trade Center. They also placed a row of 37 for the Port Authority and NYPD officers killed in the attacks.

It’s a tradition local firefighters take seriously.

“They’ve been coming out here basically since 9-11,” Sager said.

On Friday morning, a ceremony was held at Station 6-1, which included a prayer and the tolling of a bell at the exact time the first of two passenger jets slammed into the World Trade Center. Firefighters at that station also placed hundreds of flags outside their station house to honor the fallen.

More than 3,000 people died during the attacks, which also included the hijaking of one plane that crashed into the Pentagon and another that struck an empty field in Pennsylvania.

Sager said the public is always extremely supportive of the flag displays.

“We get a lot of (car) horns when we’re putting them up,” he said.

Sager said the flags are a reminder of just how much risk emergency responders take while in the line of duty.

“It seems to be getting more dangerous, too,” he said.

Sager – whose personal vehicle has a license plate that reads “RMB343” said the display of flags allows people to visualize the sacrifices made by first responders 14 years ago.

“It’s quite a set of numbers,” he said.

Contact Matt Tunseth at 352-2268 or matt.tunseth@frontiersman.com