Valley team remembers

For some it was the unmistakable smell -- a smell of concrete, burning metal, charred wood and death. For others, it's the stories of grief shared -- a tragedy experienced by a nation that forced thousands to pause their grieving to rebuild a city thrown into chaos. But the most lasting memory held by a few Valley residents who spent weeks at the site of the demolished World Trade Center towers is a deep sense of honor at having been chosen to serve.

About 35 Alaskans from the Alaska Incident Management Team spent a month working out of the Duane Street Fire Station, four blocks from what's now commonly referred to as "ground zero." The team is more often found on the location of a wild fire, but was asked to take over the logistical support of the cleanup project.

"We went to take over from another incident management team at the request of FEMA [Federal Emergency Management Agency]," said Division of Forestry Mat-Su Area Fire Management Officer Lynn Wilcock. "They knew we had the capability for managing large-scale incidents, but this was a little nebulous."

Wilcock said the size and location of the site meant the Alaska team had to do a little adapting.

"The actual site was only 16 acres," Wilcock said. "The physical challenges weren't really as great as they are in a wild fire … [but] they weren't used to dealing with incidents that last for days and weeks."

Wilcock, Coastal Region Fire Management Officer Bill Beebe and the other Alaska team members were responsible for setting out a daily action plan, transferring goods such as dust masks, gloves, flashlights and other supplies from a large warehouse to the cleanup team. A second component of the team's task was data entry -- a key component of the removal of debris from the site. Several large pieces of machinery -- grapples and cranes and other machinery -- were working non-stop at the site. But not everything could be removed by the large machines.

"New York Fire Department firefighters were observing the removal," Wilcock said. "If they saw a fire-fighting apparatus … the fire department would go in and do a more intricate search with hand tools."

When anything of significance was found, its location was marked with a global positioning system, or GPS, coordinates, tagged and removed. When bodies were found, silence reigned as the body was placed in a bag, draped with a flag and carried out on a gurney, preceded by an impromptu color guard.

"It was a somber process," Wilcock said.

Several Alaska team members were responsible for recording the data collected at the site. Wilcock led this group, that worked side by side with New York Fire Department workers throughout the day. But some of their most important work was done after hours.

"They spent a lot of time listening to firefighters," Wilcock said. "Of all our people that were there, they probably took the largest brunt of the emotional experience."

That emotional experience was likely similar to what Red Cross Southcentral Chapter volunteer Phyllis Beer was feeling. Beer was in New York a few weeks after the Alaska team had already come home, but the tragedy was still very immediate for many New Yorkers.

Beer helped at the FEMA building, where people who lost their apartment or home as a result of the attack came to find assistance.

But qualifying for assistance, whether it be to offset the loss of a home, belongings or a loved one, was no easy task. The FEMA clients had to recount the details of what they had lost, which generally meant retelling the often painful experience of what happened Sept. 11.

"It was so heartbreaking to listen to these people," Beer said. "I read about it in the newspaper, I saw it on television, but to actually be there and see it …"

Beer remarked that the attacks seemed to be a great equalizer -- prosperity had little power to protect against this thief.

"It didn't make any difference if it was poor people or rich people, they had nothing left," Beer said.

And that, Beer said, is one of the more poignant lessons she was able to bring home from her time in New York.

"All these material things that we have in life, it just doesn't matter," Beer said. "It really brings you back to where you need to be. When I came back home, I started getting up and telling my husband, 'I love you' every morning. I don't think I've missed a day since I've been back."

Bill Beebe agreed that the events of Sept. 11 caused people to take stock of their lives. He called it a watermark in history -- an event that will remain a clear memory in the lives of many, certainly by the members of the Alaska team.

"I think the impact on everyone was incredible," Beebe said. "It was a personal impact. People you know really well and worked with before -- and their job is to catalog body parts. Seeing that impact on all of us at the time was something that I don't think I'll ever forget."

Beebe said that shared experience has brought the Alaska team closer together. Team members come from several different agencies and they work together on fires in Alaska and Outside several times a year. Beebe said the shared emotional intensity of their month in New York has created a bond.

"We learned to work in some pretty stressful situations," Beebe said. "We learned to trust each other."

Beebe worked as an information officer during the team's time in New York. He posted information to a Web site to let people know what the Alaska team was working on. But when a fire chief found out Beebe had a digital camera, he was sent out to ground zero to take photos of the rubble.

"I took several hundred photos actually on the debris pile itself," Beebe said. "I did a lot of photographing, and I did a lot of writing about it."

Beebe documented that workers were properly outfitted in safety gear and that the work was proceeding according to safety standards. The writing and the task of properly framing a photo, Beebe said, allowed the knowledge of what lay beneath his feet to blur. But that doesn't mean it faded from his mind.

"It' not something that I am ever going to be away from," Beebe said. "It's what I am and who I am."

And it's who Verna Cunnington is. At 19 and married only two weeks, Cunnington got a call to head to New York on Halloween. She and her husband had just moved into a new home and agreed to put their honeymoon plans on hold until she returned.

Cunnington served as a shift supervisor from midnight to 8 a.m. at a Red Cross respite center located near the perimeter of ground zero. She and her crew handed out pants, shirts, socks, toiletries and other items to workers stopping by the center. The building served as a 24-hour cafe, a first aid station, dorms and even offered an Oasis room, packed with 40 recliners donated by La-Z-Boy and stocked with televisions and video games. The rest area was crucial, Cunnington said, because many of the workers were on site for 16 to 18 hours and driving home, which to some meant a drive of an hour or more, simply didn't allow much time for rest.

The third shift was a little quieter than the daytime shifts, but Cunnington said that was OK. It meant she had more time to spend with the firefighters and other site workers who came in.

"I loved the stories," Cunnington said. "I would go on my break and sit down with a group of firefighters and we would talk for an hour."

Cunnington is not unaccustomed to emotional and stressful situations. She has worked as a Mat-Su Borough emergency medical technician and firefighter in the Meadow Lakes and Big Lake area for the past year and a half, and has been involved with fire departments since she was 14 with a teens' educational Explorer program. Earlier last year she responded to a flood in Pennsylvania. But her experience as a firefighter, she said, made New York a coveted destination. After the attacks, and the subsequent death of so many responding firefighters, Cunnington said, everyone on her Meadow Lakes crew wanted to fly to New York. Recognizing that wasn't possible, many opted to help in other ways. Cunnington said she considers herself lucky to have had the chance so many wanted.

"My part was just not even a millimeter of what happened down there," Cunnington said of her service at the center.

"I may have touched two or three lives. Just the fact that I got to go down there and do my part was so awesome."

The chance to do their part was what many of those who volunteered or worked in response to the Sept. 11 attacks seem to be the most proud of. And, like it or not, most say their lives are forever changed as a result. How they and the rest of America choose to observe that change, however, remains to be decided. Some, like Lynn Wilcock, Bill Beebe and several Alaska team members now in Oregon fighting a fire, will not be traveling that day -- not out of fear of another hijacking, but out of respect of the weight of the day.

"It's definitely a day we feel should be spent with our families," Wilcock said.

Some, like Beer, will recognize the anniversary through prayer. Beer was asked to speak briefly at a 7 p.m. Mass at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, and she said she'll likely spend a couple hours at the day-long vigil that will be held at the church. The vigil, she said, begins at 9:30 a.m., after the 9 a.m. Mass. The vigil extends until 6:30 p.m. and anyone who would like to attend is welcome.