The steel artifact, weighing about 75 pounds, 19 inches high and 1.5 inch thick, was displayed on an easel for the 9/11 Observance.
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The annual 9/11 Observance was held September 11 at Santa Paula Fire Station 1 to mark the 13th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks that killed thousands of people, including 343 New York firefighters. |
SPFD: 9/11 Observance features
artifact from World Trade Center
September 17, 2014
Santa Paula News
Santa Paula Fire joined with departments throughout Ventura County to remember those who died in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center Twin Towers and the Pentagon; a fourth plane was downed in a Pennsylvania field by passengers who stormed the hijackers before they could reach their intended target, believed to be the White House.
On Thursday fire stations including Santa Paula Station 1 observed the anniversary of the attacks with the U.S. Flag being ceremoniously raised to half-staff in a ceremony attended by emergency responders as well as private citizens.
At 6:59 a.m., a tone was broadcast over the fire radio followed by four sets of five bells. A minute of silence followed to coincide with the collapse of the south tower of the World Trade Center in New York City. Bells are traditionally used by the fire service to commemorate firefighters who have lost their lives on the job; 343 firefighters and paramedics were killed on 9/11, as were 23 New York City Police Officers and 37 Port Authority Police Officers. In all, the attacks killed 2,753 people in New York alone.
Santa Paula’s observance included a piece of steel salvaged from the World Trade Center which was obtained by the SPFD, the only department in Ventura County to have such a poignant artifact acquired from the New Jersey/New York Port Authority in 2008.
