Krista S. Kano
Akron Beacon Journal
On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, Ben Stasik was at a dentist appointment when American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center in New York City.
Then a freshman at Field Local High School, Stasik returned to class and, for the rest of the day, watched as history unfolded.
“For me what stood out was after the first tower collapsed and four or five firemen are walking toward it. They just walked back into it because that was their job and that’s what they were there for,” Stasik said. “I don’t know who they were, and I don’t know if they made it or not, but that was a moment for me. That’s the kind of public servant that I wanted to be.”
Stasik, now the deputy chief of the Tallmadge Fire Department, is part of the generation of firefighters who witnessed the 9/11 attacks as middle and high school students.
They were old enough to understand to some degree the sacrifice made by first responders that day, and several local firefighters said seeing that on TV at such a formative age played a part in their eventual career choices.
Stasik, for example, already knew for some time that he wanted to follow in his great-grandfather Ray Paulus’ footsteps and become a firefighter, but Sept. 11 reinforced his decision.
“That was already on my radar and that’s the route I wanted to take, but shortly after 9/11, maybe a year or two, I started the Explorer Program with the Brimfield Fire Department,” Stasik said. “At the end of the day, I wanted to be like those guys. There’s a job to do, and people need you, so you pick up your gear and you get to work.”
While Stasik saw the dedication to the job on TV, his colleague Kyle Morrow saw it at home.
Morrow, now 34, was in eighth grade at Tallmadge Middle School, and at the time his father, Kevin Morrow, was a full-time firefighter for the Stow Fire Department.
“I remember going home that day and both my parents were watching the news. I remember him saying that he was going to volunteer to go to New York if they needed help,” he said. “I was 14, and I was selfishly thinking that I didn’t want him to go, that I didn’t want him to get hurt, but understanding that it was important to help people that needed it.”
Kevin Morrow, who still works in Stow, did not end up going to New York, but his willingness to do so stuck with his son.
Kyle Morrow decided he wanted to be a firefighter a few years later, and the decision was mostly based on the time he spent with his father at the Stow station.
“I think 9/11 factored in, though, and overall it had a subconscious effect,” he said. “When my dad said he was going to go, his explanation was that even if firemen or paramedics get hurt, it’s OK because we’re trying to help someone. That’s the kind of mentality I’ve had since then. Nobody wants to get hurt, but it’s OK if you’re trying to help someone, and now that’s something I’ve passed on to my wife and son.”
Cory Hinderliter, 36, of the Twinsburg Fire Department, was a sophomore in Leeper, Pennsylvania, in 2001 and heard about the attacks as he was walking to his American History class.
“My teacher had it on the TV and the office called down and told everyone to turn them off. I distinctly remember my teacher saying that wasn’t going to happen,” he said.
Hinderliter was already attending Clarion County Career Center for protective services and was on the path for law enforcement. No one dropped out of the program after Sept. 11.
“My instructor was a retired Pennsylvania state trooper and he made it a point that these are things that are going to happen, and these are the choices we make with this profession,” he recalled. “He told us some people want to do harm, and that our job was to help people who can’t help or defend themselves. He made a point to really push home that this is something that could happen again in our lifetimes, or in our children’s lifetimes.”
Hinderliter worked as a police officer for several years but became a firefighter when he moved to Ohio about 10 years ago.
“It’s a textbook answer, but I wanted to help people,” he said.
Derrick Kulcsar, 34, also a full-time firefighter paramedic with the Twinsburg Fire Department, was a freshman at Archbishop Hoban High School on 9/11 and heard what happened while driving from a dental appointment with his grandfather.
Kulcsar already knew at the time that he wanted to be in public safety, but had been leaning toward the military over being a firefighter. After 9/11, he decided he would do both.
On Dec. 23, 2004, he joined the Ohio National Guard 148th Infantry, Company D and became a volunteer firefighter in Doylestown. He was deployed to Kosovo for Operation Enduring Freedom, and started training to become a full-time firefighter paramedic as soon as he returned.
“I felt a calling to it,” he said. “No one calls when they’re having a good day. It could be something as minute as a broken arm, or it could be that a loved one is unresponsive. In both cases, we go in and we make a positive change. We go into an uncontrolled situation and try to make it better and gain a positive outcome.”
Sept. 11 also heavily factored into his decision.
“Not the atrocities, but that these were ordinary people who go to the grocery store, and maybe they have fire stickers on their trucks, but then they’re at work, they can do real good.”
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