By John Scheibe
The Ventura County Star (California)
VENTURA COUNTY, Calif. — Firefighters across Ventura County will venture out early Thursday morning and stand in silence, remembering the thousands killed during attacks on the United States seven years ago.
The dead include 341 firefighters and two paramedics from the New York City Fire Department who died Sept. 11, 2001. Many lost their lives when the World Trade Center towers collapsed before they could get out.
“We have 343 reasons to remember Sept. 11,” Bill Nash, a spokesman for the Ventura County Fire Department, said as he spoke of Thursday’s commemoration.
County firefighters will start the day by parking a fire engine in front of each of the county’s 31 fire stations, Nash said.
They will raise the flag at 6:55 a.m., and there will be a moment of silence four minutes later as they recall the exact time (9:59 a.m. EDT) when the World Trade Center’s South Tower fell. It collapsed after burning for 56 minutes in a fire that started when United Airlines Flight 175 rammed into it at hundreds of miles per hour.
More than 3,000 people in all died as a result of the 9/11 attacks.
The public is encouraged to visit a fire station and share memories of that day with firefighters, Nash said.
Ventura city firefighters will lower their fire station flags at 8:59 a.m. The flags will remain at half-staff throughout the day.
Oxnard firefighters will hold their ceremony starting at 6:59 a.m. As with county fire, the public is invited to attend the ceremony and share in the memorial tribute.
A ceremony also will be held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Valley. The ceremony will begin at 4:15 p.m., when a U.S. Marine Corps band from Camp Pendleton will perform. Several dignitaries are scheduled to be there, including Brad Burlingame, whose brother Charles was the pilot of American Airlines Flight 77 when it was hijacked and flown into the Pentagon.
Participants in the Reagan Library ceremony will go on a 1.8-mile walk.
To register for the walk, visit http://www.militaryconnection.com and click on “Simi Valley Freedom Walk,” or call 522-2977.
The 9/11 ceremonies come as firefighters throughout the nation take part in September’s “National Preparedness Month.”
“We need to make sure that all of our employees, civilian and sworn, are prepared for a disaster at work and at home,” Nash said.
When disaster strikes, “we don’t want our employees to be worried about what’s going on at home when they’re out helping and rescuing others.”
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