Fire and Rescue International Newsletter

Honouring the firefighters and first responders of September 11

On September 11, 2001, the world witnessed an unimaginable tragedy. Lives were lost, families were shattered and a sense of security was changed forever. But amid the devastation, something equally powerful was revealed: the extraordinary courage of ordinary people who chose to run toward danger when every instinct told them to run away.

They were firefighters, police officers, paramedics, emergency medical technicians, dispatchers, search-and-rescue teams, chaplains, hospital workers, volunteers and countless others who responded when their communities needed them most. They did not know how the story would end. They simply knew that someone needed help. They ran toward the fire.

As the towers burned, firefighters climbed the stairs carrying equipment while thousands of others were desperately trying to escape. With every step upward, they moved closer to danger. Some paused to help injured people descend. Others carried people who could no longer walk. Some reassured strangers who were terrified. Many continued upward even as conditions became increasingly dangerous. Their courage was not theatrical. It was practical. It was a decision made again and again: One more person. One more floor. One more life to save.

That is perhaps the most profound meaning of courage—not that fear disappears but that compassion becomes stronger than fear.

The first responders did not know the names of the people they were trying to save. They did not know their backgrounds, their beliefs, their occupations or their stories. They simply saw human beings in danger and they responded.

The price of service
Many first responders never came home. Among those who died were 343 firefighters and emergency medical technicians with the Fire Department of the City of New York, along with 37 Port Authority police officers, 23 New York City police officers and other members of the emergency response community. Behind every number was a person, a parent, a spouse, a son or daughter, a brother or sister, a friend, a colleague.

The story of September 11 is also the story of those who survived and continued to serve. First responders searched through ruins. Medical professionals worked beyond exhaustion. Police officers secured dangerous areas. Firefighters continued their work amid unimaginable conditions. Search-and-rescue teams searched for survivors and recovered the remains of those who would not return. And ordinary citizens came forward to help.

In the days and weeks that followed, people carried water, prepared food, donated supplies, offered shelter, and simply stood beside one another. In the face of destruction, humanity answered with service.

Their legacy is larger than September 11: Remembering the Fallen
Memory is an act of gratitude. To remember the firefighters and first responders of September 11 is to say:
Your courage mattered.
Your service mattered.
Your lives mattered. The people you tried to save mattered.

And although more than two decades have passed, the example they left behind has not faded. Their courage continues to speak. It speaks to every firefighter who answers an alarm in the middle of the night. To every paramedic who kneels beside an injured stranger. To every police officer who enters a dangerous situation. To every emergency dispatcher who answers a desperate call. To every person who chooses service over comfort.

September 11 will forever carry the weight of immense loss. But it also carries a profound testimony to the human spirit. When darkness came, there were people who carried light. When people were fleeing danger, there were people running toward it. When fear threatened to overwhelm compassion, compassion endured. And when the world seemed broken, countless individuals chose to serve.

That is the legacy worth carrying forward. We will never forget.

A commemorative drone light show featuring 2,977 illuminated drones recreated the Twin Towers over New York Harbour on Wednesday, 9 September 2026, to honour the victims ahead of the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

Quote of the week
“Courage is not the absence of fear but the decision that something else is more important.” ~ Ambrose Redmoon

Fire and Rescue International is your magazine.
Read it, use it and share it!

Read the latest FRI magazine
Read the latest Disaster Management Journal

FRI magazine archive
DMJ magazine archive

Lee Raath-Brownie
Managing Director
Cell: 082 371 0190

Contact us
Tel: 011 452 3135 or Email: lee@fireandrescue.co

Websites
www.fireandrescue.co
www.frimedia.org

Facebook
www.facebook.com/FireandRescueInternational

Twitter
www.twitter.com/FRI_magazine

LinkedIn
http://www.linkedin.com/in/lee-raath-brownie-16668065/

Eastern Cape disaster management and fire service leaders gathered in Gqeberha for the first-ever Strategic Planning Session for Heads of Centres and Fire Chiefs under the theme, ‘Strengthening Disaster Risk Governance and Integrated Fire Management: Advancing Early Action in Disaster Management Towards Community Resilience’. The two-day session focused on strengthening disaster risk governance, enhancing early warning systems, improving municipal preparedness and advancing integrated fire management across the province. Participants reinforced the importance of collaboration, early decision-making and proactive action to protect communities from disasters.

The Fire Department New York commemorated the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001. The Fire Department of New York (FDNY) commemorated the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks by honouring the 343 members who made the supreme sacrifice that day, as well as the more than 400 members who have since died from World Trade Centre-related illnesses. Led by FDNY Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore alongside Chief of Department John Esposito, the department held solemn remembrance events, unveiled a special 9/11 25th Anniversary Emblem and gathered with families in Lower Manhattan against the backdrop of the skyline to reinforce their enduring vow to #NeverForget.

Source: Fire Department New York (FDNY)

As part of the City of Tshwane Emergency Services Department’s (ESD) Women’s Month activities, women in uniform and support staff within the department joined hands to support learners at Rethabiseng Primary School in Bronkhorstspruit through a hygiene pack donation initiative on Friday, 14 August 2026. Through a department-wide donation drive, Emergency Services Department employees contributed hygiene products, which were packaged into hygiene packs for distribution to Grade 6 and Grade 7 learners. The initiative seeks to provide practical support while promoting personal hygiene, dignity, confidence and well-being among young people.

It was his very first day on the job. By 9:42am, he had made an unprecedented decision that altered the course of American history. On the morning of September 11, 2001, Ben Sliney walked into the FAA’s command centre in Virginia to handshakes and well-wishes from his colleagues. He was 55, a 27-year veteran of air traffic control and it was his first day as the National Operations Manager – the man running the room that manages the flow of every flight in the entire country. Then, the unimaginable happened. At 8:46am, a plane hit the North Tower. At 9:03am, as his staff watched in horror, the second plane hit the South Tower.

The Western Cape Government has handed over specialised Hazardous Materials (Hazmat) equipment to the Cape Winelands District Municipality, strengthening the province’s ability to respond to complex and high-risk incidents. The investment forms part of the Fire Service Capacity Building Programme, with R7.5 million allocated over the three-year MTEF to strengthen Hazmat operational capability along major transport routes.

Twenty-five years after 9/11, the people who answered the call still will not call themselves heroes. They will tell you they were simply doing their jobs. But the courage, strength and humanity shown by people like NYPD Detective Richard Vasquez must never be forgotten. Richard worked on the pile at Ground Zero, searching through unimaginable devastation. He and his fellow responders found some people alive and recovered others who had passed. The pile was intensely hot and he remembers watching the working dogs suffer injuries to their paws as responders tried to protect them. He also remembers the horrendous smell, something that has stayed with him for 25 years.

A Cape Town firefighter became an unlikely hero on 21 August 2026, not for battling flames but for what he did the moment the fire was out. While he and his colleagues were wrapping up on a residential street, winding hoses and packing away equipment, the firefighter noticed a group of neighbourhood children watching nearby. Instead of carrying on with the job, he turned to face them and launched into a spirited, energetic war cry.

On Wednesday, September 9, 2026, Fire Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore and FDNY officials held a wreath-laying ceremony and water salute at the Postcards Memorial on Staten Island prior to the start of the 2026 FDNY World Trade Centre Memorial Service at the neighbouring FerryHawk Stadium.

Source: Fire Department, City of New York (FDNY)

Two people died when a fire ripped through a house in Edenvale early on Saturday morning, 29 August 2026. Firefighters from three fire stations ie Edenvale, Primrose and Bedfordview fire stations in Ekurhuleni responded when the fire was reported at around 03h30am. On arrival, the top section of the double-storey house on Collins Street in Eden Glen, Edenvale, was engulfed by flames and roof materials had already collapsed. Ekurhuleni Disaster and Emergency Management Services (DEMS) spokesperson, William Ntladi, said fire suppression was initiated immediately to prevent further structural damage.

When they talked on 9/11 about facing a new world, city officials didn’t envision a fire department that would continue to suffer traumatic losses from a 25-year-old terror attack. “I cannot tell you your lived experience in this quarter century,” FDNY Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore said at a special FDNY commemorative ceremony on the cusp of the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attack at Staten Island Ferryhawk Stadium Wednesday. “I cannot pretend to know your pain. First, in losing so many in a single day and then continuing to lose our people to illness in the years since.” “I know each of you carry a different story. Your losses fall in different years. Your loved ones wear different names. Your burdens, however, are all the same. You are united in grief and love and that spirit is what brings us to this moment, to this stadium, to this skyline.”

One person has received medical treatment after a passenger’s laptop caught fire on an American Airlines flight. The pilot had reported a “cabin fire in the back of the airplane” to air traffic control, saying “the flight attendants are trying to put it out now”, according to audio obtained by the BBC’s US reporting partner CBS News. “I think we have about four to five passengers that were burned by the laptop. The laptop is contained about mid-aircraft.”

In late May, first responders from the Fairfax County, Virginia and Los Angeles County, California, fire and rescue departments met for a gruelling, 96-hour exercise, simulating a 7.9 magnitude earthquake. The annual drill, coordinated by the US State Department, keeps the teams’ skills honed so that they’re ready for a real disaster. Such drills are required under rigorous International Search and Rescue Advisory Group (INSARAG) standards. The Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) team and the Los Angeles County Fire Department USAR team — respectively called USA-01 and USA-02 — have proven they can conduct 24-hour operations at two different sites for 10 days.

This week’s featured Fire and Rescue International magazine article is: Post-traumatic stress disorder: How is it treated? written by Mike Webber, counselling psychologist (FRI Vol 4 no 2). We will be sharing more technical/research/tactical articles from Fire and Rescue International magazine on a weekly basis with our readers to assist in technology transfer. This will hopefully create an increased awareness, providing you with hands-on advice and guidance. All our magazines are available free of charge in PDF format on our website and online at ISSUU. We also provide all technical articles as a free download in our article archive on our website.

A thorough $2.7 million renovation project was done at Victoria Fire Department Station One, 606 East Goodwin Avenue, equipping the station to continue serving the community for many years to come. The Victoria Fire Department hosted a ribbon-cutting at the new station that was attended by City and County leadership; community members and local stakeholders, including the fire department’s partners in the medical sector in September 2023. Previously, Station One had not undergone significant remodelling during its 40-year lifespan. In addition, the roof still had leaks and damage from Hurricane Harvey and previous storms. “We are excited to be back open and we look forward to serving the southside out of the new facility for another 40 years,” said Fire Chief Tracy Fox.

The pictures are familiar, terrifying fires being tackled by firefighters and planes dropping water. Hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to leave their homes across France, Spain and Portugal as wildfires tore through forests and countryside. In France, four men have already lost their lives fighting the wildfires and another 150 have been injured. But why are humans and 30-year old planes being used? Why can drones replace soldiers in Ukraine but not firefighters?

Experience a Tabata Workout with an MFMD Firefighter. Don’t forget to check with your doctor before you start a new fitness routine.

Source: Mesa Fire and Medical Department

The Massachusetts Firefighting Academy launched its Structural Collapse Rescue Technician course in October 2022. Hear from some of the course instructors and firefighters who attended its first delivery at the Department of Fire Services’ Bridgewater campus.

Source: Massachusetts Department of Fire Services

Fire poles exist partly because horses kept wandering upstairs. In the 1800s, many fire stations housed their horse drawn equipment on the ground floor while firefighters slept and lived above. Horses occasionally tried to climb ordinary staircases, sometimes attracted by food or the firefighters themselves. Spiral staircases helped keep them downstairs, but created another problem: firefighters had to crowd down them whenever an alarm sounded. In 1878, firefighter George Reid of Chicago’s Engine Company 21 slid down a wooden pole used around the hayloft and reached the apparatus floor faster than everyone taking the stairs. Captain David Kenyon recognized the advantage and had a permanent pole installed. The fire pole was born.

Source: American Firefighters Community