Led by their chief, members of the Niagara Falls Fire Department marched solemnly in front of the Royal Avenue fire hall Friday morning.
They paused in front of a 3,000-pound steel and concrete girder from the World Trade Center twin towers and stood silent. A bouquet of flowers rested on top of the girder.
Then, at 9:59 a.m., the fire radio frequency crackled with tones. The tones signal firefighters that they are being called to respond.
It was the moment when, 25 years ago, the South Tower of the World Trade Center collapsed in a rain of rubble after being struck by a Boeing 767 jetliner. An estimated 900 to 1,000 people — office and building workers, New York City firefighters, and New York City and New York-New Jersey Port Authority police officers — perished.
It was part of what would become the deadliest terrorist attack ever on American soil.
“The attack changed our world forever,” Falls Fire Chief Gary Pochatko said.
Since then, 145 Falls firefighters have left the department. Only six who were active at that time remain working.
One of the recently retired, Falls Fire Captain John Asklar, recalled that two days before the attack, on Sept. 9, he and fellow Capt. Dave Williams left the Royal Avenue station to go to New York City for a training program.
“I wrote this speech tailored for my brothers and sisters in the fire department,” Asklar said. “I have worked here with almost all of you.”
He recalled that he and Williams had expected “a month of training and sightseeing.” The night before the terrorist attack, Asklar said he and Williams went to the New York Fire Department’s busiest fire hall, Engine 54 and Ladder 4.
“We watched Monday Night Football and hung out with 15 brothers there,” Asklar said. “Sadly, it was their last night alive.”
The gathering of firefighters, public officials and Falls residents stood in complete silence as Asklar went on to recount what he and Williams experienced on 9/11. He recalled a “beautiful, sunny day. Just like today.”
One of the training instructors came into the firefighters’ classroom and told them a plane had crashed into (the North) World Trade Center tower. The instructor brought a TV into the classroom and turned it on, just in time for the firefighters to see a second plane crash into the Trade Center South Tower.
The out-of-town trainees gathered their gear and climbed on a bus to head to Ground Zero.
“On the way there, all we could see was smoke and dust,” Asklar said. “Fighter planes were circling overhead. We were stunned to see that the twin towers had collapsed.”
Ground Zero was a site of chaos. Askler said all the New York Fire Department’s command chiefs “were killed in the collapse.” The training chief directed Asklar and others to establish a triage center across the street from where the twin towers had been.
“It was assumed there would be hundreds of injured needing care,” Asklar said. “But no one came.”
Asklar and others helped to connect fire boats to the efforts on-shore because the towers’ collapse had destroyed the water mains supplying fire hydrants in the area. But the water wasn’t enough to keep the 47-story Tower 7 at the World Trade Center from also collapsing.
As Asklar and Williams attempted to make their way back to the training center, he said they encountered the FDNY crew from Engine 65.
“Their rig was crushed and their driver was missing,” Asklar said. “We told them to take our bus back to their firehouse.”
Asklar told his audience that he and Williams and 13 other firefighters walked in darkness because the power in Manhattan was out, looking for a way back to their living quarters in Queens. They found a Times Square police substation and the cops gave them a ride.
“In a trailer for police horses,” Asklar said. “We rode back in the hay and horse manure.”
The next day, Sept. 12, Asklar and Williams returned to Ground Zero. The retired captain fell in the debris pile and suffered a broken ankle. By Sept. 13, he and Williams were on their way back to the Falls.
“The fire service motto for 9/11 has always been Never Forget,” Asklar said. “I will never forget my experiences of 9/11.”
His closing message echoed that motto.
“I will never forget the 15 members of Engine 54 and Ladder 4 … I will never forget the late Capt. Dave Williams for his heroic efforts … I will never forget the 5,000 Americans who have died from 9/11 related illnesses,” Asklar said. “And we can never forget the almost 3,000 Americans who died that day.”