The highest-ranking firefighter to survive the collapse of the World Trade Center 25 years ago will be in Clear Lake tonight to speak at the community’s annual Nine-Eleven service.
Assistant Fire Chief Mike Keefe says Chief Richard Picciotto will share his experiences during the terrorist attack in lower Manhattan while standing near a piece of World Trade Center steel that sits in a memorial area in front of the Clear Lake Fire Department.
“It should be an interesting one. He was the last battalion chief in the towers before they collapsed, so he’ll tell his story,” Keefe says. “We’ll have our traditional program where we place hats and helmets at our steel and the VFW is going to help us with the flag ceremony.”
Keefe says the ceremony will also feature the unveiling of a life-sized firefighter statue as part of the memorial area.
“It’s a bronze statue of a fireman that will be placed at our memorial,” Keefe says. “It’s going to be one of five. We’re going to put four more statues up there. One for the military, one for police, one for EMS, one for civilians, so we’ll have all five groups.”
The chief says hardly a day goes by that someone isn’t at the memorial area reflecting on the 9/11 attacks.
“It’s kind of interesting how you will see, all of a sudden someone will just stop there and sit, wait for a few minutes, and then leave,” he says. “I think they read about it and then just sit there and remember. There’s a lot of people that weren’t even alive at the time that took place, and so some of them don’t quite understand it until they come and actually look at that steel. It’s pretty important. We have someone every year since we put that steel up that drops off a bouquet of 12 roses and leaves them on the memorial out there.”
Following the ceremony, firefighters and first responders from across the area will participate in a lighted truck parade around Clear Lake. The event starts at 6 PM at the Clear Lake Fire Department.
(By Bob Fisher, KGLO, Mason City)