Tualatin Valley firefighters journey to New York to mark 9/11 anniversary

Firefighting was all the time a part of the plan for Jeff Gillies. The son of a firefighter, he loved his time volunteering with Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue as a excessive schooler.

In 2001, Gillies enrolled in Chemeketa Community College’s firefighting program. He was in simply his second week of this system on Sept. 11.

“That Tuesday morning I was getting ready to go to school actually and my dad called and said ‘Turn on the TV.’”

Gillies turned on his TV as a airplane hit the south tower of the World Trade Center.

That morning, hijackers flew two business planes into New York’s twin towers and a 3rd into the Pentagon. A fourth hijacked airplane crash-landed in Pennsylvania. Nearly 3,000 individuals have been killed within the assaults, together with 343 New York City firefighters.

“As the towers went down I had the chills just running down my spine,” he recalled. “It was super emotionally charged just knowing those were my Dad’s brothers and sisters, because the fire service were just all a big family no matter what coast you’re on.”

Gillies mentioned the second solidified his resolve to grow to be a firefighter and marked the start of his profession. He mentioned watching the women and men of the New York City Fire Department cost into these buildings — by no means to come back out — “put a stamp” on his profession determination.

Twenty-five years later, now a battalion chief on the tail finish of his profession, Gillies is touring with 40 of his fellow Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue firefighters to New York to mark the anniversary of the Sept. 11 assaults. The firefighters plan to participate in a flag ceremony and meet with firefighters from throughout the nation, together with from FDNY.

Communities round Oregon have been gearing as much as host commemorative occasions, as Gillies and different Tualatin Valley firefighters fly east.

For Gillies, honoring those that misplaced their lives on 9/11 and in its aftermath grows much more necessary as firefighters who have been born after the assaults or have been too younger to recollect be a part of the ranks at TVF&R.

“It’s kind of an obligation for me to carry on that legacy and tradition,” he mentioned. “Never forget our lost brothers and sisters.”

He additionally hopes to convey the depth of the bond that runs by the fireplace service.

“We always continue to take care of each other and our families,” he mentioned. “Even here at home, the people suffering from cancer they developed on the job, we take care of them.”

These emotions of help and connection, Gillies says, are necessary not only for firefighters and their households, however for everybody throughout America.

“Our country is kind of divided and this might be a good time to shake someone’s hand on the other side of the aisle and band together,” he mentioned. “It’s important that we reflect on these moments and keep them as part of our history and legacy and carry that forward.”