PAGE – The Page Fire Department marked the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attack on Saturday by sounding sirens at 6:59 a.m. and 7:28 a.m. MST – the exact moments when the South and North Twin Towers collapsed (9:59 a.m. and 10:28 a.m. EST) on that fateful day.

Firefighters in attendance at the Public Safety Building Fire Station where the ceremony took place were Capt. Andrew Keisling, Christian Jacobsen, Jason Fulton and Schyler Cohan. Each sounding of the siren was followed by a moment of silence beneath the U.S. flag on display outside the station on Coppermine Road.

“It was just such a historical event, and it’s important that we remember what the first responders did, what they sacrificed, the courage it took to go up into the unknown,” Jacobsen said.  

“Unfortunately, things happened the way they did, but we were looking to save lives as Americans. I think it’s important that people remember that.” 

Local residents showed their support by honking their car horns as they drove by the fire station on Saturday morning, and a small number of people stopped to take part in the ceremony. Among them was Doug Ptacek, who said he came out to pay respect for all the people who died on 9/11. 

“At this moment, a lot of people died when the building collapsed and killed a lot of people that were helping people and other people,” he said. “It’s important that we don’t forget because it’s a very tragic time in our history, and we can never let it happen again.” 

A total of 2,996 died on Sept. 11, 2001, when, in a series of coordinated attacks, Islamic terrorists flew commercial jet planes into the Twin Towers in New York City and the Pentagon building in Washington, D.C. A fourth plane crashed into a field in western Pennsylvania as a group of passengers attempted to wrest control from the terrorists.