Remembering September 11, 2001

The City of West Haven honored the sacrifice, courage and loss of first responders, victims, and the families and communities impacted by the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001. While it is human nature to have the pain and circumstance of life allow the memories of such an event to fade, it remains essential that we #neverforget, and as we mark this 22nd year since that awful day, that date takes on greater meaning. This morning, we read the names of each of the 343 firefighters who made the ultimate sacrifice on 9/11/01. And this year was the first year that post-9/11 occupational cancer deaths, directly linked to the rescue and recovery efforts that followed in the days, weeks, and months afterwards, surpassed the 343 mark, meaning more firefighters have died from cancer trying to recover their fallen brothers and sisters, than died on that day, with plenty more to unfortunately follow the same path. Also, for the first time in our department’s history, we have firefighters who were born after 9/11/01. With that, we have an additional essential responsibility to teach this new generation of not just our mistakes, but our triumphs too. Our failures, as well as our joys. How we got here and where we can succeed. The worst and the best came out of 9/11. 22 years later, our next step is to teach the next generation of first responders while they may not be able to forget something they’ve never known, they should #alwaysremember why we do the Job…