TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) – 343 firefighters died on Sept. 11, 2001 rushing in to the twin towers but never making it out.
After the terror attacks, stunned firefighters across the country did what they do best, they stepped in to help.
Two Tallahassee firefighters made the trip to New York in the months after 9/11, bringing thousands of dollars in donations and the hugs and hopes of the capital city with them.
“It’s hard to believe it’s been 25 years, to be honest with you,” retired Tallahassee Fire Department battalion chief Hal Eastman said. “It seems like it was yesterday in some ways and other ways, it feels like an eternity ago.”
Eastman remembers rushing to TFD Station 4 the morning of Sept. 11. He and fellow firefighters watched one of America’s darkest days unfold.
“To lose the number of firefighters in one tragic event, there’s not a firefighter across the country that didn’t feel that impact,” retired TFD battalion chief Jarvis Bedford said.
“We started trouble shooting, figuring out what we’re going to do and Jarvis, myself, we came up with the idea with a bunch of other people, it’s like hey, let’s do a boot drive,” Eastman said.
Within days, the firefighters hit street corners in Tallahassee to collect donations for the families of NYFD’s Rescue 1. Donations started pouring in, with many drivers in tears as they rolled down their windows and stuffed bills into the boots.
When it was all said and done, TFD firefighters had raised more than $60,000 and Eastman and Bedford flew to New York to deliver that money in person.
Accompanying those New York firefighters to Ground Zero was beyond anything they could have imagined.
“That was kind of a tough day when we rode in to Ground Zero,” Eastman recalled. “Just to see how big this whole thing was and the amount of people, it was just surreal to be honest with you. It really, truly was.”
“There’s just so many emotions. It’s just so real. It’s almost like a movie set. I think there are times when you’re sad and other times when you’re angry and often times just confused on why and how this could happen,” Bedford said.
Both men have many memories of that day, that trip, and the firefighters and families they met.
Eastman shared some of those memories this week with young firefighters who just pulled in from a call, including one who was just weeks old on Sept. 11, 2001.
“The United States is strong. You know, we have our disagreements, we have our political disagreements. We have all that kind of stuff, but the reality of it all is in that moment after 9/11, this country came together.”
When asked what they wanted the men and women of Rescue 1 to know when they got to New York following 9/11, the message was unity.
“That we’re here for you, that you have brothers and sisters across the country.”
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