CUMRU TWP., Pa. – Twenty-five years ago, Brian Winterstein, who worked in K-9 search and rescue, was one of the first responders sent to New York to help in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
But, when he arrived, he wasn’t sent to ground zero.
“They said, well, ‘We need you guys over at Fresh Kills Landfill.’ And we’re like, ‘OK, what’s Fresh Kills Landfill?’” Winterstein said.
After the 9/11 attacks, more than 1.8 million tons of debris were left on the streets of New York.
All of it needed to be searched.
“They were bringing the rubble over from Manhattan…and they were pulling it apart, and then we were in there with buckets and dogs, looking for evidence,” Winterstein said.
He says he’ll never forget what he saw as their bus rolled up the hill to Fresh Kills in Staten Island.
“I’m like, ‘Oh, my God, it looks like Nazi Germany burned.’ You know, just rubble everywhere,” Winterstein said.
For two weeks, Winterstein and his team sifted through the rubble with hundreds of dogs in 18-hour shifts.
“We were finding IDs, and there were some things that I didn’t want to find,” he said.
Winterstein, who is now chief of Berks County Search and Rescue Station 2, says it’s still hard to talk about his experiences.
His team’s work, though, was essential.
“You’re putting closure in someone’s life. That’s all. That’s all it was — just closure,” Winterstein said.
He said even though it can be painful, it’s important every anniversary to honor and remember the more than 3,000 lives that were lost that day.
“I just think you should never forget about that day. No,” Winterstein said.