Arlington County firefighter Matthew Herrera was racing to a call for an apartment fire in Rosslyn, Virginia, 20 years ago, when his crew was rerouted. Their new destination: the Pentagon, for a report of a plane down in the area.
It was Sept. 11, 2001.
Herrera, now a captain, struggled to get through piles of debris inside the building, right where the plane had hit, to fight the blaze.
鈥淭he first time I fell, I got up real quick and I remember (thinking), 鈥業 hope I鈥檓 not stepping on somebody.鈥� And I knew that I probably was,鈥� Herrera told 草莓传媒.
Jaleel Davis was off-duty that day, but reported to his firehouse after seeing news of the Pentagon plane crash on television. The fire trucks had departed, but he hitched a ride to the Pentagon in a volunteer firefighter鈥檚 pickup.
鈥淚 do remember the bodies,鈥� Davis said. 鈥淚 actually remember seeing feet still in shoes that weren’t attached to anything.鈥�
D.C. Fire and EMS Chief John Donnelly was a sergeant with the department that day. He was also off-duty and heard of the first plane hitting the World Trade Center on 草莓传媒.
As the situation unfolded, he went home, packed five days鈥� worth of clothes, dropped his daughter off at a neighbor鈥檚 house and went into work, helping to send a rescue squad to the Pentagon and then running logistics for the department.
D.C. Assistant Chief Craig Baker, then a captain, was out of town, in terrorism-response training. He arrived in a classroom to see images of the World Trade Center on fire.
鈥淭here were actually people 鈥� I think including myself 鈥� that were opening up books, starting to take notes, because we thought it was going to be an exercise,鈥� Baker said. 鈥淎nd the instructors realized that, and they finally told us, 鈥楲ook, this is not part of class 鈥� this is a live news feed; this is actually happening at this time.鈥欌��
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Davis said he鈥檚 still processing the events at the Pentagon nearly two decades later. Even now, 鈥淚f a building is being demolished or torn down, when it鈥檚 under deconstruction, that triggers me back to the Pentagon.鈥�
鈥淓verybody obviously has their own way鈥� of processing the events, said Herrera. 鈥淚鈥檝e never struggled with anything that affected my ability to function or continue to do my work. I just take it and appreciate it for what it is and how it鈥檚 impacted me, and make sure that I look at it and say, 鈥極K; well, that was that, and I鈥檓 going to move on.鈥欌��
Donnelly said that day shifted first responders鈥� mindsets: 鈥淯nderstanding that the terrorist attack brings other things to us and other hazards, like a bigger fire, or at an unexpected place. We shouldn鈥檛 have big fires in high-rises in this country, or at the Pentagon, but we did.鈥�
He said other changes have paid off, especially improved communication and more intelligence sharing between agencies.
鈥淥n Jan. 6, for instance, we were mobilized,鈥� Donnelly said. 鈥淲e have the tools and we鈥檙e using them.鈥�
Baker agreed.
鈥淚 think where we saw the biggest change was the coordination and communication and the willingness to share and plan in advance among all different types of agencies, especially law enforcement,鈥� he said.
鈥淚t was vital to us feeling confident that we were prepared and understood the threats that we were challenged with, and you鈥檝e got to have that confidence in order to place your members in harm鈥檚 way, right?鈥�
