During the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, future Sedona Fire District Governing Board Chairwoman Helen McNeal was in Washington D.C.
“Everything was silent,” she said. “Except for air force jets flying. F-15s flying over Washington. Patrolling.” It’s been 24 years, but she hasn’t forgotten the fear and the sadness of the attacks. She had friends who worked in the Pentagon, which was struck by hijacked American so many people come from other places, opportunities for camaraderie are important,” she said. This, in addition to recognizing Airlines Flight 77, killing all 59 victims aboard and another 125 in the building. People McNeal knew who could have been close to the attacks, but she wouldn’t find out until later everyone she knew was all right.
“My husband, at the time, was in Minnesota, actually in Minneapolis, and stuck there,” she said. “He couldn’t get home.”
The good she remembers sticks with her, too: Neighbors coming together to help each other; a sense of community and camaraderie unified the country. “In a town like Sedona, where sacrifices made by first responders, inspired her to organize the 9/11 memorial ceremony every year at Sedona Fire District Station 6 in Sedona, where the 9/11 memorial plaza was installed in 2016.
“Quite a few years ago, we were able to obtain a piece of the world trade center,” Fire Chief Ed Mezulis said. Since SFD opened the memorial in 2016, it has hosted a yearly memorial and breakfast in remembrance of the 411 first-responders who lost their lives during the attacks.
The twin tower piece is believed to be from the 20th floor of one of the towers, the memorial’s Facebook page states. It is a 5.5-foot, 2,900-pound piece of steel.
“Let us recognize the importance of the celebration, of the memorial and of 9/11,” McNeal said, “but let us also, once again, come together as a community and be a community, enjoy one another’s company.”
“The firefighters will have the coffee on, the sausage going, the pancakes ready to go, and their tables set out,” she said. “Let’s come together and enjoy one another’s company, and hopefully a beautiful morning and everybody, I can promise you, is bringing out all their memories of where they were and what they were doing on that day.”
“It’s an opportunity for the community to come together and remember where they were on that day and remember those we lost,” Mezulis said.
Every fifth year, the fire district tries to do something a bit more robust, Mezulis said, so next year, the 25th anniversary, will be pretty big, but this year to kick off the event, Mezulis anticipates speeches from himself, McNeal and Sedona Mayor Scott Jablow, who was a police officer with Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, an agency that lost 37 police officers on 9/11. The speeches only take about 10 minutes, Mezulis said, beginning at 8:45 a.m., Thursday, Sept. 11, after which the breakfast will go on for a few hours.