Eureka firemen remember 9/11 as a day of unprecedented shock

Ten years have passed since firefighters from Eureka Fire Rescue journeyed into the ruins of an apocalypse.

"It's still fresh. It's still like it was yesterday," said Eureka Chief Rich Heuser, who remembered traveling into Ground Zero.

On Sept. 12, 2001, Heuser and six fellow firefighters/paramedics from the Tarentum company viewed firsthand the devastation wrought by the al-Qaida terrorist attacks the day before.

The sight they beheld was a desolate landscape of twisted steel and shattered concrete, the remains of the twin 110-story World Trade Center towers and five surrounding buildings where nearly 3,000 lives were lost 24 hours earlier.

"Everything was gray," recalled Capt. Len Wolfe.

"Everything was covered in mortar dust, inches of it," said Deputy Chief Brad James, 44.

Heuser was struck by the scale of the disaster, which extended far beyond the trade center complex.

"You had debris and dust for blocks and blocks out from the site," he said.

He mentioned that he has been a firefighter, a first responder, since 1971, offering some perspective on the 9/11 tragedy.

"I've seen a lot of stuff in that time," Heuser said. "A lot of stuff that I never want to see again, a lot of stuff that the average person never sees -- (9/11)'s at the top of the list."

Amidst the rubble

Like most Americans, the Eureka members watched events unfold on TV as the country's sense of security was ripped away by Muslim terrorists on a beautiful September morning.

Hijacking four planes, the terrorists flew one into each World Trade Center tower, one into the Pentagon in Washington and another came down in a field near Shanksville in Somerset County when passengers on board got word of the attacks on New York via cellphone calls and tried to take over the plane. Officials believe the terrorists were heading for Washington to attack the White House or the Capitol.

James, Heuser, Wolfe, firefighter/paramedics Shannon McKruit and Tim James, Brad's cousin, along with Chris Wojcik and Chad Carter, who are no long with Eureka, decided to go to New York and offer their help. They took the company's heavy rescue truck, an ambulance and a mobile home, driving all night to reach New York the next morning.

"We went to do whatever we could," Heuser said. "We never expected to do what we did."

Instead of being placed away from the site in support of other units as they anticipated, the Eureka group was moved through security checkpoints and staging areas until they found themselves at Ground Zero.

"We were assigned to a New York City battalion that was trying to put out the fires in the remains of Building 7," he said. "The remains were about a four-story pile of rubble."

Their heavy rescue truck, equipped for out-of-the-ordinary things such as rescues in tight spaces and angle rescues, became vital to recovery efforts. Several of New York City's rescue units, trucks and ambulances were destroyed when the buildings collapsed.

Over the next four days, the Eureka crew worked shifts exceeding 30 hours in their turnout gear. They got about 10 hours in between to get showers, have a hot meal and get much-needed sleep.

"There just wasn't enough relief," Wolfe said of the long shifts. "You could find dozens of engines but when it came to heavy rescue, there just wasn't enough."

Paradox of change

The five remaining veterans of the 9/11 mission seem to be caught in a paradox when asked how their experience at Ground Zero has changed them.

All of them said they didn't believe it had changed them, yet all of them mentioned ways in which they or their lives are different because of it.

"I do a lot more with family, a lot more trips with family," the 40-year-old McKruit said. "I do way more with family. Life's too short."

Since 9/11, Wolfe, 33, has been married, had children, gotten divorced and is now engaged to be married again.

"It gives you a better outlook on life," he said of 9/11 experience. "It makes you appreciate the little things more."

He took something with him from Ground Zero that serves as a reminder.

"While I was walking through the debris, just kicking things up, I kicked up a picture of a little girl and I took it with me," Wolfe said. "I look at it and think, 'There's a little girl without a mother or father.' "

Heuser said his brother firefighters claim that he is a lot mellower than he used to be.

"It definitely changes the way you view things," he said. "I think I'm a lot more open to possibilities."

For Brad and Tim James, 9/11 and their time at Ground Zero has changed their outlook.

"It's made me bitter," Tim James said. "At the risk of being politically incorrect, I've got a 'nuke-them-til-they-glow' philosophy. I don't know that we've gotten any retribution for it in any way shape or form."

Brad James is "angry that someone took a sucker punch at this country," he said. "I don't think we're ever going to forget 9/11, but I don't want us as a people, as a nation, ever to become complacent and remember it as just another event."

All five Eureka firefighters said, while they were happy to hear about the death of the man responsible for 9/11, al-Qaida mastermind Osama bin Laden, they believe it shouldn't have taken 10 years to bring him to justice.

"Firefighters react, we are reactionary people," Brad James said. "When (9/11) happened, I wanted to see some reaction by about 9/15."

Tim James is skeptical about whether bin Laden was actually killed by Navy SEALS in Pakistan since there has been no release of photos or video of his body, which was buried at sea.

"Put his head on a stick," Tim James said. "I want to see that carried around Manhattan next week."

Remembering New Yorkers' gratitude

Despite his bitterness, Brad James did take something positive out of his time in New York.

"I think it's a good reminder that even the worst times brings out the best in people," he said, adding that was evident in the gratitude shown by New Yorkers toward the Eureka group.

"New York is such a big city and New Yorkers have this reputation as being mean, nasty people and that just wasn't the case," Wolfe said.

Heuser said that, as they drove through the city to a hotel to get some rest, a woman selling ice cream on the street ran up to the rescue truck, handed him some ice cream and said "Thank you." And it happened over and over with street vendors.

Brad James told of going into a hotel gift shop to buy an "I Love New York" sweatshirt and some other items. He handed the clerk a credit card and as she rang up the $34 sale, engaged in some small talk with him, asking him where he was from and if he was there because of 9/11.

When he said he was with a fire company from Pittsburgh working at Ground Zero, she cancelled the sale and handed him back his card along with his purchase.

"She said 'I can't ring you up. How can I charge you?' " James said.