Sarasota Fire Department Unveils Sept. 11 Memorial

A piece of the a steel beam unveiled as part of a Sarasota County Fire Department World Trade Center Memorial symbolized so much to officials Tuesday.

"I believe it's memorials like this all over the country that reminds us of the American spirit," Deputy Administrator Thomas Harmer said.

The memorial was part of a ceremony thanking firefighters and first responders for what they do today and how the brave ones in New York battled through a dust cloud and those two falling towers on Sept. 11, 2001.

The county received the beam in May 2011 and was unveiled for the first time as part of a memorial Tuesday afternoon at Station 2 on Waldemere Street.

"By memorializing them today, we have given them the greatest honor of all by never forgetting their valor, their service and their sacrifice," Fire Chief Mike Tobias said.

And recognizing those efforts 11 years later also symbolizes how Americans and those in public safety forge on.

Harmer, a Marine, former fire chief in Tallahassee and former Titusville city manager, can appreciate all those facets of what went into helping communities move on that day no matter how far they were from New York, the Pentagon and Shanksville, Pa.

On that day, his city council debated whether to cancel its scheduled meeting.

"They said no, we must go on," Harmer said. "We must have that meeting and must show the public that the government continues and that service continues."

Sheriff Tom Knight said something of that magnitude happening to complete strangers creates unity through sorrow.

"When we lose loved ones, we have sorrow. When we lose this many people that we didn't even know, we had more sorrow," he said. "We channeled that sorrow to make something better." 

Or simply put, Americans have adversity that terrorists simply underestimated.

"We are a good people that will overcome anything that is thrown at us," Tobias said.

Related Topics: September 11