Ventura County Fire Department

The Ventura County Fire Department will commemorate the terrible losses suffered on September 11, 2001 with a day of remembrance and preparedness.

On Thursday, September 11, all department flags will be raised at 6:55 a.m. Firefighters will be at attention and in complete silence as the colors are raised. At 6:59 a.m. – the moment the South Tower of the World Trade Center collapsed – the county’s Fire Communication Center will dispatch an all-county attention tone followed by four sets of five bells. These bells honor the 343 New York firefighters, the law enforcement personnel and civilians who lost their lives as the result of the terrorist attacks. A minute of silence will follow and then each station will acknowledge the occasion in its own way.

The public is invited to attend the ceremony at their neighborhood fire station and join their local firefighters in this memorial tribute.

“September 11 is more than a day of remembrance,” said Assistant Chief Vaughan Miller, “it is also a day of preparedness. The horrific events of that day are a reminder to all of us that we need to be prepared for a disaster. September is National Preparedness Month and we will use September 11 as an opportunity to make sure all of our employees have a disaster plan both at work and at home. We encourage the public to do the same thing.”

There are a number of resources for people wishing to start their own family disaster plan including the American Red Cross and the department’s own Web site at http://fire.countyofventura.org.

“At the fire department, we have 343 reasons to remember September 11,” said Miller. “It’s a reminder to us that we must always be prepared, and we can all learn something from that lesson.”