2nd Annual Memorial Honors Service and Sacrifice of First Responders
Bernalillo County – The Bernalillo County Fire Department presents the 2nd annual Fallen Heroes 9/11 Memorial this Saturday, Sept. 11. at BernCo @ Alvarado Square, 415 Silver Ave SW, Albuquerque. BernCo honor guards will stand silent watch over 343 sets of firefighter bunker gear for a total of 343 minutes in remembrance of the 343 firefighters and 71 law enforcement officers who lost their lives while answering the call for service.
“It’s been 20 years. Yet the devotion to duty and courage demonstrated by the heroes who arrived on scene to pandemonium and went running into the World Trade Center continues to inspire us as if it was yesterday,” says Bernalillo County Fire Chief Greg Perez. “This is our second year doing a silent memorial which focuses on the firefighters and law enforcement officers and provides a way for widespread public participation both in person and online.”
The 9/11 Memorial will take place in front of Bernalillo County’s new administrative headquarters on Silver Avenue and will begin promptly at 6:46 a.m., the local time at which the first plane crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center and NYC emergency dispatchers sent police, paramedics and firefighters. Ceremonial procedures will be conducted throughout the memorial marking the second plane impact into the south tower (7:03 a.m.), the Pentagon impact (7:37 a.m.), collapse of the south tower (7:59 a.m.), the crash of flight 93 in Pennsylvania after passengers foiled hijackers on the way to Washington D.C. (8:03 a.m.), the collapse of the north tower (8:28 a.m.) and at 343 minutes from the start of the memorial marking the end of the ceremony (12:29 p.m.) BCFD firefighters will also strike the four-fives on a ceremonial bell on the hour starting at 9 a.m. following the laying of wreaths.
Silver Avenue will remain open so viewers may drive by the memorial between Fourth and Fifth streets. Pedestrians may pay respects in person. Chaplains will be present. The memorial will also be streamed live on the Bernalillo County Fire Department Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/BerncoFD).
# # #
About Bernalillo County
Bernalillo County is 1,160 square miles and is New Mexico’s most populous county with more than 676,000 residents. Bernalillo County government provides a wide range of public services to residents who live in Albuquerque, Los Ranchos and Tijeras and the 111,000 residents who live outside the village and city limits in the unincorporated areas of the county. Bernalillo County employs approximately 2,500 people and has an annual operating budget and capital investments of more than $650 million. Elected officials include five county commissioners, assessor, clerk, probate judge, sheriff, and treasurer.