The Normal Fire Department marked the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks Friday with a ceremony at its headquarters flagpole, pausing for a moment of silence at 8:46 a.m. — the exact time American Airlines Flight 11 struck the North Tower of the World Trade Center in 2001.
A small group gathered for the brief remembrance, which Fire Chief Mick Humer said has grown from a solitary candle at the flagpole into an annual tradition over his 19 years leading the department.
"I think it's great," Humer said. "We've done the five-year thing, 10, 15, 20, and now we're 25 years, and it's just kind of amazing."
A tradition that started with a candle
Humer said the department didn't have an official 9/11 ceremony when he arrived in Normal in 2007. He recalled standing inside the old headquarters during a rainstorm and noticing a single candle still burning at the flagpole outside.
He credited retired Capt. Ed Hershberger with lighting that candle, and said it was Hershberger, along with then-captains Ed Collins and John Grusick, who helped turn the moment into a yearly observance once Humer became assistant chief.
Humer, who was working in emergency medical services in Champaign on the day of the attacks, said the 25th anniversary carries more weight than past remembrances.
"For me anyway, it feels different," he said. "Twenty-five years feels different than the other years."
Humer said he spent the night before the ceremony looking through old footage and thinking about the scale of the loss: nearly 3,000 people killed, including 343 firefighters, along with police officers, paramedics, military personnel and others who later died or were sickened by exposure at Ground Zero.
"All of those people went to bed September 10th, woke up in the morning, going to work, going about their business, and never knew that by 10 o'clock that morning that they'd be all dead," Humer said. "That's why I think it's important that we remember it — that we take into consideration and take stock in our own lives that tomorrow is not promised, and that we take care of our loved ones and live every day to the fullest."
Humer remembered being in charge of hiring flight paramedics and nurses the morning of the attacks, unaware of what was unfolding.
"If I'd have known what the magnitude of the day was at 8 o'clock in the morning, I would have canceled those meetings," he said. "We didn't know how the day was going to play out, and it just kept getting worse and worse and worse."
A lieutenant who was serving as shift commander in Normal on Sept. 11, 2001, also shared memories at the ceremony. He recalled watching cable news coverage go dark for about a minute after all four hijacked planes had crashed, fearing communications nationwide had been cut off.
He also said he traveled to New York that November for a planned memorial for firefighters, which was ultimately canceled amid tension between police and fire unions. While walking to a firefighter's funeral in his dress uniform, he said, an elderly stranger approached him on the street, embraced him and thanked him for his service.
"She didn't know me from Adam," he said. "But on that day, I was her hero for two seconds."
Passing the history to a new generation
Humer said many firefighters now on duty in Normal — and some still in training — were not alive when the attacks happened. He said the department relies on the state fire academy, mentorship from veteran officers and ceremonies like Thursday's to pass down the significance of the day.
"It's part of their job to train them to do a multitude of different things, not only just to be a firefighter and a paramedic, but about the tradition of the fire service as well, and why we're here and why we do what we do," Humer said.
Because Normal is home to Illinois State University's Watterson Towers and other large residence halls, Humer said the department has long trained extensively for high-rise fires. But 9/11 sharpened that focus beyond the threat of an attack to the department's everyday firefighting approach in tall buildings.
"It put a renewed emphasis, and not just if a terrorist would fly an airplane into it, but just how we go about fighting fires on a daily basis in those buildings," Humer said.
A 2013 state law requiring sprinklers in dormitories has also made a practical difference, he said, helping crews contain fires before they spread.
"That changed a lot of things for us because it would contain the fire until we could get to it, kept it much smaller," Humer said.
Humer said 9/11 serves as a reminder that tomorrow is not promised, to care for our loved ones and to live every day to its fullest.
