Fairfax County officials remember 9-11 at ceremony at Bailey’s Crossroads Fire Station

An ambulance from the Annandale Fire Station at the Pentagon on 9-11. [Ramiro Galvez]

About 35 Fairfax County firefighters and paramedics who responded to the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, are still working for the fire department. 

Two of them were at a Remembrance Ceremony at the Bailey’s Crossroads Fire Station Saturday commemorating the 20th anniversary of the 9-11 terrorist attacks. 

The bell ceremony honors the lives lost in the line of duty.

Battalion Chief Ramiro Galvez was a paramedic at the Annandale Fire Station on Sept. 11, 2001. “At 8:45 a.m., we got a dispatch about a fire at the Pentagon. That’s all we knew,” he recalled. There was so much radio traffic, his crew didn’t know what happened until they got there and saw the smoke rising from the building, people running around, and “a lot of chaos.” 

By then all the survivors had already been transported to hospitals, so his team focused on recovering body parts, mostly from the plane the terrorists crashed into the building. 

What Galvez learned from 9-11 is “not to take things for granted, not to take family for granted,” he said. “Be grateful for what we have.” 

Batallion Chief Ramiro Galvez was a paramedic at the Pentagon on 9-11.

Deputy Chief Richard Roatch spent a week at the Pentagon as part of the fire department’s urban search and rescue team. Unfortunately, he said, the team didn’t find any survivors, just human remains. 

Since then, Roatch has seen the aftermath of disasters around the globe, from earthquakes in Haiti, Japan, and Nepal to hurricanes in Florida, the Bahamas, and many other places.  

The 9-11 Remembrance Ceremony was held at the Bailey’s Crossroads Fire Station because it was one of the first stations to respond to the Pentagon. 

Firefighters contained the fire, preventing it from spreading, while Fairfax County police officers maintained security at the site, and deputies with the Sheriff’s Office assisted with traffic control and bridge closures.  

Related story: Photo exhibit commemorates tragedy and heroism of 9-11

The ceremony featured brief remarks by dignitaries, a flyover by the Fairfax 1 police helicopter, and the ringing of a bell in memory of those who died in the line of duty.     

On Sept. 11, 2001, 343 firefighters lost their lives in New York along with 72 law enforcement officers. “That spirit of service over self lives on today,” said Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis.

In the days after the attack, when more than 3,000 families were devastated, “we were unified,” said Sen. Don Beyer.  “That’s a contrast to today, where people are in conflict over Covid and current events.”

Board of Supervisors Chair Jeffrey McKay (left) and Sen. Don Beyer.

“We came together after 9-11,” said Rep. Gerry Connolly. “The terrorists were not attacking our military. They were attacking our values, our freedom.”

That spirit of togetherness was lost in the past 20 years, but Connolly believes we can get it back. 

Mason Supervisor Penny Gross lauded the bravery of the first responders and, although the attacks  happened 20 years ago, “the carnage they witnessed is seared in their brains.” 

Since then, Gross said, Fairfax County has improved the way it manages security and emergencies. Also, “we learned how fragile life is.” 

“We are a stronger and more resilient community today,”  said Board of Supervisors Chair Jeffrey McKay. 

“We will never forget,” he said, “and we must make sure our children, who weren’t born yet on 9/11 will never forget.”