Police & Fire

Gig Harbor Fire hosting 9/11 event Saturday

Gig Harbor Fire & Medic One will host a public ceremony Saturday, Sept. 11, to honor the lives lost 20 years ago during the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The event will be held at 9 a.m. in the 911 Memorial Garden at Station 50, 10222 Bujacich Road NW.

The 9/11 memorial garden at Gig Harbor Fire & Medic One headquarters was dedicated in 2017. Photo courtesy of Gig Harbor Fire & Medic One

On Sept. 11, 2001, in attacks orchestrated by al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, 19 men hijacked commercial airliners and crashed them into the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and a field outside of Shanksville, Penn. A total of 2,977 people were killed — 2,753 in New York, 184 at the Pentagon and 93 in Pennsylvania after passengers tried to retake control of the plane.

The fire department’s 911 Memorial Garden centers around a 986-pound piece of steel salvaged from one of the World Trade Center’s collapsed twin towers. It was dedicated in 2017.