Everyone who was old enough to remember knows where they were the morning of Sept. 11, 2001.
Wilmington City Councilman Charlie Rivenbark said he was with his sister-in-law watching the events unfold live on television.
“I think everybody thought it was just a bad accident, but while we were standing there watching it live we saw the second plane fly into it and you knew right then it was no accident,” Rivenbark said during a Tuesday, Sept. 9 phone interview. “It was like watching a poisonous snake; you couldn’t look away, you just had to sit there and keep watching.”
Rivenbark will speak during the Wilmington Fire Department’s 9/11 memorial ceremony Thursday, which will take place at the Firefighter’s Memorial at WFD Station No. 2 near Empie Park at 8:30 a.m.
His message will hinge on how much fire rescue crews are depended upon, and to never forget.
“Sometimes I think the public’s memory is way too short and events do tend to fade into the background,” Rivenbark said. “Three hundred and forty-three firefighters gave their life that day and when everybody else was coming out of the buildings they were going in and carrying 150 pounds of equipment trying to get to the 78th and 90th floors of the towers.”
Cape Fear Community College will also host a memorial service Thursday, Sept. 11, at its North Campus with multiple events throughout the day. The memorial service will begin at 8:46 a.m. around the 9/11 Memorial at the entrance to the Safety Training Center, and feature CFCC First Responder Academy students and members of the Wilmington Police Department Pipes and Drums ensemble.
Later in the day there will be presentations about disaster preparedness, fire safety, CPR training and emergency communications from speakers like New Hanover County Emergency Management director Warren Lee, Dan Reid from CFCC’s Fire Protection Technology program and others.
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