Remember Ground Zero

20 Year Anniversary | 9/11 Look Back

Twenty years ago, LAFD member Steve Hissong recalled a sense of disbelief as he watched the news coverage of a Boeing 767 which had crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City. He sat glued to the television watching what appeared to be a tragic accident.  

Nearly 20 minutes later, he witnessed the second plane collide with the South Tower, and at that moment, he was filled with dread. "This was no accident," shared Hissong. "It was clear that this was deliberate… And I immediately thought we're next."

His heart sank and his head spun. Hissong, then a Captain I assigned to Fire Station 20 in Echo Park, could not make sense of what he had just seen. As the morning progressed, his thoughts bounced between the events unfolding in New York and Washington D.C. and the vulnerability of possible targets in Los Angeles.  

"The call came in about half an hour after the buildings collapsed," said Hissong. "My colleague phoned and said we're going; it's time to go to work." At the time, Hissong was part of the relatively new FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) Search and Rescue California Task Force 1.  

The Task Force was comprised of 66 members, almost entirely LAFD-sworn personnel and a select few specialized civilians. Hissong and his teammates were instructed to pack their gear and head to Fire Station 88 in Sherman Oaks to prepare for deployment.  

"It was particularly tough to separate from our families," shared Hissong. "This wasn't like a wildfire deployment or other big natural disaster like what we were used to. Saying goodbye to my wife and two young kids at the time was really tough. I hated leaving them at such an unstable time." Surprisingly, Hissong recalls that switching his mindset into work mode helped block out much of the fear and uncertainty that his family, teammates, and the country at large were struggling to process.  

In the late-night hours of September 11, 2001, the task force filed onto buses at Station 88 and convoyed to March Air Reserve Base in Riverside County, where they boarded a military transport plane bound for Fort Dix in New Jersey. From Fort Dix, the task force piled into waiting buses and drove North to New York's Javits Convention Center – FEMA's staging area for the response efforts. The road in was stacked for blocks with fire trucks and emergency response vehicles funneling into the city.  

The following morning, Hissong and teammates advanced to an operating base two blocks from Ground Zero. "The drive into the convention center was somber, but we remained optimistic that we would find survivors," recalled Hissong. "We had trained extensively, and we had some of the brightest and most experienced Search and Rescue experts on our team. The drive from the convention center to the operating base delivered a harsh reality check. The streets were lined with a sea of missing persons notes and masses of mourning New Yorkers. It was unlike anything we had ever seen. It's hard to explain, but seeing all that made it personal for us, it gave us a deeper purpose."  

The Task Force began their first 12-hour shift on Thursday, two days after the attack. "It was a two-block walk from the operating base to Ground Zero… and It felt like the longest walk of my life," recounted Hissong. "The collapse had covered everything, literally everything, in a coating of dust. It was surreal, like walking through a movie set. Everything was just life-less shades of gray."  

As the crew neared the remnants of the towers, the gravity of their task settled in. "No amount of training could have prepared us for what we saw. We flew to New York to help find survivors. Once we laid eyes on the site, it hit everyone simultaneously – this was no longer a rescue operation. The buildings and everything within was completely pulverized. But we had a job to do, and we owed it the members of the FDNY (New York City Fire Department) that were out there working themselves ragged, desperately trying to help their city."  

For the next two weeks, the task force would spend 12-16 hours per day meticulously sifting through the rubble to recover traces of the nearly 3,000 victims. The frustration set in hard and fast. Even though these were experienced Search and Rescue specialists, finding anything in that degree of destruction was close to impossible. "Mentally and emotionally, it was beyond hard. Knowing that the world was watching made it even harder," shared Hissong. "Providing closure for the victims' families became our goal, and that's what kept us going."  

Looking back, Hissong is grateful for having had the opportunity to deploy to Ground Zero, for the bonds he strengthened with his fellow LAFD task force members, and for the life-long friendships forged with members of the FDNY.  

"This experience changed me, and it changed the lives of everyone who worked it. These events affected an entire nation. Telling our stories helps keep the memories alive for the 343 FDNY members we lost that day and the thousands of others lost in these horrific attacks. With everything happening in the world today, we would do well to remember how that felt, and how it brought a country together to heal. Maybe recapturing some of that spirit of unity would do a little good for all of us."  

Steve Hissong is an Assistant Chief for the LAFD, responsible for overseeing the Training Division.