Brockton (Massachusetts) – September 11, 2026 – InfoHaïti.net- Following the city’s 9/11 commemoration at Brockton City Hall Plaza, the day of remembrance moved to the Pleasant Street fire station, where Brockton Fire Chief Brian F. Nardelli joined firefighters and elected officials in honoring those who lost their lives 25 years ago.
Among those attending were Brockton Mayor Moises Rodrigues, City Council President Jack Lally, Massachusetts state Sen. Michael Brady and state Representatives. Bridget Plouffe and Rita Mendes.
Fire stations hold a particularly symbolic place in Sept. 11 commemorations across the United States because of the extraordinary toll the attacks took on firefighters and other emergency personnel.
When two hijacked planes struck the World Trade Center towers in New York on Sept. 11, 2001, hundreds of New York City firefighters were dispatched to the scene. As thousands of people made their way down stairwells in an effort to escape the burning buildings, firefighters headed in the opposite direction, climbing toward the upper floors to rescue those who were trapped and assist with evacuation efforts.
A total of 343 members of the New York City Fire Department died that day, most of them when the towers collapsed. Their deaths became one of the most enduring symbols of the courage and sacrifice demonstrated by first responders during the attacks.
But the human toll among first responders did not end on Sept. 11, 2001. In the years that followed, many firefighters, police officers and other emergency personnel who worked at Ground Zero developed illnesses linked to their exposure to dust, smoke and toxic substances at the site of the destroyed World Trade Center.
