‘We don’t forget’: Kamloops firefighters remember lives lost on anniversary of 9/11 attacks

KAMLOOPS — Wednesday morning (Sept. 11), firefighters throughout the city paid their respects to the thousands of people who lost their lives in the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.

The moment of silence and the anniversary of 9/11 holds plenty of meaning to emergency responders across North America, including Kamloops Fire Rescue Deputy Fire Chief Ryan Cail.

“We don’t forget,” Cail tells CFJC, “9:30 a.m. [Wednesday], we’ll take a moment of silence out on the apron ourselves and the fire halls in Kamloops are going to exercise that moment of silence. Dispatch will play the cue and we’ll pay our respects to the fallen.”

Cail trained in Connecticut and during his time training in the eastern United States, he spent plenty of time with New York Fire Department halls in the early 2000s. Following the events of September 11, Cail says he got on the first flight available and flew to New York to help.

“Got into New York and spent some time digging at Ground Zero and helping crews that were working down there,” he recalls. “A big part of being down there, as well, was going to services and supporting the families. All the members of FDNY were doing their part and taking shifts down at Ground Zero, looking for their fallen brothers and sisters.”

Cail describes spending every weekend in New York, taking part in ride-alongs and developing relationships with the firefighters he worked alongside. That close connection brought him back immediately after 9/11, and it drew him back again nearly 10 years later when he visited the Ground Zero Memorial site and reflection pools.

“It just called me, that I had to go back and help if there was something that I could do.”

He credits that experience 23 years ago with shaping how he views his career and his understanding of what first responders are willing to do to protect others.

“You go through experiences like that and maybe even ten years into your career when you go through those catastrophic events, environmental events, whatever it might be, big fires, etc. They do shape your career. They shape how you want to be, they shape how you want to be seen as a firefighter, and they shape how you want to be seen in the community,” he explains. “Firefighters and RCMP and ambulance (paramedics), we’re held to a higher standard. And we should be. We’re there to help people.”

Each anniversary of September 11, Deputy Chief Cail says he thinks of everyone impacted on the ground that day and in the years that followed.

“There were more than 300 people that have actually passed since 9/11 due to the effects of 9/11 — so whether that be PTSD, suicide, whether it be exposures to things like asbestos, carcinogens, any of those kind of things. It also affected families. Husbands, wives, children were all affected by it.” he says, adding, “Appreciate your family. Appreciate who you work with.”