Exhausted firefighters remember 9/11 victims

Firefighters exhausted from dealing with loyalist rioting in Belfast today stood in silent tribute to 9/11 terrorist attack victims in New York.

On the fourth anniversary of the devastating strike on New York’s twin towers, crews were flat out dealing with burning vehicles hijacked across the city.

A unit from Whitla Street Station’s last call-out was to extinguish a lorry filled with chicken produce seized and set alight at Mount Vernon, north Belfast.

Afterwards the nine-man team stayed amid the smouldering wreckage to commemorate the firefighters killed at the World Trade Centre.

Station Officer Gary Thompson said: “People forget about the past too easy, and the effects terrorism has in all its forms.”

Mr Thompson and his colleagues worked through the night dealing with chaos on the streets caused by loyalists who went on the rampage after a controversial Orange Order parade.

“We never stopped from when we went in until this morning. A lot of other incidents we couldn’t attend because the area couldn’t be cleared.”

Mr Thompson added that his crew decided their own memorial to the 9/11 attack should take place amid the debris they had just dealt with.

“We’re standing with a backdrop of cars strewn across the road and a burnt out lorry,” he said.

“We just thought it would be appropriate to do this at the fire ground, especially for all the firefighters that lost their lives four years ago.”