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'We did what we had to do': St. Augustine Fire Department remembers 9/11

A retired fighter speaks about his 9/11 respond during a Ceremony of Remembrance at the St. Augustine Fire Department.

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — The St. Augustine Fire Department continued its annual tradition of remembering the families of survivors and first responders who died in the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 by ringing the fire-bell and holding a remembrance ceremony Sunday morning at the Fire Department's main station.

The bell signifies the last alarm heard by firefighters before an emergency.

Firefighters like Gerard Durkin, who ran into the twin towers 21 years ago.

“Everything was pulverized including the people that we’re in those building. And there was a dust, probably about two feet, and you hear crunching sound," Durkin, a retired-firefighter who responded on 9/11, said. "And I realized it was thousands of woman’s shoes, that had been, to get away from the death cloud they threw their shoes away, and just threw their bags and everything. And I’ll never forget that.”

Durkin sat in the front row while his wife, Erin Durkin, spoke about that day. Her baby sister, Suzanne Geraty, was working inside the north tower on the 103rd floor when it was hit.

Suzanne had an infectious personality. She was funny, she was the life of the party…My sister had life insurance and none of us had known. And so it all went to the kids and they all graduated from college… she’s left a legacy," Erin Durkin, a guest speaker at the Ceremony of Remembrance, said.

Hearing these stories and gathering to remember those lost is a tradition that has continued each year since the city's first Ceremony of Remembrance, held just two days after 9/11.

“It’s just nice that there’s a network and support for those who actually experienced 9/11," Erin Durkin, said.

“We did what we had to do, you don’t let people, you get in, that’s your job," Gerard Durkin said.

    

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