An email that I receive from AllWorship.com:
That day seems like a blur now. I imagine that, just like Pearl Harbor, over time many will forget. Generations of families were changed that day. Future legacies of dads, moms, sisters and brothers were ended. They should never be forgotten. I will never forget.
I will also never forget the sign of God’s love and presence that I experienced that day. As I pulled up to the impact side of the Pentagon on 9/11, I didn’t want to believe that this was an intentional act of people. I tried to tell myself in a split second that this must have been an accident. I thought this might have been a helicopter crash on the Pentagon helicopter pad. My Safety Officer told me to snap out of it -- that this was a Boeing 757 that had crashed intentionally into the Pentagon. I confirmed his statement when I walked into the debris field. I found a part of the door to the avionics/electronics compartment. I recognized it because I had opened that door so many times during my training.
We immediately took a position with our Aircraft Rescue & Firefighting vehicles, attacking the fire through a small hole in the building. I remember seeing multiple propane tanks burning and I directed someone to cool the tanks with water. It was at that moment it happened. People said later that she walked right by me, but I never saw her. A woman exited through a door next to the hole that the plane had made on impact. She was severely burned and still smoldering. I never saw her and I believe that was for a divine reason that I will explain later.
We continued to fight the fires, concentrating our water streams through the windows of the burning interior offices. The smoke was so thick that you couldn’t see the side of the building. Just then a gust of wind came from nowhere and cleared the smoke for a brief second. That’s when I saw it -- there was a stress crack running from the roof of the Pentagon all the way down to the impact area. I immediately told the Division Supervisor that we had structural integrity compromised. We both agreed to back up and not let anyone in the building. We cordoned off the area with fire line tape.
A group of soldiers led by a General started to yell at us, “Get in there; our friends are dying in there!” but we held our ground. At one point the pushing and shoving from this group became so violent that police intervened and dispersed the crowd. As I turned to look back at the building, it collapsed. The announcement was made, “We have had structural collapse at the Pentagon”.
Where was God that day? He was standing beside me making sure I didn’t see the burning woman. He knew that if I had seen her I would have taken a crew in the door she exited and looked for others. Where was God that day? He was at work making a gust of wind appear on a calm day, clearing the smoke so we could see the crack that had started making the building fall.
I thank God for watching over my crew that day and not letting any more first responders perish.
Every Blessing,
Tim Lasher
Deputy Fire Chief
That day seems like a blur now. I imagine that, just like Pearl Harbor, over time many will forget. Generations of families were changed that day. Future legacies of dads, moms, sisters and brothers were ended. They should never be forgotten. I will never forget.
I will also never forget the sign of God’s love and presence that I experienced that day. As I pulled up to the impact side of the Pentagon on 9/11, I didn’t want to believe that this was an intentional act of people. I tried to tell myself in a split second that this must have been an accident. I thought this might have been a helicopter crash on the Pentagon helicopter pad. My Safety Officer told me to snap out of it -- that this was a Boeing 757 that had crashed intentionally into the Pentagon. I confirmed his statement when I walked into the debris field. I found a part of the door to the avionics/electronics compartment. I recognized it because I had opened that door so many times during my training.
We immediately took a position with our Aircraft Rescue & Firefighting vehicles, attacking the fire through a small hole in the building. I remember seeing multiple propane tanks burning and I directed someone to cool the tanks with water. It was at that moment it happened. People said later that she walked right by me, but I never saw her. A woman exited through a door next to the hole that the plane had made on impact. She was severely burned and still smoldering. I never saw her and I believe that was for a divine reason that I will explain later.
We continued to fight the fires, concentrating our water streams through the windows of the burning interior offices. The smoke was so thick that you couldn’t see the side of the building. Just then a gust of wind came from nowhere and cleared the smoke for a brief second. That’s when I saw it -- there was a stress crack running from the roof of the Pentagon all the way down to the impact area. I immediately told the Division Supervisor that we had structural integrity compromised. We both agreed to back up and not let anyone in the building. We cordoned off the area with fire line tape.
A group of soldiers led by a General started to yell at us, “Get in there; our friends are dying in there!” but we held our ground. At one point the pushing and shoving from this group became so violent that police intervened and dispersed the crowd. As I turned to look back at the building, it collapsed. The announcement was made, “We have had structural collapse at the Pentagon”.
Where was God that day? He was standing beside me making sure I didn’t see the burning woman. He knew that if I had seen her I would have taken a crew in the door she exited and looked for others. Where was God that day? He was at work making a gust of wind appear on a calm day, clearing the smoke so we could see the crack that had started making the building fall.
I thank God for watching over my crew that day and not letting any more first responders perish.
Every Blessing,
Tim Lasher
Deputy Fire Chief
1 comment:
Amen.
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