On 9/11, the crash of Flight 93 changed a small town forever

SHANKSVILLE, Pa. — For much than 200 years, amid the rolling hills and bucolic landscapes, beingness was elemental successful Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

Then, connected a wide Tuesday successful September 2001, the calm shattered.

“Saw the fume travel up and the detonation shook the location wide implicit here,” an eyewitness said, arsenic helium filmed video of fume rising implicit the greenish hills.

“My woman called me. I was really astatine my existent job,” said Terry Shaffer, who connected 9/11 was Fire Chief of the all-volunteer occurrence section successful Shanksville.

He is present retired.

“We didn't adjacent cognize whose airplane it was,” helium said.

Firefighters raced to the scene, located successful a tract conscionable a fewer miles from the occurrence station.

“There are inactive immoderate smoldering successful the crater wherever the level had hit,” Chief Shaffer said. “And the woods were partially connected fire.”

They worked to enactment retired those flames and more.

“We did hunt agelong and hard to marque definite that we conscionable didn't miss something,” helium said.

However, determination was small near to hunt for United Airlines Flight 93.

“The level had breached up into a batch of pieces,” Chief Shaffer said.

Since then, others person broken, too. Exposure to burning pitchy substance that time is suspected of causing wellness problems among immoderate of the archetypal responders. Chief Shaffer besides suffers from wellness issues.

“Nobody could ever pinpoint that that’s what it was,” helium said. “We person guys that are passing distant and person crab and person different things. And, luckily, astir of them person signed up done the World Trade Center wellness program.”

Chief Shaffer says, though, it’s not astir them.

“We're not the communicative here,” helium said. “The communicative present is the radical connected the plane.”

Every twelvemonth connected 9/11, the occurrence presumption opens its doors, acceptable to person the loved ones of those connected Flight 93. This year, they volition bash it again.

“We offered our gathering and to springiness them nutrient and adjacent conscionable enactment the doors down and support it private,” helium said, though helium adds they person ne'er had to adjacent the doors to others before.

Outside of the occurrence station, a ample transverse was erected. It is made of alloy from the World Trade Center towers and honors each the victims of 9/11.

Inside the occurrence station, a postulation of firefighter badges from crossed the state and each astir the satellite covers 1 wall, conscionable a tiny portion of the unwavering enactment shown to these firefighters.

It is simply a enactment that’s profoundly appreciated there.

“The outpouring of emotion from people, successful general, there's much bully successful this satellite than determination is atrocious and hopefully that tin spread,” Chief Shaffer said. “I bash hope.”