5 years since 9/11/01.. PLEASE PRAY..

[Maya & Inka's mommy]

My tv was on CNN, when suddenly I heard the tone for "Breaking news"... . I saw it all happen......
I will never ever forget this, I was so chocked....

[JenBKR]

It's still so fresh in my mind, hard to believe it's been 5 whole years. A very somber anniversary.

[Corinna]

his is how we remember in Montana.Bigfork, Ferndale hold vigil
Posted: Monday, Sep 11, 2006 - 12:18:08 am MDT
By CANDACE CHASE
The Daily Inter Lake

Firefighter Ken Campbell stands at attention on Sept. 11, 2005, during the Ferndale
Volunteer Fire Department’s annual all-day vigil commemorating 9/11. Photo courtesy of Larry Cutrone

At 6:46 a.m. today, a lone firefighter with a U.S. flag continued a tradition of a daylong vigil in front of the Ferndale Volunteer Fire Department building on Montana 209.

On this five-year anniversary of the terrorist attack, another lone firefighter a few miles away has joined the solemn remembrance.

“This year, Bigfork is also picking up the banner,” said Dominic Kovacevic, a Ferndale volunteer. “We begin at 6:46, the time [Mountain Time] that the first plane hit the north tower” of the World Trade Center.

As in Ferndale, Bigfork firefighters will serve one-hour watches, holding the flag as they stand in front of their fire station on Montana 35 near Flathead Bank.


Fire Chief Steve Hopp said he was amazed at how fast his schedule filled in for the Bigfork 9-11 memorial vigil.

Hopp said he approached the volunteer membership after speaking with Kovacevic about expanding the vigil to Bigfork.

“I got an overwhelming response,” he said. “They did want to participate.”

The 9-11 memorial began the year after 2001 as a tribute to the 343 New York City firefighters who lost their lives running into the World Trade Center to try to save others. The Ferndale vigil has continued each year since — to a tremendous response.

“This little thing in podunk Ferndale got a lot of national notoriety,” Kovacevic said. “We heard from all over the place.”

The department received letters and cards of appreciation from family, friends and co-workers of the lost firefighters. They learned about the event via the Internet as well as from several boxes of T-shirts sent to the New York City Fire Department.

Kovacevic said the T-shirts were donated by Gordon Godfred, president of Polar Graphics in Kent, Wash., for participants in the vigil.

This year, the back of the shirt features a large graphic of a flag created from tiny silhouettes of a firefighter. It says “Home of the Brave — Honor America’s Firefighters — September 11, 2006.”

For Kovacevic and Hopp, those words pretty much say it all about why their departments decided to hold the vigil.

“It’s the five-year anniversary,” Hopp said. “We don’t want anyone to forget.”

The two hope to expand the observance to the rest of the fire departments in Flathead and Lake counties. Both are excited to hold the vigil this year on the main highway through Bigfork.

“We have a high volume of traffic,” Hopp said.

Even on the less-traveled Montana 209, the public gives the firefighters a gratifying response. Both Kovacevic and his wife Carolyn, also a volunteer, stand a one-hour watch each Sept. 11 at the Ferndale station on the corner of Montana 209 and North Ferndale Drive.

He said they saw “a little bit of everything” from the public.

“Every logging truck driver took off his cap when he went by,” Kovacevic said of years past.

School-bus drivers and families passing by pulled over in their cars. Some of the children came over and stood near the firefighter.

People came by with vases of flowers or treats such as bags of cookies.

As a participant, Kovacevic found his hour spent holding the flag a time of deep introspection. He contemplated the tragedy, the loss of the New York City firefighters and fire-fighting in general.

He figured out that 343 firefighters standing 100 feet apart would span the 7 miles from the outskirts of Kalispell to the White Oak Inn.

After the first year of the vigil, he no longer wondered if people in the community would understand the symbolism of a lone firefighter with a flag standing silently on Sept. 11.

“It’s not complicated and heroics aren’t complicated,” he said. “You reach deep and you do the job.”

Kovacevic said each firefighter who died, as well as those who survived, understood their chances of returning from the burning towers were “slim to none.”

“There’s a fine line between heroism and stupidity,” he said. “Firemen understood the risk. That’s true bravery.”

Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by e-mail at [email protected]

[Laura's Babies]

I was on my way to Florida to pack up to move back to Louisiana and on the way I had to stop to sign paperwork on my new house. One of the girls at the office was standing at the door and was frantically waving me to hurry up and get inside. She thought I was just driving by and heard it on the radio so I pulled over at the first place I saw to see a TV. I just had got inside and focused on the TV when the second plane hit, we knew without anyone saying anything then, that it was no accident.

I watch the show last nigh those 2 film makers were making about that new fireman (a documentary) and was in downtow New York, they caught the noise of the first plane going overhead (on video) and everyone looked to the sky. The scenes they did inside the tower as things were happening was heartbreaking. The loud crashing every so often of the people who had jumped hitting the end of their life..... I sat here and cried and cried just like it was happening all over again. The end of the day when the firemen went back to the station and how they hugged each other, kissed one another and just held each other and cried. It was so emotional and heartbreaking to see.

[sparks19]

I will be keeping candles lit all day. I have said a prayer for all those that lost their lives in 9/11, those that are fighting for our country, and those that have lost loved ones. I say a prayer for the whole world today. We are facing a determined enemy and our whole way of life is threatened more than we may think.

God bless us all and take special care of those families that have lost the ones they love. We need you now more than ever.

[Corinna]

his is how we remember in Montana.Bigfork, Ferndale hold vigil
Posted: Monday, Sep 11, 2006 - 12:18:08 am MDT
By CANDACE CHASE
The Daily Inter Lake

Firefighter Ken Campbell stands at attention on Sept. 11, 2005, during the Ferndale
Volunteer Fire Department’s annual all-day vigil commemorating 9/11. Photo courtesy of Larry Cutrone

At 6:46 a.m. today, a lone firefighter with a U.S. flag continued a tradition of a daylong vigil in front of the Ferndale Volunteer Fire Department building on Montana 209.

On this five-year anniversary of the terrorist attack, another lone firefighter a few miles away has joined the solemn remembrance.

“This year, Bigfork is also picking up the banner,” said Dominic Kovacevic, a Ferndale volunteer. “We begin at 6:46, the time [Mountain Time] that the first plane hit the north tower” of the World Trade Center.

As in Ferndale, Bigfork firefighters will serve one-hour watches, holding the flag as they stand in front of their fire station on Montana 35 near Flathead Bank.


Fire Chief Steve Hopp said he was amazed at how fast his schedule filled in for the Bigfork 9-11 memorial vigil.

Hopp said he approached the volunteer membership after speaking with Kovacevic about expanding the vigil to Bigfork.

“I got an overwhelming response,” he said. “They did want to participate.”

The 9-11 memorial began the year after 2001 as a tribute to the 343 New York City firefighters who lost their lives running into the World Trade Center to try to save others. The Ferndale vigil has continued each year since — to a tremendous response.

“This little thing in podunk Ferndale got a lot of national notoriety,” Kovacevic said. “We heard from all over the place.”

The department received letters and cards of appreciation from family, friends and co-workers of the lost firefighters. They learned about the event via the Internet as well as from several boxes of T-shirts sent to the New York City Fire Department.

Kovacevic said the T-shirts were donated by Gordon Godfred, president of Polar Graphics in Kent, Wash., for participants in the vigil.

This year, the back of the shirt features a large graphic of a flag created from tiny silhouettes of a firefighter. It says “Home of the Brave — Honor America’s Firefighters — September 11, 2006.”

For Kovacevic and Hopp, those words pretty much say it all about why their departments decided to hold the vigil.

“It’s the five-year anniversary,” Hopp said. “We don’t want anyone to forget.”

The two hope to expand the observance to the rest of the fire departments in Flathead and Lake counties. Both are excited to hold the vigil this year on the main highway through Bigfork.

“We have a high volume of traffic,” Hopp said.

Even on the less-traveled Montana 209, the public gives the firefighters a gratifying response. Both Kovacevic and his wife Carolyn, also a volunteer, stand a one-hour watch each Sept. 11 at the Ferndale station on the corner of Montana 209 and North Ferndale Drive.

He said they saw “a little bit of everything” from the public.

“Every logging truck driver took off his cap when he went by,” Kovacevic said of years past.

School-bus drivers and families passing by pulled over in their cars. Some of the children came over and stood near the firefighter.

People came by with vases of flowers or treats such as bags of cookies.

As a participant, Kovacevic found his hour spent holding the flag a time of deep introspection. He contemplated the tragedy, the loss of the New York City firefighters and fire-fighting in general.

He figured out that 343 firefighters standing 100 feet apart would span the 7 miles from the outskirts of Kalispell to the White Oak Inn.

After the first year of the vigil, he no longer wondered if people in the community would understand the symbolism of a lone firefighter with a flag standing silently on Sept. 11.

“It’s not complicated and heroics aren’t complicated,” he said. “You reach deep and you do the job.”

Kovacevic said each firefighter who died, as well as those who survived, understood their chances of returning from the burning towers were “slim to none.”

“There’s a fine line between heroism and stupidity,” he said. “Firemen understood the risk. That’s true bravery.”

Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by e-mail at [email protected]

[Kirsten]

Laura, they showed the rerun of this documentary two nights ago, two French brothers who just made a film with the fire department... Watching it is bringing all this horror back...

I will never, never forget that day. When it happened, it was afternoon already here in Germany, I was at work, and a friend sent me an email saying two planes have crushed into the ´World Trade Center, and that one tower has already collapsed. She also wrote that another plane has hit the Pentagon, and that there's going to be war now. We tried to get some more news on the internet, but all the news pages were down because there was too much traffic...

When I drove home, I listened to the radio, I learned about the plane that came down in Pennsylvania, and I heard the second tower of the WTC collapsing live on the radio, and the reporters were crying... it was like the entire world turning into a nightmare.

When I came home, I saw it tv, again and again, and I called a friend and we cried on the phone together over so many lives lost. I think we spoke till midnight.

This is how I remember that day. I will never forget it.

Kirsten