9/11 steel makes its way to Charlottesville

Forged for the strength to support a skyscraper and mangled by the destructive forces that brought one down, a 17-foot-long piece of World Trade Center steel lay in state at the Charlottesville Fire Department’s Ridge Street station.

“It’s a large steel girder with a starburst at the top that’s been bent, burnt, melted and twisted from all kinds of destruction,” said Charlottesville Fire Chief Charles Werner. “It has the initials FDNY on it because it was used to mark the spot at ground zero where they found a lost firefighter from New York.”

The 4,000-pound piece of memorabilia on Thursday officially finished its two-year journey from John F. Kennedy International Airport’s Hangar 17 to its final home in Charlottesville. It was the centerpiece of a reception held at the Ridge Street station.

“It was very overwhelming. Thinking of the forces that [the steel beam] went through and what those people in the buildings went through, it was very sad,” said Satyendra Huja, a Charlottesville city councilor who attended the reception.

The steel support beam will provide the focus for a memorial to emergency personnel planned for the city’s soon-to-be built fire station on Fontaine Avenue near Jefferson Park Avenue. The station will replace the temporary structure the department uses at Ivy Road and U.S. 29.

Officials hope to combine the steel with artifacts from other 9/11 attack sites in Pennsylvania at the Pentagon.

“The memorial is about the lives lost in 9/11 and the sacrifice of the [emergency medical services personnel] firefighters and police but it’s also about patriotism, preparedness and resilience,” Werner said.

The steel began its trip in 2009 when Werner, who had written a story for a trade publication about the New York firefighters’ memorial, was given a tour of Hangar 17 by the father of a fallen fireman, himself retired from the New York City department. Hangar 17 is where steel and other items scavenged from ground zero are kept.

“It was one of those moments in life when you’re left speechless,” Werner recalled. “When you walk in, you are confronted with thousands of artifacts from 9/11. There are pieces of the building everywhere and fire trucks and equipment.”

Werner recalled taking hold of a handrail on a fire engine.

“It’s a very familiar thing for anyone in the fire service, but this was different. I realized that some who had held that same rail had died in the attack,” he recalled. “Some of the fire trucks look almost brand new on one side and on the other they’re damaged and burned and you realize that those who were on one side of the truck lived and those on the other side died. It was that simple.”

When FDNY officials offered steel to the city department, Werner said the department was quick to accept it.

“This steel supported 100 floors and symbolized strength. When you look at it now, it represents vulnerability and the need to prepare. It also represents our strength as a nation and ability to recover,” he said. “The events brought us together and it strengthened us. That’s what we hope we can recreate.”

Huja agreed.

“It’s a reminder to be prepared for what may happen and it’s a symbol of what people can overcome,” he said.