VIDEO: Brampton firefighters recall 9/11 rescue following NYC terror attack

Four firefighters from Brampton were heralded as heroes after helping sift through the rubble of the Twin Towers following the Sept. 11 terror attacks more than two decades ago.

Nearly three thousand people were killed and thousands were left grieving when hijacked planes crashed into the World Trade Center towers in New York, the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania.

Just 24 hours after the attacks, Brampton firefighters Brian Gorman, Rob Morrison, Neil Kennedy and Scott Walker were on the ground helping with rescue efforts, and video footage shared by the Peel Archives shows the four men recounting the tragedy.

“Just seeing those people who lost so many so close to us, it was probably the most difficult part of the whole experience,” Gormann said in the video, originally aired on Rogers TV in 2001.

Initial reports put the number of dead and injured at around 5,000, a casualty report Walker said “was a hard number to accept.” The updated death toll of the Sept. 11 attacks is 2,977 people not including the 19 hijackers.

Walker recalled the chaos of Ground Zero with the firefighters “on hands and knees, passing rubble along.”

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“Anything as small as a pound rock to clothing, files, you see pictures lying around of loved ones,” Walker said of the building debris. “You’re moving steel doors, computers…you’ve got to get it out of there because we got to get in there to try and get a recovery, you know, a rescue in there.”

Among the casualties were some 343 members of the FDNY on the day of the attacks, and another 360 have died from health issues related to the rescue and recovery efforts at the World Trade Center. Another 377 members of the NYPD have also died from illnesses related to the attacks.

Brampton Mayor Susan Fennell said she was “very proud” of the Brampton firefighters and the fire service’s efforts to help with the rescues.

“What this shows the public clearly is there’s more to firefighting than just fighting fires. There’s a bond and there’s a loyalty,” she said.

On the 23rd anniversary of the attacks, the Brampton Professional Fire Fighters Association said the deadly attacks “feels like only yesterday to some.”

“We saw the worst and the best in people that day…we will always make time to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice,” the BPFFA said in a statement.

Peel Regional Police Chief Nishan Duraiappah also commended “the courage of the first responders and the heroes” who helped in the rescue.

“We remember the innocent lives that were lost (and) honour the strength of the loved ones that were so deeply affected,” Duraiappah said in a statement.

– With files from The Canadian Press