MIAMI – Firefighters with the city of Miami marched a mile-and-a-half from the Rickenbacker Causeway to Brickell Park on Sunday in order to honor their fallen brothers and sisters.
A somber ceremony took place in front of a piece of steel that was part of one of the World Trade Center towers.
It was at 8:46 a.m., which is the time the first tower was struck, that firefighters rang what is known as the last alarm.
"The last alarm signifies when a firefighter dies," Assistant Chief Pete Gomez.
Fire rescue personnel in South Florida who went to New York City to help 15 years ago said they will never forget the images following the days and weeks after the attack.
"It was just overwhelming. We train, we prepare for things like that, nothing prepares you from what we call a rubble pile seven stories high," Gomez said. "That seven stories worth of debris came down."
Gomez said he remembers being able to provide closure some families.
"Which a lot of them didn't (get closure,) those are the good things I remember," he said. "I try not to dwell in the misery."
Gomez said he’ll never forget the gratitude he received from people of New York City, thanking him for all his help.
About 400 emergency personnel died on 9/11, and of those 343, were firefighters.