Sept. 11, 2001, started out just like any other day for Jim Clark. He had a day off and was home with his 3-year-old daughter.
Clark turned on the TV and saw the twin towers in New York City on fire.
“I thought it was unbelievable,” he said. “Then my pager goes off for a large aircraft down in Shanksville. I thought ‘they tried to get us all.’ I called my wife and said meet me out front. Take Jess. I gave her a kiss and said, ‘I’ll see ya when I see ya.’”
Clark, now Somerset Regional Volunteer Fire Department chief, was at that time a member of Somerset County’s Hazmat (Hazardous Materials) Team.
“Hazmat considers possible threats of who knows what,” he said. “My first thought was ‘What are we going to be up against?’”
The members went to the crash site in a field near Shanksville. Officer in Charge Rick King from Shanksville’s fire department, told them to secure the area immediately. He said it was a recovery situation, Clark said. The scene reeked of jet fuel.
“We parked the truck across the road to keep people out. State police came. The FBI told us to secure the scene,” he said. “I think we all knew people higher than Somerset County people knew something was going on.”
Clark said Jerry Thomas was Somerset’s fire chief and Mike Sube the captain at the time. The first responders staged on the hill where the old mining site stood. As things started to unfold, he said, they were getting a sense of what was going to happen.
“Hazmat did decon (decontamination), head to toe, every day as all the federal agents went down into the site,” Clark said. “That was our responsibility for two weeks. We put up a roster for volunteers and worked from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. EMA director Rick Lohr did a wonderful job of resourcing the wants and needs we had. Somerset Hospital supplied us with the decon agent. The community itself was so generous in supplying what was asked for.”
Community came through
Clark can’t praise the community enough for all the help and support the first responders and all those who worked on the crash site had for the next few weeks.
“That is one thing – how we pulled together. We take care of one another. We look after each other,” he said. “The first responders were incredible. Were we totally prepared? No. Did we ever think that we’d respond to something that big? No.
“That is what changed – how emergency rescues look at situations. How we’re preparing for these tragic events. It wasn’t perfect, but I am damn proud of everything everyone responding did that day.”
An honor for the VFD
The fire department opens the gate each year at the Flight 93 National Memorial Wall of Names during the Sept. 11 ceremony for the families of the 40 on Flight 93 to go to the crash site.
“The Park Service reached out to us. We said we can do that for the families. We’d be honored,” Clark said. “I asked the members who are active now and were active then. They were very honored.
“We’re truly honored and we’re humbled to be asked to be part of something.”
Recently, the Western Pennsylvania Firemen’s Association held a service at the memorial and for the groundbreaking of the Fallen Firefighters Memorial at the Remember Me Rose Garden.
“It was quite an honor for the color guard to present the colors at the 25/250 ceremony at Flight 93,” Clark said. “Me, Jeff Shaffer, Brad Shober, Christian Boyd and Frank Barta all responded that day.”
Flight 93 National Memorial hosts more events during the year.
“In the 25 years since, it is very humbling to go out and talk and tell them what is asked of us to do. We’re normal people trying to help people, to make a difference,” Clark said. “I try to instill in the young folks to always never forget. Are we heroes? No. We went out there to do what we’re asked to do. The real heroes were on Flight 93 that day. They saved a lot of lives that day.”
Clark said every year when Sept. 11 gets close, he can’t help but start thinking about it.
“I still get chills. There’s something about that site, what we did that day,” he said. “I greatly appreciate and am honored of how our community came together to take care of us. Somerset County is a very special place. I’ve enjoyed what I do. Anybody from Somerset County that volunteers in some way to help fellow citizens out – that’s what we do.”
