Trade Center beam finds home

Jen Lawson

Thursday, Sept. 9, 2004 | 9:46 a.m.

It's a twisted, rusty hunk of metal. But to firefighters, a World Trade Center beam on permanent display at a Las Vegas fire station is a thing of beauty because of the meaning it holds.

The small section of structural beam will be unveiled Saturday -- the third anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks -- at a new fire station on Hinson Street near Charleston and Valley View boulevards.

A ceremony dedicating Fire Station 5 and remembering those who died on 9/11 will begin at 9 a.m. and is open to the public.

The piece of the World Trade Center is mounted on a stand outside the fire station. It will be covered until the ceremony Saturday.

It makes the new fire station "a place where people can go" to honor those who died in the terrorist attacks, Las Vegas Fire & Rescue spokesman Tim Szymanski said.

Las Vegas Emergency Manager Tim McAndrew arranged to get the piece several months ago, Szymanski said.

Authorities at New York City's Office of Emergency Management allowed Las Vegas to have the piece if local officials paid to have it shipped, he said. The United Firefighters of Southern Nevada footed the bill and it made its way across the country in a crate.

Fire department officials wanted to have the piece displayed July 4 at Firefighter's Memorial Park, but it was still en route, Szymanski said.

"The beam never made it there and a lot of people were upset," he said. "They wanted to see it."

The piece is about 18 inches long and the "bolts are twisted and you can see it's been through a lot of stress," he said.

John Vigorito from New York's emergency management office will give keynote remarks at the ceremony Saturday. The fire department's honor guard will be on hand, and the Celebrity City Sweet Adeline Chorus of Greater Las Vegas will perform.

After the ceremony there will be an open house at the station until 1 p.m.

Fire Station 5 has been at its present location for more than 45 years, but last year it was torn down and replaced with a new, state-of-the-art station, Szymanski said.

In addition to the World Trade Center piece, a 1917 Ford Model T pumper will be on permanent display at the station as well as several items from the old station, including the original flag pole. Pieces of wood were also saved and used in the construction of the new building.

"There will be a lot of things on display, like a mini-museum," Szymanski said.

Brett Schaefer, an eight-year veteran of the fire department, said he is pleased he will be one of 18 firefighters who will be working out of Fire Station 5 when it officially opens Sept. 17.

The beam "is going to be a reminder of the brothers and sisters that we lost on 9/11," he said. "I'm definitely honored to be at this station."

Earlier Saturday, at 6:59 a.m., the time of the South Tower collapse, a member of the Clark County Fire Department's honor guard will ring a bell over the communications system used by local firefighters.

The bell will be rung in three sets of five chimes, a traditional way to signal that a firefighter has died in the line of duty.