Santa Barbara County Fire Department holds 9/11 remembrance ceremony

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - Nineteen years ago, on September 11, 2001, terrorists attacked the United States, leaving thousands dead or injured, by hijacking and crashing planes into the World Trade Center in New York City, the Pentagon, in Washington DC and another in a field in Pennsylvania.

In remembrance of this horrific tragedy, the Santa Barbara County Fire Department held a virtual ceremony at 9 a.m. on Sept. 11, 2020.

The ceremony honored first responders and the nearly 3,000 lives lost on 9/11, along with all US military members who have died in the following years in the global war on terrorism.

County firefighters gathered at the flagpole in Memorial Plaza outside the Santa Barbara County Fire Department Headquarters on Cathedral Oaks in Santa Barbara.

A moment of silence was then held along with a lowering of the flag to half-staff. Fire Chief Mark Hartwig and Sheriff Bill Brown provided brief statements during the ceremony.