Portland police and fire departments held a ceremony to honor the individuals who responded to the Sept. 11 attacks 22 years ago. They lay a wreath at the 9/11 Memorial at Fort Allen Park on Monday morning and held a moment of silence.
In an interview before the event, Fire Department Division Chief Sean Donaghue calls 9/11 a watershed moment in first response and called out the bravery of those who responded to the World Trade Center.
"To enter that building under the conditions, I would suspect that most of those people knew what they were doing and how serious it was, the low likelihood of being able to exit that building safely. So in terms of sacrifice, one, to give your life, but two know you're probably going to give it," he said.
Portland Fire Chief Keith Gautreau and Police Chief Mark Dubois led the ceremony. Gautreau was among the firefighters from Maine who went to New York after 9/11 to staff fire stations affected by the attacks and to help search the wreckage of the World Trade Center.
