Wave Wire Services
LOS ANGELES — Walking around rows of wood, pipes and other materials, Thomas Kitahata was focused on renovating his garage until he was paged by his wife and he looked up at screens in front of the hardware store, watching as the events of Sept. 11, 2001, unfolded.
Twenty-three years later, Kitahata, who is now a captain with the Los Angeles Fire Department, recalled how in a matter of 12 hours from that moment, he and a group of emergency responders landed at an Air Force base and were soon supporting the New York Fire Department in their efforts to find survivors and respond to the aftermath of the terror attack.
“I wasn’t nervous,” Kitahata told City News Service in a phone interview. “I had been in disasters before, but when we got to Ground Zero — we couldn’t — it was hard to understand the scope and devastation was done by human hands.”
The LAFD deployed about 70 members as part of California Task Force 1 and 23 as a critical incident stress management team in search-and-rescue efforts in the aftermath at the World Trade Center.
Kitahata also remembered the resilience the people of New York showed.
“I’ll always remember the support we were able to provide, and the emotional support that people gave,” Kitahata said. “Some of the other things that I think about are how people get together in times of need — for the common good. Also, how America, New York especially, but how America just bounced back.”
More than 3,000 people died as a result of the terror attacks.
The 36-year veteran firefighter joined his colleagues and Los Angeles Police Department officers at a 9/11 remembrance ceremony Sept. 11 at the LAFD Frank Hotchkin Memorial Training Center in Elysian Park. Mayor Karen Bass was on hand, along with LAFD Chief Kristen Crowley, LAPD Interim Chief Dominic Choi, L.A. County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone, L.A. County Sheriff Robert Luna and other regional public safety and city officials.
“I saw a lot of our first responders there as they went through the rubble looking and hoping to rescue someone, and coming to grips with the fact there was no one to rescue,” Bass said during the event. “Amidst that darkness, the light of compassion broke through. Today we honor those whose lives were tragically cut short and we hold close the families who still grieve.”
Kitahata told City News Service it is important to understand the significance of 9/11 and to commemorate the lives lost that day. Some of the younger generations don’t fully comprehend the weight of that day, he noted, which he also described as “disheartening.”
The fire captain said he talked to his three children when they were young about the tragedy.
“It’s a hard topic, but it’s important to educate them, and the different ways people think,” he added. “It’s never forget what happened, and also how to prevent it from happening again.”
On Sept. 11, 2001, 19 members of the Islamist militant group al-Qaeda hijacked four passenger jets. The hijackers crashed two planes into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City. Hijackers crashed another plane into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and the fourth jet crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after passengers attempted to take control before it could reach its intended destination in Washington, D.C.
Across the Southland, there were several events commemorating 9/11 this year.
The San Gabriel Fire Department hosted a 9/11 Remembrance and Tribute Ceremony at Fire Station 51. The event included the raising and lowering of the flag to half-staff, a tribute radio call and ringing of bells.
The Culver City fire and police departments held a 9/11 remembrance ceremony at Fire Station 1, featuring a moment of silence, lowering of the flag and bugle tribute.
Later that evening, the city of Carson held a “Heroes Day” event at the Carson Event Center, 801 E. Carson St.
In a proclamation from the White House issued Sept. 10, President Joe Biden honored the “brave Americans who met the terror of September 11 with extraordinary acts of courage and sacrifice.”
“In our darkest hour — when terrorists believe they could bring our nation to its knees — those Americans proved that our nation’s unbreakable spirit would prevail,” the proclamation read. “Over the last 23 years, what was destroyed, we have repaired. What was threatened, we have fortified. What was attacked — the indomitable American spirit — prevailed. That is who we are. That is the soul of our nation.”
