Arlington Remembers Lives Lost 20 Years After Attack On Pentagon

ARLINGTON, VA — The Arlington County government held a ceremony Friday morning to remember the 184 lives lost at the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001 and to express gratitude for the county’s fire and police departments and all other officials who responded to the crash site.

Top county officials recalled the day 20 years ago and how Arlington County's first responders quickly arrived at the scene. They worked on rescuing victims and started the long process of putting out a massive fire at the Pentagon. The smoke from the fire could be seen for miles, including across the Potomac River in Washington, D.C.

On Sept. 11, 2001, federal officials went on alert as they received reports of other hijacked airplanes aside from the two that crashed into the World Trade Center towers. Shortly before 9:37 a.m., residents along Columbia Pike in Arlington noticed an airplane flying extremely low. Moments later, American Airlines Flight 77, which had taken off from Washington Dulles Airport, crashed into the Pentagon.

All 59 people on the American Airlines flight died, and 125 people inside the southwest portion of the Pentagon were killed.

The people killed in the attack on the Pentagon ranged in age from 3 to 71 years old. One of the Arlington County first responders was police officer Harvey Snook, who died in January 2016 as a result of cancer contracted while working in the recovery efforts at the Pentagon following the attack.

Friday morning's ceremony was held in the plaza outside the Arlington County government center on Clarendon Blvd. The event included a presentation of colors by the Arlington County Public Safety Combined Honor Guard and the laying of a wreath.

At 9:37 a.m., the county held a moment of silence to remember the lives lost on Sept. 11. With several other 20-year anniversary events scheduled for Saturday, the county chose to hold its official remembrance of the lives lost on 9/11 on Friday.

Among the events in Arlington on Saturday is a ceremony at Fire Station 5 on South Hayes Street. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) and other officials will join Arlington Fire Chief David Povlitz and 200 first responders, many of whom responded to the Pentagon on the day of the attacks.

“Today we honor those we lost, the efforts of the many Arlington first responders who risked their own lives to respond to the attack on the Pentagon and to remember our shared experience as a county government and community,” Arlington County Board Chair Matt de Ferranti said at the ceremony Friday morning.

Nine fire stations in Arlington sent firefighters to the Pentagon in response to the 9/11 attack. The county’s police and sheriff’s departments also rushed to respond to the attack.

“Former Fire Chief Jim Schwartz was the deputy chief at the time and became the instant commander. He arrived at the Pentagon 9 minutes after the plane hit the building,” de Ferranti said.

After Schwartz arrived at the Pentagon, de Ferranti recalled, he and his fellow first responders learned that another plane might be headed to either the Pentagon or the White House or the U.S. Capitol across the river in D.C.

The first responders briefly left the scene, but then returned to the site about 20 minutes after hearing that the airplane had crashed in Pennsylvania, according to de Ferranti.

For the next 10 days, Arlington’s fire department and its government officials led the response to the attack on the Pentagon, working day and night at the complex.

“I stand in awe of the tremendous work done by our first responders every day and especially that tragic day 20 years ago," Arlington County Manager Mark Schwartz said in a speech at Friday's ceremony. "Running into an inferno to help. Charging into the horror rather than turning away. This is the definition of courage.

“My thanks to all the active and retired firefighters, EMTs, police officers, members of the sheriff’s department, call center operators and volunteer members of the community who responded in so many ways," Schwartz said.

Jay Fisette, who was chairman of the Arlington County Board on 9/11, served as the county's primary spokesman in the aftermath of the attack on the Pentagon.

Fisette, who attended Friday's ceremony, told Patch that one of his primary roles as board chairman was to communicate with other leaders in D.C. and across Northern Virginia. He also recognized that the professionals in the county's fire and police departments "knew what they were doing" and that his role was to support them.

Many officials also wanted to close down Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington in the wake of the 9/11 attack, given its proximity to the Pentagon and government buildings in D.C. Fisette noted he worked as part of a coalition in the weeks after that succeeded in keeping the airport from shutting down permanently.

Arlington County Sheriff Beth Arthur remembered a deputy walked into her office around 9:38 a.m. on Sept. 11, 2001 to let her know that the Pentagon had been attacked.

"I looked out of my window and saw the plume of smoke that came up out of the Pentagon," Arthur, who was sheriff at the time of the 9/11 attacks, told the people gathered for the ceremony. "I cannot say enough about how proud I am of the men and women who worked in this community in public safety on Sept. 11 and for the last 20 years."