It was a quiet and solemn morning at the Santa Barbara County Fire headquarters as the sun rose on the 24th anniversary of Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Only a soft chatter of conversation filled the air as people waited for the annual remembrance ceremony to begin.
Fire Chief Mark Hartwig took to the podium and asked who in the crowd remembered Sept. 11, 2001, which elicited a handful of raised hands.
“One of the things that strikes me every year is how few people remember,” he said. “We have firefighters on the job today that weren’t born on 9/11 so it’s our job to talk about the sacrifices made that morning.”…