Reality of ruins hard to describe Maine firefighter delivers funds

It was kind of surreal,” Bucksport Fire Chief Craig Bowden said.

Bowden visited the site of the World Trade Center in April, seven months after Sept. 11, to deliver funds local firefighters had raised to a firehouse in New York City.

“By that time, the cleanup was well below ground level,” Bowden said. “Everything seemed like – there was no

way that those buildings could have been sitting on that site.”

But the buildings surrounding the site were still standing, many of them covered with cloth or with their windows blown out.

“You realized, yeah, it did happen,” he said.

Bowden delivered $3,000 donated by area residents to the Beekman Street Station, Engine No. 6, located about three blocks away from the center.

The station lost four firefighters out of a five-man crew.

Bowden introduced himself to the firefighter on duty, told him where he was from, and handed him the check.

“The guy looked down at it, and back at us, and he actually got to the point where he had trouble talking,” Bowden recalled. “He got all choked up.

“Finally, he said, ‘after all this time, you’d think we’d be all right.”‘

The New York firefighter added that it was support

like that shown by Bucksport firefighters and the local people who donated that was helping them get through their loss.

“You think about what occurred there,” Bowden said. “We average less than 200 firefighter deaths a year, and twice that many lost their lives in a matter of minutes.

“It was … I’m not sure if there’s even words … .

“It did provide a sense of closure to go down there and deliver the money; and then to bring the two firefighters up here,” he said.

Two New York City firefighters were the town’s guests this summer at the annual Bucksport Bay Festival, and received a warm welcome.

“I think it helped people realize that those guys are still there and they’re still doing their job,” he said.