‘Blue Mass’ in Lewiston honors first responders

LEWISTON – Firefighters, emergency medical technicians and police officers from across the state marked the fourth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on Sunday by attending a special Mass honoring Maine’s first responders.

Gov. John Baldacci joined the public safety workers at the “Blue Mass” led by Roman Catholic Bishop Richard Malone at the Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul.

Several officers and a firefighter participated in the service honoring public safety officials in Maine as well as those who responded in New York City on Sept. 11, 2001.

“These people put their own lives in front of other people, which really is the ultimate sacrifice,” Baldacci told The Associated Press after the service.

Elsewhere, the Great State of Maine Air Show at the Brunswick Naval Air Station opened with a moment of silence to mark the anniversary. In New York, U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, was honored for her work on intelligence reform last year by “Voices of September 11,” an advocacy group composed of families who lost loved ones on 9-11.

Four years after the attacks, the state is now better prepared to handle an emergency, said Art Cleaves, director of the Maine Emergency Management Agency.

Maine has received $62 million in the past three years in homeland security funding, most of which improved the state’s ability to respond to a hurricane, flood or ice storm as well as a terrorist attack, Cleaves said.

The world of disaster preparedness changed radically four years ago. On Sept. 11, 2001, two hijackers started their day at the Portland International Jetport before boarding American Airlines Flight 11, which crashed into the World Trade Center.

One of them was Mohamed Atta, who was identified as the ringleader of the worst terrorist attack in American history. Atta was believed to have been at the controls when Flight 11 crashed into the World Trade Center’s North Tower.

Since then, Maine has invested in emergency preparedness, working with local police and border patrol agents on security, increasing the number of decontamination stations from six to 60 and doubling the number of hazardous materials teams in the state to 22.

But new radio systems improving communications between public safety agencies, added public health staff and equipment, and new generators are more typical of the state’s spending, Cleaves said. Those items would be in high demand regardless of whether a disaster was natural or man-made. Planners call it an “all hazards” approach to disaster preparedness.

“When we’re looking at our terrorism funding that comes into the state we have to meet the letter of what the grant was given for, but we still stretch those rules as far as we can so we meet the threats we feel are most likely,” Cleaves said.

The first responders to any disaster are firefighters, EMTs and police officers, the ones honored at Sunday’s Blue Mass. In addition to Baldacci, U.S. Reps. Michael Michaud and Tom Allen attended. But the event was not about politicians.

“We think the real VIPs were the people in blue,” said Sue Bernard, spokeswoman for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland. “It was really for them.”