Nearly 20 years ago, the world and Alaskans watched live as fire, smoke and debris billowed from Tower 1 of the World Trade Center, and as, minutes later, a second plane crashed into Tower 2. The gravity of the situation sank stomachs and hearts, as just about an hour later, Tower 2 collapsed in just 10 seconds, followed about 30 minutes later by the first tower.
In Fairbanks, Alaska, it was 4:45 a.m. when the first plane struck. Firefighter Dan Grimes was awakened, like many, by a phone call.
“You need to go turn on the TV right now,” he recalls being told.
He watched, in shock as the first tower collapsed live. “There was just that moment of realization,” Grimes told Alaska’s News Source on Tuesday. “I was not initially in firefighter mode, I was in shock. But when that first tower fell, I just had this sickening feeling in the pit of my stomach.”