![\"Guests](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/CTC-L-Steel-Across-America28_265570125.jpg\")
Guests bow their heads during the “Steel Across America” ceremony on Aug. 12, 2026, at the Engine 18 fire station in Chicago’s Near West Side, commemorating the 25th anniversary of the 9\/11 attacks. (Brian Cassella\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\nTwenty-five years ago, now-retired Chicago Fire Chief Patrick Maloney was part of a crew of first responders who traveled to New York City just hours after 9\/11.<\/p>\n
The convoy arrived in the early morning hours after an overnight drive. Fires were still burning and, Maloney said, the scene felt \u201csurreal\u201d and \u201capocalyptic.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll never forget the New York chief saying, \u2018Hey Chicago, welcome to hell,\u2019\u201d Maloney said.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, he joined fellow Chicago firefighters, along with members of the New York City Fire Department, to honor the 25th anniversary of 9\/11 at the Engine 18 firehouse on the Near West Side.<\/p>\n
The event was part of the Tunnel to Towers Foundation\u2019s \u201cSteel Across America\u201d tour, which is bringing a 21-foot beam salvaged from the south tower of the World Trade Center to more than 35 cities nationwide. After Chicago, the beam will make five more stops before completing its loop of the country in New York.<\/p>\n
More than 50 people, some wearing New York City Fire Department baseball caps distributed by the organizers, stood under a cloudy, gray sky to watch the 16,900-pound beam as it pulled into Engine 18 in a custom-made truck, accompanied by a police escort and the sound of bagpipes and drums.<\/p>\n
Guests bow their heads during the “Steel Across America” ceremony on Aug. 12, 2026, at the Engine 18 fire station in Chicago’s Near West Side, commemorating the 25th anniversary of the 9\/11 attacks. (Brian Cassella\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n
As rain began to fall, attendees moved inside for a memorial ceremony. The mood was somber as they listened to speeches from first responders.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone standing here today is what remembrance is about,\u201d Maloney said.<\/p>\n
Afterward, attendees were encouraged to climb atop a platform and touch the beam, which organizers called a \u201csymbol of resilience.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Tunnel to Towers Foundation, which organized the tour, was created by the family of New York firefighter Stephen Gerard Siller, who died responding to the attacks. The nonprofit provides mortgage-free homes to families of fallen first responders and builds specially adapted homes for injured veterans.<\/p>\n
Siller\u2019s son, Stephen Siller Jr., was just 9 months old at the time of 9\/11. He said the response to the tour has been \u201cunbelievable.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo matter where we went, we met people who had a personal tragedy that day,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
A total of 2,977 people died in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, including 343 members of the New York City Fire Department.<\/p>\n
Retired New York Fire Department Lt. Joe LaPointe has been on tour with the beam for months. Twenty-five years on, he said 9\/11 feels like it was both \u201cyesterday\u201d and \u201ca lifetime ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Chicago](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/CTC-L-Steel-Across-America04_265570121.jpg\")
Chicago Fire Department members salute the arrival of a beam from the World Trade Center on Aug. 12, 2026, at the Engine 18 firehouse in the Near West Side, during the “Steel Across America” tour commemorating the 25th anniversary of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. (Brian Cassella\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n
The beam\u2019s tour is meant to \u201creinforce and remind people to never forget,\u201d LaPointe said. It also honors the firefighters and first responders who came to New York\u2019s aid nationwide.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen Sept. 11 occurred, the whole country and even the world came to help the FDNY and the city of New York,\u201d he said. \u201cA lot of these guys, they attended our funerals.\u201d<\/p>\n
Douglas Crowley, Chicago Fire Department district chief for the South Side, called the memorial a \u201cprofound experience.\u201d He was also among the Chicago crews that traveled to New York to help extinguish the remaining fires and assist with search and rescue operations.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was overwhelmed by the sheer scale of destruction,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s something that\u2019s imprinted on you as a core memory.\u201d<\/p>\n
Years later, the event is still difficult for Crowley to comprehend.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been unpacking it for 25 years, and I don\u2019t think we\u2019ll ever finish,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Twenty-five years ago, now-retired Chicago Fire Chief Patrick Maloney was part of a crew of first responders who…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":996744,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5124],"tags":[399402,399403,79462,117107,399404,960,5386,1818,79466,399401,252347,399405,133510,54308],"class_list":["post-996743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chicago","tag-25th-anniversary-of-9-11","tag-25th-anniversary-of-september-11","tag-9-11","tag-9-11-anniversary","tag-9-11-chicago","tag-chicago","tag-il","tag-illinois","tag-september-11","tag-september-11-25th-anniversary","tag-steel-across-america","tag-steel-across-america-chicago","tag-tunnel-to-towers-foundation","tag-world-trade-center"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117084509275192753","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/996743","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=996743"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/996743\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/996744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=996743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=996743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=996743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}