Both the past and the future were on the minds of elected officials and public safety leaders, as they gathered at the Fairfax County Public Safety Headquarters this morning (Friday) to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks.
During the approximately 40-minute ceremony, Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department Deputy Fire Chief Bill Betz led two moments of silence for those lost as a result of the attacks.
The first pause at 10:28 a.m. honored the 2,977 people killed when hijacked planes each crashed into the World Trade Center in New York City, the Pentagon in Arlington and a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. More than 400 firefighters, police officers and medics also died in the immediate emergency response.
The second came about half an hour later to honor two Fairfax County public safety personnel — Fire Battalion Chief Michael Tamillow and Master Police Officer Donald Gotthardt Jr. — who died on March 10, 2023 and Oct. 16, 2025, respectively, from cancer tied to their service on 9/11.
“At 10:28 a.m., the North Tower of the World Trade Center collapsed. For those who were there, for those watching from across the country, and for those who responded, the world changed again in that moment,” Betz said before the first moment of silence.
“Today, 25 years later, we pause at 10:28, not only to remember what happened, but to remember the people, the mothers and fathers, the sons and daughters, the husbands and wives, the friends and colleagues, the firefighters, police officers, paramedics, military personnel, and civilians who lost their lives, and those who ran towards the danger while others were running away.”
While the ramifications of the 9/11 attacks have been far-reaching, speakers at Fairfax County’s remembrance ceremony focused on how personal experience was for those in the D.C. area at the time.
When American Airlines Flight 77 struck the Pentagon at 9:37 a.m. that day, killing all 64 people on board and another 125 people in the Defense Department’s headquarters building, first responders from across the region were dispatched to assist with the rescue and clean-up efforts. Among them were members of the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department and Virginia Task Force 1, the federally funded urban search and rescue team sponsored by the county, Virginia Lt. Gov. Ghazala Hashmi noted.
“They came not knowing what they would find, but knowing what they were called to do — to serve, to protect, to rescue, and to heal,” she said. “Their work continued long after the flames were extinguished through the difficult days of rescue and recovery, and for many, through years of physical and emotional consequences that followed.”
On Sept. 11, 2001, Betz and other firefighters at Fire Station 15 in Chantilly were in the parking lot of a “high-profile federal building” in the area where they had been enlisted to “add some realism” to an emergency training exercise that coincidentally involved a simulation of a plane crashing into the building.
While they were waiting for their cue to turn on their sirens and join the exercise, a military service member ran over to inform them that American Airlines Flight 11 had been flown into the World Trade Center’s north tower.
The drill was immediately called off to avoid causing confusion and panic, but not long after returning to their station, the firefighters found themselves speeding down I-66 to bring a specialized piece of equipment to the Pentagon.
“I think the first thing I recognized was the sheer magnitude of the incident that you see in person versus what you saw on TV,” Betz said. “On TV, you see these buildings that are on fire. You see these buildings collapsing. You see the Pentagon with a big hole in it. But the magnitude of that sinks in once you see it in person.”
Fairfax Fire Chief John Butler, then a fire captain in Howard County, Maryland, recalled how he rushed to the nearest fire station after the planes struck the World Trade Center and Pentagon, and worked with another employee to set up ambulances on stand by in case they were needed.
The experience drove home the need for public safety agencies to be prepared for any emergency, he said, pointing to the Fairfax County Police Department’s embrace of technology through its Real Time Crime Center and the importance of partnerships between local government agencies, hospitals and public leaders.
“We are proud that we are not going to fail to imagine the unimaginable,” Butler said.
Also in attendance were then-Fairfax County Police Chief Thomas Manger and FCPD pilot Michael Mountjoy, who flew the department’s Fairfax 1 helicopter to the Pentagon on 9/11 and again for a flyover at today’s 25th anniversary ceremony.
According to current Police Chief Kevin Davis, Manger was watching news footage of the first plane crashing into the World Trade Center when a major “burst into” his office at the now-demolished Massey Building to alert him to the crash at the Pentagon.
“Chief Manger remembers seeing the smoke rise from the Pentagon from his 11th-floor office before he and so many others self-deployed to the scene,” Davis said. “Chaos, anger, and an overwhelming sense of the gravity of the attack struck Chief Manger while at the Pentagon.”
In the days that followed, Manger remembers a sense of unity in the local community, of people “coming together in front yards and cul-de-sacs,” Davis continued, though the grief and uncertainty of 9/11 were soon compounded by the Beltway sniper attacks in 2002.
Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay, who was chief of staff to then-Lee District Supervisor Dana Kauffman at the time, and Sheriff Stacey Kincaid similarly described the initial weeks after 9/11 as a period of solidarity.
“We remember the American flag hanging from every single overpass on Route 66, people waiting for hours to donate blood, and strangers helping strangers,” said Kincaid, who was sleeping after a midnight shift when a supervisor called her back to work due to the Pentagon crash. “We remember that for a few powerful weeks, this country came together, refusing to allow our differences to divide us.”
Though memories of 9/11 remain vivid for many, McKay acknowledged that enough time has now passed that there is a generation of young adults who weren’t alive when the attacks occurred. That includes the newest members of the county’s fire and police departments, among them firefighter Kevin Huheey, who sang “The Star-Spangled Banner” to open the ceremony.
“An important element of why we gather is not just to never forget, but also to make sure that future generations understand what happened in our country that day, understand the profound effect it had on us, and understand that, as we move forward, we must continue to protect them,” McKay said. “… We need to keep telling that story. We need to keep elevating the people that we lost that day, and we need to keep elevating our public safety services to be the best that they can.”
Betz echoed that sentiment, stating that the efforts he witnessed from fire departments across the country to honor the dead and help people in the aftermath of 9/11 cemented his commitment to the FCFRD and public service.
“Let us carry forward the responsibility that comes with remembering,” he said. “We can teach the next generation, honor those who serve, support those still affected, and continue the tradition of service and courage demonstrated on September 11, 2001.”
