“I was surrounded by my young firefighters who wanted to know, ‘What would we do, in that same situation?’ And from that very moment, I realized that I didn’t know the answer to the question and knew that I had to start learning more, participating more.”
"On the morning of September 11, 2001, I was late for work as I took my 9-year-old daughter to the doctor…an event that probably saved my life because many of my friends and co-workers did not return to headquarters that day."
“I had pulled people from the grips of death as a paramedic. I arrested drunk drivers so they couldn’t kill others as a police officer, and as a firefighter, I saved homes and memories for all types of families….Why could I not guarantee to my son, that terrorism would not happen directly to him?”
"I think of that day often and recommit…to always do my best to help disaster survivors, past, present, future and potential. This is an opportunity and a gift that I have been given that for a different set of circumstances would not have happened if I was in that building on that day."
"I remember thinking it was going to be a long day as I switched on my lights and sirens and I sped up. As I was approaching Manhattan, I heard my officers yelling that another plane was coming and that it struck the second tower. I remember thinking that this was no accident."
"Nobody knew who bin Laden was… That is the reason why I chose to change my career from conservation biologist, hoping to save the world from the loss of bio diversity, to emergency manager, hoping to save the world from the terrorist threat."
