Chicago firefighters remember 9/11

Chicago firefighters are taking time to remember the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

They paused for a moment of silence Sunday at 7:46 a.m. — corresponding to the moment in 2001 when the first plane struck one of the World Trade Center towers.

Engine Company 5 fire fighters in the city’s West Loop neighborhood also saluted the American flag flying outside their red-bricked firehouse.

Fire fighter Mike Vasko explains that Engine Company 5 lost a firefighter last year. So he says they can appreciate some of the pain their New York counterparts went through losing so many colleagues.

The 50-year-old says the attacks ought to be the equivalent in Americans minds of Pearl Harbor. He says if Americans ever begin to forget that day, it can all happen again.