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SEATTLE - In Seattle, city leaders honored the lives of the people impacted by the September 11th attacks during a memorial service.
Mayor Katie Wilson, Interim Police chief Andre Sayles, and Fire Chief Harold Scoggins all attended the service.
Michael Larko was visiting Seattle. He tells FOX 13 Seattle he made sure to find a September 11th memorial event while in town.
The backstory:
Larko says he was in the second building of the World Trade Center during the attack.
"We were debating what to do, and that’s when the plane hit," said Larko. "I just happened to leave. Some people followed me, got in the stairwell, luckily on the other side of the building, and that’s when the plane hit. It came right through the window where our desk was."
Wallace Watts tells FOX 13 Seattle he was a commercial airline pilot at the time of September 11th. He said he had just flown back from Newark, New Jersey the day before the attacks.
"This is the first time I’ve ever been to a 9/11 memorial in 25 years. I just blocked it out of my memory and my life," said Watts. "I’m just remembering my friends. It was emotional, really emotional, and I just said a prayer to them."
Local perspective:
Assistant Chief Chris Lombard was also at the memorial event. He is just one of two remaining members of the Seattle Fire Department who went to New York 25 years ago to help.
"When we first got to see the collapse zone, it was very surreal," said Lombard. "The team just started searching through the rubble, removing debris, trying to look for people."
Larko tells FOX 13 Seattle even though it has been a quarter of a century since the attacks, it still feels like yesterday.
"It really touches my heart that people still remember, still doing these memorials. It means everything. We can never forget. We can never forget," he said.
The Source: Information for this story came from original reporting by FOX 13 Seattle's AJ Janavel, who was able to interview Michael Larko while attending the 9/11 memorial service in Seattle.
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