A remembrance tribute will be held Sept. 11 in tribute to all those who lost their lives Sept. 11, 2001, in the World Trade Center tragedy.
A longtime tradition in the fire service known as the “Tolling of the Bells” will be used for the remembrance.
At 6:50 a.m. (the approximate time of the South Tower collapse at the World Trade Center), a bell will be rung in front of Las Vegas Fire Station Five for the tribute located on 1020 Hinson St.
The tribute also will be transmitted over the Las Vegas Fire & Rescue's communications channel and on the Las Vegas Fire and Rescue Facebook page in tribute to all those who lost their lives that day.
The ringing of the bell is a longtime tradition of the fire service known as the “tolling of the bells.” Many years before radio communications existed in the fire service, communication was done via fire alarm boxes on street corners that were assigned a “box number” much like an address.
Firefighters had to memorize the box numbers and their locations. When a person pulled a fire alarm, the signal would go to all the fire stations by wire and ring the bell in the stations. The bell would ring the number issued to that box and firefighters would respond. Fire dispatch would also have designated ringing of the bells to alert department members of certain events.
If a firefighter was killed in the line of duty, fire dispatch would ring the bell in sets of five, three times. This would let everyone on the department know that a firefighter had just lost his or her life in the line of duty.
Frank Pizarro, a Las Vegas resident and firefighter during the 9/11 incident, will take part in the tribute by singing the National Anthem. Pizarro is a professional singer, he was lead singer with the Platters for several years.
