Alaska is about as far from New York or Washington D.C. as you can get and still be in the continental United States. Haines’ first responders commemorated the September 11th attacks19 years later.

Haines Borough Volunteer Fire Department Chief Al Giddings holds the flag in front of the Public Safety Building. September 11, 2020. (Stremple/KHNS)

From 0800 to 1700 hours on Friday first responders in Haines took shifts standing in front of the Public Safety Building downtown.

“It’s an honor to be out here today to hold the flag,” said Al Giddings, the fire chief for the Haines Borough Volunteer Fire Department. He wore his fire helmet and a face mask.

“I’m standing here representing all the fire department and we are doing a 9/11 memorial for the fallen firefighters—three hundred and forty three on that daybut also for all the police and responders, military, as well as civilians who responded to that tragic day and lost their lives,” he said.

Students from the Haines Schoolnone of whom were alive in 2001have visited to take 90 seconds of silence and reflect on a national tragedy that played out that day in Manhattan and Washington D.C. when thousands were killed in coordinated attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

Cars whizz by on the main thoroughfare through town. Giddings says some of them are stopping.

“It’s really encouraging to see how people are coming together. There’s people that have stood here in silent tears, just stood there for several moments reflecting,” Giddings said.

With about 2,500 residents, Haines seems a world away from cities on the East Coast. Emergency services here are more likely to respond to a bear break-in than an actual burglary. But at a time when division looms large in American society, it offers a rare moment of unity.