For the president of the Kensington Volunteer Fire Department, one ugly piece of steel means everything. The 14-foot-long, one-ton box beam was at the point of impact of the first terrorist attack in New York on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, and it’s in roughly the same condition it was as 10 years ago.
“We have not done a thing to change the horrific nature of the deformity of the steel,” said Steven R. Semler, the fire department’s president, told The Washington Examiner. “This is a bent, sheared, torn, deformed piece of heavy steel. What we’re intending to do is to fully reflect the horror of the event by displaying this piece exactly as it is.”
Kensington has nearly finished constructing a 9/11 memorial on the grounds of the fire station, 11 miles north of the White House. It will also feature a piece of stone from the Pentagon and a rose garden dedicated to the victims in Pennsylvania, where United Airline Flight 93 crashed after passengers fought back against the hijackers.
It’s not the only piece of the World Trade Center in the area. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has been giving remains of the buildings to museums, municipalities and nonprofits around the country.
Four other pieces arrived Wednesday in Prince William, a county that lost 22 residents who died in the 9/11 attacks. Prince William County will have a design competition to decide how to use its steel.
Arlington also has relics from the 9/11 attacks: a 15-foot piece of steel from the World Trade Center and a piece of limestone from the Pentagon. Arlington is looking for a way to integrate the two artifacts into one showpiece, said Lt. Gregg Karl of the Arlington County Fire Department.
The Kensington Fire Department will hold a public dedication ceremony for its 9/11 memorial — which also features a rose garden dedicated to the Pennsylvania flight and a piece of the fa?ade of the Pentagon — at 10 a.m. on June 25.
Steve Heidenberger, a general contractor, donated his services to help build the memorial. His brother, whose wife was a flight attendant on Flight 93, will speak at the dedication, along with Robert McFeely, the FBI’s special agent in charge of 9/11 investigations in the D.C. area.
In downtown Washington, the Smithsonian will display 9/11 relics from Sept. 3 to Sept. 11.
