x
Breaking News
More () »

Turlock Fire to unveil piece of 9/11 history Tuesday

The Turlock Fire Department has received a piece of steel preserved from the World Trade Center in New York City 17 years after the September 11 attacks.

A piece of history is heading to Northern California's own Turlock Fire Department. On the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on Tuesday, they plan to unveil a piece of steel from the World Trade Center sent from New York.

A full 17 years later...

"We will always remember," Chief Robert Talloni of the Turlock Fire Department said.

Hundreds of firefighters' lives lost…

"We all lost friends," he said.

Nearly 3,000 miles away from where it fell...

"In this picture, he's cutting our piece of steel," Talloni said.

A piece of steel from the World Trade Center in New York now lives at the Turlock Fire Department.

"It was like the Holy Grail. Having this sacred piece of steel is very important and we are blessed to have it," he said.

Right now, the 12x12 piece of steel is under lock and key. It's only been seen by Talloni and a select few. He's unveiling it during Tuesday's Sept. 11 remembrance ceremony, meaning ABC10 can't show it to you just yet, but here's how he described it.

"We're having PNF Metals have hands in firefighter gloves holding up this piece of metal and PNF Metals fabricated a firefighter's helmet on top of diamond plate," he said.

It is meant to honor those men and women who put their lives on the line 17 years ago.

"This is something that's very important. It's not only history now, but it's history for generations," he said.

Talloni has connections to the New York City Fire Department, after spending 33 years at a fire department in Norwalk, Connecticut. He's been working on bringing this to Turlock, on the other side of the country, for more than two years.

"We want the world, not only California, not only the United States, we want the world to know that we're proud, we're proud of what they did," he said.

You can see it during the remembrance ceremony at Turlock's Fire Station 1, Tuesday at 8 a.m.

"We want people to see and feel that horrific event and how that piece of steel got to be where it is today," he said.

Continue the conversation with Lena on Facebook.

Before You Leave, Check This Out