BOISE, Idaho (CBS2) — Many people can tell you exactly where they were and what they were doing when the Twin Towers fell.
Terry Theriot and Garrett Kirpach are both Boise firefighters have different experiences on that day but share similar thoughts.
Kirpach was just 19 years old and Theriot was working at a Boise Fire station when the nation came under attack.
Both describe their feelings in that moment as simply as disbelief.
"When I walked into the station this morning it kind of hit me again like wow I was here 17 years ago I remember it playing out it's so vivid," Theriot said.
He was just starting his shift on September 11 2001 when he and his fellow firefighters heard that a plane had struck one of the Twin Towers.
"Kinda was in disbelief about that could have happened you know an accident it's happened in the past so we were very curious and so all of us as a crew an engine company and a truck company with a battalion chief, we all kind of started gathering around in our TV room and kind of watching it play out," said Theriot said.
"I was still asleep and my roommate came in and told me 'hey there's something big going on you should get up and come downstairs and watch it' and the dorm I was actually staying in only had one TV," Kirpach said. "So you go downstairs and there was probably about 100 people circled around this tiny like 19 inch TV and both towers had been hit by that time and I think the first tower was just starting to fall about the time I got downstairs."
Kirpach was just a few weeks into college. Theriot was a new father and early in his firefighting career. Both say the moment is forever burned into their memories.
"I remember who was standing next to me and like what we were thinking and just kind of the you know just having that question in your head like, 'What's going on? Why is this happening?' kind of stuff. Especially as a brand new adult you first year out on your own it's like wow things are really changing right before my eyes," Kirpach said.
"I was just amazed that that was happening," said Theriot. "So I remember details of that morning how it went on TV, the guys I talked to when we were doing it and I cant think of anything that has affected me so much you know on a national level so that's basically the only snapshot I have of something so devastating."
Both men agree that what happened that day is on most people's minds but say after 17 years the level of remembrance has scaled back.
"You have a lot of people that are almost the age I was when it happened that were born after or right after it occurred," Kirpach said. "So it's not as big in their minds i guess you know it's this things in history that they hear about in school and stuff and they don't have the remembrance like we do."
But there are simple moments that show that no matter how many generations pass by we will never forget the sacrifices that were made and the lives that were lost on September 11 2001.
Today that moment was when a group of preschoolers in the North End stopped by Fire Station 1 simply to say thank you. They spent their day learning about 9/11 and the hard work firefighters do everyday.
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