CHERRY HILL, N.J. – Cherry Hill firefighters and police officers gathered at Fire Headquarters Thursday for the township’s annual Sept. 11 ceremony, marking 25 years since the attacks that killed 2,977 people.
Members of the Cherry Hill Fire Department were joined by the Cherry Hill Police Department, local elected officials and community leaders. The ceremony honored those killed in New York, at the Pentagon and aboard United Airlines Flight 93, along with the first responders who died trying to save others.
The anniversary has been observed across New Jersey this week, including ceremonies where local police and fire departments have reflected on their own connections to the response and recovery that followed Sept. 11, 2001.
Firefighters and Police Remember 2,977 Lives Lost
Cherry Hill’s ceremony brought the township’s two primary emergency services together at Fire Headquarters.
“As we mark 25 years since September 11, 2001, we come together to remember the 2,977 lives lost, honor the first responders who made the ultimate sacrifice, and recognize the families and communities forever changed by that day,” the fire department said.
Mayor Dave Fleisher and Fire Chief Wade Houlihan delivered remarks during the observance.
Members of the Board of Fire Commissioners and Township Council also attended, along with Assemblywoman Melinda Kane and Camden County Clerk Pamela Lampitt.
The gathering was one of numerous 25th-anniversary observances held across Camden County and the rest of the state.
A Tradition Continued 25 Years Later
For the Cherry Hill Fire Department, the memorial was a continuation of an annual tradition rather than a one-time anniversary event.
Firefighters and police have continued gathering each September to remember the victims and the emergency personnel who responded when hijacked planes struck the World Trade Center and Pentagon.
The passage of 25 years also means the attacks are increasingly being remembered by firefighters and police officers who were children in 2001 or entered public safety years afterward.
Cherry Hill’s ceremony kept the focus on the people lost that morning and the families and communities that have carried those losses since.
The fire department shared photographs from the ceremony as communities across South Jersey completed a week of Sept. 11 remembrance events.