The Public Safety Net

About the photo: Sept. 11, 2001 -- the end of the world as we knew it. But in the chaos and rubble where the World Trade Center no longer stood, Record photographer Thomas E. Franklin captured an unforgettable image of hope -- three firefighters raising the American flag.

Standing defiantly against the gray and white landscape of devastation, these dust-covered men and the vivid red, white, and blue of Old Glory instantly became a symbol of American patriotism. Franklin's photo of these three heroic rescuers -- Brooklyn-based firefighters Dan McWilliams of Long Island, George Johnson of Rockaway Beach (both from Ladder 157), and Billy Eisengrein of Staten Island (Rescue 2) -- also became a global message that life, and America, would go on.

The photo, which appeared Sept. 12 in The Record, has since graced the pages of many other newspapers as well as national newsmagazines. Network television has repeatedly displayed the photo during its round-the-clock disaster coverage, comparing it to the famous image of Marines raising the flag on Iwo Jima during World War II.

Franklin, an eight-year veteran of The Record, took the photo late in the afternoon of Sept. 11, after spending hours at the scene. He was walking toward the debris of the World Trade Center when he spotted the firefighters.

"The shot immediately felt important to me," Franklin said. "It said something to me about the strength of the American people and about the courage of all the firefighters who, in the face of this horrible disaster, had a job to do in battling the unimaginable."

The Fire Bell

The life of a firefighter is closely associated with the ringing of a bell. Traditionally as the day began, it was the bell that started it off.

And so through the day and night, each alarm was sounded by a bell which called the firefighters to thier duty and to place their lives in jepardy.

Durring time like these we seek strong symbols to give us a better understanding of our feelings during this time of reflection of the devotion that our fallen comrades had for their duty.

The three sets of rings of the bell give honor and respect to those who have served so well and represents the end of their duties as their last alarm.