SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Rural/Metro Corporation, a national leader in outsourced ambulance and fire protection services in 20 states and more than 450 communities from coast to coast, is spending this week paying respect to our fellow first responders who sacrificed their own lives while so bravely trying to save others on September 11.
Of the nearly 3,000 victims who died in the attacks, 343 were firefighters and 60 were police officers from New York City and the New York Port Authority. Also among the victims were eight paramedics and emergency medical technicians representing private ambulance services like ours. We will never forget the heroic actions of our country’s brave first responders. From the New York Fire Department who lost so many of their brothers and sisters to the efforts of our own Rural/Metro Disaster Response Team members who traveled to New York City in the aftermath to help the injured.
On September 11, 2001, Rural/Metro’s initial response included nearly 100 personnel and 44 ambulances from Rural/Metro operations in New York, New Jersey, Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, Maryland. The following day, the Company deployed 23 additional ambulances and 90 personnel from its then-Northeast Regional Disaster Response Team to the site of the World Trade Center on orders of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the New York State emergency Office.
Throughout this week, many Rural/Metro Operations are participating in remembrances and tributes leading up to the anniversary of September 11th. Several will be marking the actual anniversary with a special tribute over their radio systems (script below). Video vignettes from Rural/Metro responders who were at the scene of the World Trade Center are being added to Rural/Metro YouTube channels. Several media outlets across the country have been interviewing our personnel for local stories, and we continue to share messages through our Facebook and Twitter pages. Some operations are even wearing special shirts in place of their normal uniforms during the days prior, and a few days after the anniversary.
Rural/Metro and its employees rise, to remember the fallen.