Just when it felt like we could do nothing, we did something.
Shock, grief and anger transformed into steely resolve.
In the days following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, readers flooded the Beacon Journal with calls, emails and letters, wondering if there was something — anything — they could do. They felt helpless but they still wanted to help.
On Sept. 13, Akron Beacon Journal Publisher James Crutchfield called Barbara Mathews, senior vice president at FirstMerit Corp., to ask if she would help lead a fundraising effort to give the public a purpose. Without hesitation, she agreed.
“Many in our community have been casting about for a way to contribute something meaningful and tangible to people who’ve lost so much,” Crutchfield wrote in a front-page column Sept. 16. “We’re looking for a way to be one with them in spirit.”
He announced a plan to collect donations for a major gift to the people of New York.
“It won’t be an answer to their prayers,” Crutchfield wrote. “We don’t have that power. Our gift will be a symbol — an opportunity to give something to show that this community cared.
“Today, we begin a campaign to give New York City a firetruck.”
The goal was to raise enough money to buy a pumper engine, estimated to cost $325,000, and a police car, estimated at $25,000.
Sponsored by the newspaper, bank and city, the Greater Akron Fire Truck Fund was established. Crutchfield’s column included a coupon for readers to cut out and mail or take with their contributions to any FirstMerit bank branch.
“Please give what you can,” he wrote.
Two days later, a posta carrier delivered a cartload of mail to FirstMerit’s headquarters in downtown Akron. Bank employees gathered to open envelopes, sort currency and record dollar amounts. Most of the checks were for $5, $10 or $20. By the end of the day, they had counted $22,325.77.
“No doubt about it, you need to know our hearts were warmed by the buckets of mail today,” Mathews said.
The next day, the mail tripled.
Children raided piggy banks and set up lemonade stands. Senior citizens donated cash from pension checks. Corporations held benefits and wrote large checks. The Akron Police Department raised $40,000 by selling T-shirts.
Tens of thousands contributed money. For a while, donations came in at $100,000 per day. The Beacon Journal published a list of nearly 50,000 donors.
The Fire Truck Fund collected $1.4 million in a month, far surpassing the original goal of $350,000. The community was able to purchase and equip a ladder truck, two ambulances and three police cruisers. It was the largest donation to New York for equipment lost at Ground Zero.
The firetruck was built at Seagrave Fire Apparatus in Clintonville, Wisconsin, and shipped to Aerialscope Inc. in Richmond, Virginia, for final assembly.
The gleaming red vehicle arrived in Akron in late November. It paraded through the streets of Summit County, making stops at shopping centers, public schools and senior complexes before a dedication ceremony Nov. 27.
City workers closed off Dart Avenue near the Akron Innerbelt. Hundreds circled the firetruck and ambulance, putting their hands on the shiny vehicles. Some people even kicked the tires. The 95-foot ladder was extended into the sky.
Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic, Fire Chief Charles Gladman, Police Chief Michael Matulavich and City Council members were among the local dignitaries at the event.
“We really do have a strong tradition of sharing,” Plusquellic said. “This firetruck and ambulance, along with the police cars already on their way to New York, are evidence that this tradition continues. And I thank each one of you who made this gift possible.”
New York Assistant Fire Commissioner Tom McDonald expressed his deep appreciation to the city.
“I’m a little overwhelmed,” he told the crowd. “This is an emotional thing for me. On Sept. 11, I was there. By the grace of God, I went in one direction and my friends went in another. I’m here today to say thank you.”
Referring to the friends who were killed, McDonald said: “How proud they’d all be of what you people have done for us.”
Eyes filled with tears as Akron schoolchildren sang “America the Beautiful.”
The firetruck left Akron for South Plainfield, New Jersey, for final detailing before being turned over to the New York City Fire Department’s fleet and technical services shop.
Three months after the World Trade Center attacks, New York dedicated the five vehicles provided by the Fire Truck Fund. A crowd stood Dec. 13 outside the brick firehouse shared by Ladder Company 163 and Engine Company 325 in the Woodside neighborhood of Queens, New York.
New York Deputy Police Chief Edward Cannon told the audience that Akron’s gift was symbolic of “the love that is coming forth from citizens of this city and the whole country.” Some in the crowd held signs thanking Akron.
Monsignor D. Joseph Finnerty blessed the emergency vehicles. At the end of the ceremony, a voice came over the loudspeaker: “The engine is in service.”
The new truck’s first call came at 9:33 p.m. that evening. Firefighters rushed to the scene of an apartment fire in a three-story building. They raised the ladder, broke out windows, tore out the ceiling and turned on the hoses.
The flames flickered out. The smoke cleared.
“Do we know how to break a new rig in or what?” New York firefighter Kevin Morrow said afterward.
“This rig was flyin’!” firefighter Kevin Sconzo said.
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