Artifact of 9/11 now in Battle Creek

A section of steel column and the memory of nearly 3,000 dead is resting at the Battle Creek Fire Department.

The 48-inch-long piece of a center column from one of the World Trade Center towers destroyed on Sept. 11, 2001, someday will be a Battle Creek memorial to remind people of the terrorist attacks.

Battle Creek Chief Dave Schmaltz and Battalion Chief Mike Fleisher drove to New York and returned April 27 with the 644 pound piece of steel.

"The biggest reason is for reflection," Fleisher said Friday. "As a society we get complacent and this is for reflection so we never forget. We have special teams and we do a lot of training and you get tired. I just wanted a reminder of why you do what you do."

Fleisher began the application for a 9/11 artifact last year. He applied to the Port Authority of New York and eventually learned Battle Creek would receive a piece of the steel.

The city and fire department had to agree to display it and treat it properly and once done, Fleisher and Schmaltz drove a department pick-up to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, where artifacts from the World Trade Center are housed.

Schmaltz said people are not allowed in the warehouse. Officials brought the steel to Schmaltz and Fleisher, who loaded the truck and drove it back to Battle Creek.

"They want to make sure the artifacts are treated with the respect and dignity that close to 3,000 people lost their lives for," Schmaltz said. "People died and I have no idea what our piece of steel went through and who touched it."

The men said the steel holds even greater significance to them because 343 firefighters were among those killed in New York.

"The service and the job we have taken on is bigger than one individual," Schmaltz said. "It is about serving the community and serving the people. So many times you start to focus on 'I' and not what it is about. But those 343 men and women went in there not thinking about 'I.' No one thought the buildings were coming down. They were scared and nervous but they never thought they were coming down. But even if they had an inkling it was coming down they would have gone."

Schmaltz and Fleisher said now that the department has the artifact, they will begin collecting ideas about how best to display it so it's not only a reminder to firefighters and other first responders but also to the public.

"We are going to reach out to other people, like artists, and ask them 'how do you think it should be displayed,'" Schmaltz said.

Fleisher said the attacks changed this country and the steel can be a symbol of those changes and why they were made.

"It is about reflection," Fleiser said again. "It is not just firefighters or police officers but every citizen needs to reflect and know why we do things that we do these days."

Contact Trace Christenson at 966-0685 or tchrist@battlecreekenquirer.com. Follow him on Twitter: @TSChristenson