Crime & Safety

Hillsborough Fire Rescue at 9/11 Steel Beam Display; Engine 331 On Duty

Hillsborough Fire Rescue's fire truck caisson and honor guard stands watch at the May 8 viewing of the 9/11 beam from the World Trade Center donated to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office. The display was at the Westfield Brandon shopping mall.

On display at Westfield Brandon, parked behind the steel beam from one of the two towers of the World Trade Center destroyed in the 9/11 terrorist attacks, stood a 36-year-old fire truck that in its retirement is used to honor firefighters who die and who die in the line of duty.

They call it Engine No. 331, the “fire engine caisson,” which is the fire department pumper outfitted to carry a deceased firefighter’s casket, and to raise that casket with a hydraulic lift if the firefighter’s life is lost in the line of duty.

Back in 1976, and through its years of active and reserve service, the fire truck was known as Engine No. 330, and its home was the fire station at Falkenburg and Palm River roads, just south of State Road 60.

Find out what's happening in Brandonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The truck today is at the fire station in Palm River, closer to Hillsborough County Fire Rescue’s fleet maintenance facility.

The truck May 8 was parked at Westfield Brandon, in tribute to the first responders who lost their lives in the 9/11 terrorist attacks at the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City.

Find out what's happening in Brandonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“There were 343 firefighters who died that day,” said drive engineer Joshua Tichenor, who is director of the 13-member caisson unit of the Hillsborough Fire Rescue honor guard. “It’s something that we can do to show our respect, not only for the firefighters, but for all members of law enforcement and military service who lost their lives that day.”

The caisson truck came into service following the death of Capt. Darryl Dzugen, who suffered a heart attack after battling a blaze while on duty, leaving behind a wife and two children, ages 5 and 8.

The 36-year-old firefighter died Aug. 29, 2011, 12 days before the terrorist attacks masterminded by Osama bin Laden.

“Before we could gather ourselves and determine what the needs of Darryl’s family were, September 11 unfolded before us,” reads the online mission overview of Hillsborough County Firefigthers Charities.

The group undertakes “to provide a support system to the families of fallen fire service personnel.”

“His last ride was in an ambulance,” Tichenor recalled. “And not to discredit anyone else, but we wanted to carry our fallen brothers and sisters home in a fire truck.”

The truck now used for those purposes, donated by Hillsborough Fire Rescue, was refurbished with the aid of the Krewe of the Knights of St. John (the Hillsborough Fire Rescue krewe) and the International Association of of Fire Fighters, Local 2294, according to Tichenor.

The truck was on display at the May 8 beam memorial, which was held “to honor all of those who lost their lives on 9/11 and to all of those who continue to this day to fight the good fight,” according to a handout prepared by the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office and distributed to those who came to pay their respects and to remember.

“It was more than what I thought it would be,” said firefighter Jeffrey Brown, with the Hillsborough Fire Rescue honor guard. “The emotions came back for so many people. One of the first visitors today said her son lost his life in Iraq because of [the 9/11 terrorist attacks]."

“Young kids who heard about 9/11, but didn’t know what it was all about, came out, too,” Brown said. “It’s our history. Unfortunately, it’s our version of the USS Arizona in Pearl Harbor." 

The 9/11 beam rested on a display, built by Jorge Bermudez, of the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s office, who in his reflections as a child. The sheriff’s office applied years ago for the beam and displayed it for the first time to the press May 5, just days after the , the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, at the hands of Navy SEALs.

That prompted the beam’s display, for a public viewing, May 7 at Westfield Citurs Park and a day later at Westfield Brandon. It’s permanent home is expected to be at Heroes Plaza in Tampa.

“It represents a tragic moment none of us really wanted but we can never forget,” Brown said.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

To request removal of your name from an arrest report, submit these required items to arrestreports@patch.com.