Aiken man remembers experiencing 9/11 as a New York firefighter

It's a day Rick Doran will never forget
Published: Sep. 11, 2021 at 11:25 PM EDT
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AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - The scenes still live in Rick Doran’s mind twenty years later.

He lives in Aiken now, but on September 11, 2001, he served as a firefighter in New York City.

“Everything was just vaporized, so it was very difficult,” said Doran.

He made it to Ground Zero minutes after the second tower collapsed. He spent his next three months there combing through the rubble.

“Tried to get up on to the pile and start looking into some voids, hopefully that there would be some people,” said Doran.

About 3,000 people did not make it, including 343 firefighters.

“We lost all the guys that were riding on my truck that day,” said Doran. “My promise to them is I would not let people forget about this.”

Twenty years later, Doran continues to share his story. He spoke at an event in Wagener to make sure people never forget.

“My goal is to try and educate people, to bring them back to that day and not forget what happened, cause it’s real easy, things are 20 years old now, it’s easy to forget,” said Doran.

But it’s a day he will never forget. The day his friends, his city and his country lost so much.

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