Twenty-two years after the attacks, Las Vegas firefighters and community members stood in silence and saluted Monday morning as a bell rang 15 times in tribute to the lives lost on Sept. 11, 2001.

Fire Station 5 holds the yearly ceremony by tolling the bells and hoisting a United States flag that once flew over the World Trade Center at half-staff until sunset — a tradition it has carried out since 2004, when the station was dedicated and received a piece of steel from the World Trade Center that is still displayed in front of the building.

Among the nearly 3,000 lives lost on 9/11 in New York, Washington, D.C. and Pennsylvania, 343 were New York City firefighters. 

“We made a promise to the New York City Fire Department that we would never forget the sacrifice of those 343 firefighters,” Tim Szymanski, a retired firefighter and City of Las Vegas Fire and Rescue spokesperson who rang the bell, told The Nevada Independent after the ceremony. “We're just holding our promise.”

Before radios were widely used in firefighting, the bell would ring out the number code of the location where the firefighters needed to respond. It would ring in three sets of five when a firefighter died in the line of duty.

The Las Vegas Fire and Rescue remembrance ceremony featured Frank Pizarro, a retired New York City firefighter, professional singer and now Las Vegas resident, who sang the national anthem. Pizarro created the nonprofit organization Firefighter Memorial Transportation, which provides ]specialized vehicles to carry fallen police officers, firefighters and veterans to their final resting place. 

He recalled the unity the nation showed after the attacks.

“We have to remember because what happens is we stay so divided,” Pizarro told The Nevada Independent on Monday. “It's funny how when tragedies happen, it's when this country comes together, and we need to do that all the time, and not just when something happens.”  

According to a short biography provided by Las Vegas Fire and Rescue, Pizarro was off duty when he saw on television that a plane had struck the World Trade Center. He and other off-duty firefighters loaded into a fire hydrant maintenance vehicle parked at the station and headed to the site. 

There, the group saw the first tower had already fallen and started searching for victims through the rubble. The second tower started to come down and he and the others sought cover in a parking garage. 

“Today is for remembrance, reflection, gratitude for still being here. Sometimes I deal with a little guilt of still being here, but it's just natural,” Pizarro said. “Some people didn't come back.”