Lighting Company Describes Illuminating Ground Zero During Tri-County 9/11 Remembrance

THORNBURG – Tri-County held a remembrance on the anniversary of the September 11, 2001 Terror Attacks. What Cheer firefighters showed equipment to students and a Keokuk County Sheriff Deputy described how dispatch works. In addition, employees from Musco Sports Lighting described the attacks and told students about their role in the cleanup efforts after the attacks.

Musco Director of Services Gary Gordon explained that, after the attacks, Musco lighting trucks that had just finished covering a sporting event in Rhode Island drove to New York City, where they were used to light triage at Shea Stadium. The trucks were noticed by FEMA agents, who sent them to ground zero, where the trucks were used to illuminate search and rescue and later cleanup efforts. “We’d seen the little crank up towers to supply lighting, and they were only 10-15 feet tall. We could easily surpass that,” said Gordon. “We knew it’d be an opportunity, we were lucky enough to have a tool that could support that. We were lucky, in fact, because a lot of people, they wanted to help, they didn’t know how to help.”

41 Musco employees worked a collective 20,000 over 247 days lighting up the ruins. Musco trucks also lit up cleanup work at the Pentagon and New York City Landfill, and lit up the memorial service for the victims of Flight 93, which crashed in Pennsylvania after passengers fought against the hijackers.

Gordon showed students a weathered flag that had been flown at ground zero, from a Musco truck, following a request from a firefighter. The flag flew over ground zero until Dec. 14 of that year, when it was taken back to Oskaloosa and replaced with a new flag.

“I was in ninth grade, when September 11th happened,” said Musco employee Kristen McMains. “I will never forget being in math class, and that uncertainty, that fear, that understanding that we’re in the midwest but something very big had happened in our country, and the need to reflect. And in those weeks that passed, being in a small community and thinking what can we do as people? What can we do as citizens? I think the beautiful thing is, you all are today’s leaders, leading for tomorrow. So taking those components, how can I be an engaged citizen? How can I take steps to act and lead my community, whether it’s a smile to another person, whether it's volunteering and going to take part in an organization, that’s a big key.”