AUSTIN (Nexstar) — Nim Kidd remembers exactly where he was on Sept. 11, 2001.
Kidd, now the Chief of the Texas Division of Emergency Management, was a firefighter in San Antonio.
“I was scheduled to go on duty, downtown lieutenant, engine company number 11, technical rescue team there,” Kidd recalled on Wednesday.
“I was getting out of bed about 9 o’clock in the morning because the shift changed at noon, which was a great shift change,” he said.
“I think all of our worlds changed that morning,” Kidd said.
Kidd was a member of Texas Task Force 1, a team of emergency responders that travels for search and rescue missions. The group was deployed to Ground Zero after the twin towers were struck.
“We did not know what we were going into,” he said Wednesday, the 18th anniversary of the terror attack.
“They had grounded all airlines, transportation was shut down, so it was eerie, knowing you were one of the only planes in the air,” he explained.
Kidd, who has now been the head of TDEM for nine years, said some things are forgotten in time, but he remembers the nation uniting after the attack.
“The thing I think we should not forget in time is how as a nation we came together as one,” he said. “So, my hope for this day is that we will all take a moment to at least attempt to come together as one and be Americans.”
Kidd said he still keeps in contact with the emergency response team he deployed with to New York. He sent the group a message to reconnect on a day that holds an important meeting for them.
