Crime & Safety
Local Firefighter Flies Flag For Fallen
Shorewood resident and Evanston Fire Department Capt. Jeff Boetto recalled the tragedy of Sept. 11.
Ten years ago, Jeff Boetto had a day off from the Evanston Fire Department.
He had the television on and watched as the Twin Towers collapsed one after the other.
"When the planes hit, a lot of the guys must have known they weren't coming out," said Boetto, a Shorewood resident and captain with the Evanston Fire Department.
"They had to have known they had a good chance of not coming out, but they still went in and did their job, just like we do."
Boetto noted how there was great public appreciation for the fire service after 343 of New York's Bravest lost their lives in a matter of moments while trying to save others, and how that appreciation seems to have waned over the years.
"We’re going back from the gratitude for doing our job to being public enemy No. 1 because of our pensions,” he said.
Each year since the attacks Boetto has flown a 9/11 flag in front of his Shorewood home to honor the firefighters from New York who died that day.
“It’s about time to put it up again,” he said as he raised it once more.
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