NORWICH – Five years ago, Norwich Fire Captain Tim Christophersen was witness to one of the most horrifying American atrocities of our time. Christophersen was present in New York City when the World Trade Center was attacked.

Christophersen was sent to New York City for officer training school. He arrived on the day before the attacks and that following morning during his second day of classes, the city fell under attack. He was in class when a fire chief entered the classroom and told them of what was happening. They all went to an adjacent room and watched the first attack unfold on television. After the second plane hit they were called to the scene. “We got on some bus with EMS and it took us into the site,” said Christophersen. “There was only so much we could do, there was lots of medical, fire and emergency personnel,” he said. “It was surreal; there was a sea of firefighters, it looked like battle lines and fire trucks where just twisted like ribbon,” he said.“ You could look down between the buildings and it looked like heavy snow was falling.”

Later that day, Christophersen and his fellow classmates had no choice but to walk back to Fort Totten in Queens. Christophersen described the city as a “ghost town” – the only people they saw were police stationed at nearly every block. Eventually they found a police officer who said he might be able to arrange transportation. They followed the officer back to his precinct and discovered that it was a mounted police unit and the only transport they had was a horse trailer, “We grabbed our gear and piled inside,” said Christophersen.