Crime & Safety

Local Firefighter Shares Ground Zero Experience with Jacobs' Students

Algonquin-Lake in the Hills Fire Chief Kevin Rynders also spoke about his memories of 9/11 at two presentations held Tuesday in the H.D. Jacobs High School auditorium.

John Schneidwind, a fire lieutenant with the Schaumburg Fire Department, shared his emotional experience working at Ground Zero in the days following 9/11 Tuesday afternoon to hundreds of students.

Morning and afternoon presentations were lead by Schneidwind, Chief Kevin Rynders and Lt. Wayne Rothbauer at the Jacobs High School auditorium on the 11th anniversary of the terrorist attacks.

“So many stories are so difficult to recall because so many things were happening so quickly and simultaneously … we saw refrigerator trucks being filled with some of the 19,000 body parts. It was really an unbelievable site,” said Schneidwind as he recalled one of many memories during his five days volunteering at Ground Zero.

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Schneidwind joined other area firefighters on the trek out to New York City between Sept. 12 to 16, 2001. There, they volunteered their time and effort searching for victims and assisting with various other duties.

Several students had questions for Schnedwind, including one student who asked him what the hardest part was about his time at Ground Zero.

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“We did a lot of work there and we dug and we dug and having to have to leave without a conclusion was really difficult,” he said. “When firemen go to incidents, one of the things that is so gratifying about being a fireman is that you get to finish what you started...the house is on fire when you get there, you do your work and the fire is out when you leave.”

During the presentation, Schneidwind shared many sobering statistics with students:

  • 2,749 people were killed on Sept. 11, 2001
  • Only 289 bodies were found intact
  • 19,858 body parts were recovered
  • The oldest victim was 80 while the youngest victims was 2 years old
  • 343 firefighters were killed and 75 police officers
  • Americans donated 36,000 units of blood. Only 258 units were needed.
  • 1,117 families still have no remains for their loved ones and 3,000 children lost a parent

Rynders also spoke to the packed auditorium touching on the significance Sept. 11, 2001 had on history and how important it is to remember how quickly such events can change and shape so many lives.

“The most emotional image that I have was not actual pictures. It was my own mental image … of 343 fire department of New York firefighters kissing their wife good-bye, just like I did every day as I left for the firehouse,” Rynders said. “Or hugging their kids as they walked out the door, saying, ‘I love you guys, see you tonight...but they never came home.”


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