PASCO COUNTY, Fla. — “We lost 343 Fire Department personnel,” said Stephen Spelman, a 23-year New York Fire Department veteran talking about fallen heroes of 9/11.

What You Need To Know

  • A ladder recovered from the 9/11 wreckage is displayed at Tampa Premium Outlets

  • The ladder was loaned by Stephen Spelman, a 23-year-veteran of the NYPD

  • Spelman helped install other tributes at the outlet mall, including one that honors Gold Star Families

Installed on a wall in the Tampa Premium Outlets sits a twisted piece of firefighter ladder recovered from the wreckage of the 9/11 attacks.

Spelman loaned it in 2019. The veteran survived at Ground Zero when so many of his friends did not.

“It’s really incredible because I can honor all my friends and their families who lost and continue to lose due to all sorts of various diseases, World Trade Center-related,” said Spelman. “We’d like to spread the information and keep history alive.”

He didn’t stop there. More tributes line the walls of Tampa Premium Outlets.

“This is the 2021 wall that we did in honor of our Gold Star Families,” said Spelman, walking down the wall. “We had wanted to kind of come full-circle going in Iraq and Afghanistan to fight."

A reminder of all the Americans who’ve taken up arms to protect the country throughout its history.

For Spelman, even surviving the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil, he says all the real heroes that day died.

“Thank you for being a hero,” reads a Patriot Day card from school children.

It’s these kids writing him on Patriot Day, they’ll be faced with staying vigilant and voting in a way the protects our nation he says.

“We need to make sure we don’t repeat history and how we do that is how we educate our children,” Spelman said. “If we don’t educate them about what happened in the past, then we tend to repeat the same mistakes and open up the door for that to happen again.”

One way Spelman remembers is keeping their pictures up on a framed poster in his home.

“This here is in every fire house and every station in New York City,” Spelman said, pointing to the poster filled with 343 pictures. “These are 343 Fire Department members that were killed that day.”

These are pictures he wants others to post as well — and he’s looking for any help in this endeavor.

“I keep my brothers alive by passing these around the country,” said Spelman. “I’d like to start here in Tampa, Florida and I’d like every fire house, every EMS station and Police department to have one.”

Never forgotten. Never again.