When terrorists struck the World Trade Center 13 years ago, the impact reverberated across the country and across the campus.

“To describe the emotions of that day would be impossible,” Pullman Mayor Glenn Johnson said. “People were bewildered.”

Pullman Fire Chief Mike Heston said when he watched the first plane crash he thought it was a mistake.

“I just couldn’t believe this was happening in the United States,” Heston said. “At work everyone was quiet.”

Heston said Pullman as a whole felt the gravity of the event for a few weeks afterwards.

“Everybody was on pins and needles, and on edge,” he said.

Johnson said students on campus reacted very similarly to most of the community.

“Students were very concerned, checking computers, checking for updates,” Johnson said. “We all were.”

Director of Student Media Candace Baltz was a journalism student of Johnson’s at the time and ran a live broadcast on Cable 8 News.

She said the broadcast included interviews from professors on campus speculating about what happened, and comments from the local airport.

“It was a lot to take in at once,” Baltz said. “It didn’t really sink in, because we treated it as a news story.”

It wasn’t until after the newscast when the Cable 8 team was sitting quietly around a table at Denny’s when the impact of the day finally hit, Baltz said.

“I don’t think we had any idea how much it would change the rest of our lives,” she said.

Rolling television sets were put outside academic buildings, and throughout the mall, so that students could watch any new information unfold, Baltz said.

Baltz said campus was somber.

“Shocked silence would be the way to put it,” she said. “It wasn’t like a big rallying cry, it was everyone just trying to take in information.”

Pullman Police Cmdr. Chris Tennant said there were a lot of emotions regarding all of the police officers, fire fighters, and people in New York.

“It was a tense day from a police officer’s perspective,” he said.

A variety of reactions

“Pullman is a unique community with people from all over the world,” Tennant said. “What was kind of surprising is that we had residents who viewed it differently.”

He went on to say that people in the city did not react the same way to the news.

“We had strong emotions on both ends of this,” he said. “We had people celebrating in the street because of the attack, and people extremely upset because of the attack.”

Tennant said the job of the police department was to keep the peace, and remember that people have the right to demonstrate.

“The day was spent putting into context what free speech was all about,” Tennant said.

Throughout the week, the community also focused on avoiding prejudices, Johnson said. He said that many mosques in Pullman held open houses throughout the week following the attacks.

“(They did that) so people could understand that not everyone was like the terrorists,” Johnson said.

He added that he visited one of the open houses himself, and found that the beliefs that were shared were very different from the ones displayed through the attacks.

“It showed the good and bad of people, which I think happens whenever there is a big event with emotions,” Tennant said.

He said for many in Pullman, being removed from the event, people felt frustration.

“The attitude that kind of permeated throughout the Pullman area was that people wanted to do something, but that they didn’t know what to do,” Tennant said.

The events of 9/11 bring a message to Pullman, he said, as well as to the rest of the country.

“I think what people have to learn is that we’re not unique in the world. In my own opinion, sometimes Americans think bad things only happen in other places,” Tennant said. “That was one of the things about 9/11 that really brought it home, that bad things can happen here.”

Heston said that although Pullman is not a likely target for an attack, it increased vulnerability and awareness.

“We need to do our best in keeping our country safe, and know we’re not immune to things like that,” Heston said.

It’s important to take time to reflect on the number of lives lost on 9/11, Johnson said, but also those who have killed or been injured in the war overseas since then.

“It’s always good just to remember,” Johnson said. “Too many people I think still are taking things for granted, and you just can’t anymore.”