It has been 22 years since the infamous terrorist attacks of 9/11, and for Billings firefighters, it's a day that serves as a chance to remember those lost.
For most Americans, if they were alive on Sept. 11, 2001, they know exactly where they were when the World Trade Centers were struck by two airplanes.
Many people from the Billings Fire Department certainly do, and that includes current Battalion Chief Kevin Bentz, who had just begun his career as a firefighter working in the same station he's at today.
"Basically, the entire station gathered around the TV," Bentz recalled Monday morning. "The TV room was full all day long, from the fire chief all the way down to the newest firefighters, which was me at the time."
Bentz said that every year, the anniversary makes him pause and think.
"It makes you really reflect back on, every day you walk out that door and you come here," Bentz said. "And you really don't know what you're going to face that day."
Bentz said that of the 23 firefighters working at the station that fateful day, only four are left. For him, the day gives him a chance to remember former coworkers as well.
"It's just a time to think back to that part of my life," Bentz said. "It's crazy that this much time has passed. We were taking calls that day, but everyone was distracted. That's for sure."
Some at the station, like Capt. Cameron McCamley, remember the day but weren't firefighters yet. McCamley was in high school, but his dad was serving as a firefighter in Great Falls.
"It's a day of remembrance," McCamley said. "And not just of 9/11, but of everything that transpired from that."
McCamley said he still vividly remembers his mother waking him up that morning and recalls the entire school being captivated by the news.
"I remember going to school that day, but you were just kind of going through the motions," McCamley said. "Everyone was glued to their TV and wanting to know what was going on."
McCamley said that he and other firefighters hear the stories of first responders giving the ultimate sacrifice that day with a different perspective.
"There's the famous line of the radio calling in telling the captain that the towers were going to come down and that he needed to get out, and he responds, 'With all due respect, there's more bodies in here that need help,'" McCamley said. "You feel that. You understand that as these stories come out, you get why they're doing what they were doing."
Others at the station, like 24-year-old firefighter Cameron Ash, don't remember much from the day. He said that a big reason why he is a firefighter is because of 9/11.
"Watching the videos, every year when 9/11 came around and looking at those courageous firefighters that went up," Ash said. "It always made me want to have that courage that they did one day."
Ash said that his coworkers spent the early part of their morning sharing stories from where they were that day. He said it was interesting to get perspectives from different generations.
"Everybody talks about where they were that day and how they brought the country together," Ash said. "It's interesting for me to hear because I don't remember it. I just live it through these stories and some of these guys were firefighters when it happened."
McCamley said it's a day that changed the world for all firefighters in America, altering the emergency protocols that they had in place.
"A lot of things we used to do have changed, which is a good thing," McCamley said. "It sucks that it takes a (seminal) event like this, but I think anybody who lived through that can realize that that was going to be a turning point."
Ash said the best they can do is remember and honor those lives that were lost.
"When you wake up on 9/11, you always think that every other firefighter woke up just like I did this morning and didn't come home to their families," Ash said. "So, today is for them. We are praying for them and thinking about them."
