Irmo Fire Chief's Charity Still Making an Impact 10 Years Later
The First Responders Remembrance Memorial stands as testament that South Carolina never forgot Sept. 11
For Irmo Fire Chief Mike Sonefeld, seeing the World Trade Center engulfed in flames and smoke on Sept. 11, 2001, sent an immediate message to the brain: "How can we get up there and help?" “I don't think people outside of the fire service understood the amount of fire that was going on there,” Sonefeld said. “It just looked like smoke to the average person.” “My first thought was to go,” he said. “How can we get up there and help?” Now 10 years later, Sonefeld is still lending a helping hand. Sonefeld is one of many people in the Midlands who have worked to create The First Responders' Remembrance Memorial. The monument is a tribute to those who died on Sept. 11, 2001, including 416 first responders and also names 47 first responders from …
