Flames were visible and smoke billowed from Boston’s Logan International Airport on Wednesday, the 12th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The scene brought back traumatic memories of the airport where two of the planes used in the 9/11 attacks took off from. Turns out, it was a poorly planned fire drill.
According to the Boston Globe, at about 9:30 a.m, “the airport’s Facebook page announced that their fire department was holding the exercise, warning people that the training would produce smoke in the area. Twitter and Facebook erupted with comments from people upset that airport officials chose today for the exercise.”
Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick called the decision to hold a fire drill “just dumb.” “I didn’t know it was going to happen, and it’s just dumb,” Patrick told the Globe. “The timing could not be worse.”
Massport issued a statement apologizing for the timing of the drill. “Massport apologizes for conducting the fire training exercise and understands that it may have offended many of those touched by the events of Sept. 11,” reads the statement. “Safety and security is our top priority and constant vigilance and readiness is critical, but the exercise should not have taken place on the anniversary of 9/11.”
