On Sept. 13, 2001, Melrose Fire Capt. Jim Winslow stood in a line at Ground Zero, helping to remove debris, finding voids in the rubble, checking for survivors. “Every once in a while, while we were working—and especially as it started to get dark—you’d hear whistles, shouts. Everybody would stop because they’d want to listen to see if we could hear anything. And it was …” His voice cracks. Winslow takes a deep breath, balling his right hand into a loose fist and lightly tapping the armrest of the black office chair, swiveling to look at the firehouse wall as he composes himself. “It was at times like that when we stood back and looked around, that it was overwhelming.” Staying busy was easy, but pausing and taking it all in? “And the magnitude of it—it took the strength out of my legs," Winslow said. "You’d think of all the spaces that were—of all the area that was there, we’re digging in this one little patch. It was just unbelievable. And the whole time we’re working, the buildings around us, some of them were still on fire. The skeleton of the building was sticking out over us at an angle.”