Aalter firefighter Bart Verheyde heads to New York for 25th anniversary of 9/11

Updated 3 September 2026, 13:00 CEST — AALTER — Volunteer firefighter Bart Verheyde, 42, will leave Belgium on Saturday for a ten-day visit to New York and Washington, where he and nine other Belgian firefighters plan to attend commemorations marking the 25th anniversary of the 11 September attacks, according to Het Nieuwsblad.

Verheyde has served with Brandweerzone Meetjesland for 20 years and works as a logistics employee for the Blankenberge police, Het Nieuwsblad reported. He told the newspaper that the televised images of the attacks, which he watched as a 17-year-old, strengthened his determination to help others. The article’s headline incorrectly identifies him as Marc; its text and photograph identify him as Bart Verheyde.

The Belgian delegation is travelling through Fire Observers, an association that organises firefighter visits to New York. Het Nieuwsblad said the group includes another firefighter from Maldegem and will visit fire stations and memorial sites before attending FDNY and Ground Zero ceremonies on Friday, 11 September. The precise access arrangements for the Belgian group have not been independently confirmed.

The official ceremony at the National September 11 Memorial plaza begins at 08:30 local time, according to the Memorial & Museum. Relatives will read the victims’ names, while seven moments of silence will mark the attacks, the collapse of the towers and the continuing toll of 9/11-related illnesses. The plaza ceremony itself is reserved for victims’ families with credentials.

For Verheyde, the journey connects a global commemoration with the everyday risks of emergency work in Belgium. He told Het Nieuwsblad that firefighters know every intervention can be their last and recalled a fatal railway incident involving someone he had spoken to only hours earlier. His visit reflects the professional bond that 9/11 created among firefighters far beyond the United States.

The FDNY says 343 of its members died on 11 September 2001. In a 2024 remembrance statement, the department said more than 370 additional members had subsequently died from World Trade Center-related illnesses. The Memorial & Museum places those continuing health effects within this year’s ceremony through a dedicated moment of silence.

Belgium’s role is limited but tangible: ten firefighters will represent the country’s emergency-service community at a commemoration centred on American victims, families and responders. The next confirmed milestone is Verheyde’s Saturday departure; organisers have not published a detailed itinerary or confirmed which restricted ceremonies the delegation may enter.