Mario Zorovic remembers sitting at his apartment in New York City and seeing the plane strike the first tower on TV in real time.

In the moment, Zorovic, who was an Emergency Service Unit detective specialist with the New York Police Department, did the only thing he could think to do in response by grabbing his badge and his firearm and finding a way to the scene.

“It was the most terrible thing I’ve had to experience,” Zorovic told The Dispatch on Thursday. “But again, your training kicks in. You grab your gear and go. You know you have a job to do, and you do it.”

Zorovic said he assisted with recovery efforts for three days straight, attempting to locate lost civilians and working to clear debris from the wreckage of the site.

“(We) were walking into the debris field (under) a total cover of … darkness,” Zorovic said. “All you could see if you found the person, you saw shadows. … And you grab that shadow, and we tried to remember where the building lines were. (We were bringing) those people into the lobbies, and trying to get intelligence from them. (We asked them). ‘Where were you? Was the last person you saw alive? Were there more people when you left?’ And then, ‘Here’s my phone. Call your family. Let them know you’re alive, and then leave.’

“… So from there, we just went about business trying to find people, making sure that more terrorists weren’t going to attack us,” he added. “Because if they hit you big here, they’re going to hit you with little things. … It was a huge, huge undertaking, tactically, rescue and recovery.”

It took Zorovic three days before he got a chance to return home to his wife, he said. But even when he got home, he could not help but feel like he needed to be back out in the field.

“I just broke down and cried,” Zorovic said. “(I was) telling (my wife) who we lost because she knew all these guys too that I was naming, and it was just letting me get all this out after days of doing what I could and having to go back, and that’s how it was for 10 straight months.”

Zorovic said there is not a day that goes by that he doesn’t think of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the impact that day left not only on himself but on the country as a whole.

Coming back to Columbus

Zorovic recounted his experience at Ground Zero to a group of local first responders, public officials and community members Thursday at the 25th annual Salute to Lowndes County’s Finest event, held in honor of those who keep the community safe.

Zorovic said the event was familiar territory as about three months after 9/11, he came to speak with the Columbus-Lowndes Chamber of Commerce and its members about what the response work looked like at Ground Zero.

Since then, Mark Smith, founder and committee chair for the Salute to Lowndes County’s Finest, has been trying to bring Zorovic back to town to speak at the event, which has served as a way to commemorate area first responders on a day near Sept. 11 each year.

The nonprofit has also raised and distributed more than $100,000 to assist local first responders during times of need, which Smith said has been an incredibly rewarding

“They’re underpaid, which we know that’s the case. They’re underappreciated. They’re overworked, and the vast majority of them are good folks,” Smith said. “They just want to help, serve and protect … people. That’s why they do this because they certainly don’t do it for the money.”

Jim Robbins, fire services coordinator for Lowndes County, said having the chance to hear about Zorovic’s experiences was eye opening.

“You watch so many documentaries and you get a certain amount of feel from it, but it’s not like hearing somebody that was actually there working it,” Robbins said. “And I was very impressed with him and the courage that he has, and the rest of the responders. But he has an amazing testimony, amazing story. …. (We) were just absolutely glued to every word he was saying, and just to hear him share that experience of the worst tragedy in American history, … it was a really moving experience.”

Zorovic said he finds it helpful to speak with others about his experience during and after the 9/11 attacks, so he doesn’t have to carry the memories alone. He hopes other first responders learn a similar lesson about dealing with their own career-related trauma and encourages them to be open to accepting help.

“People don’t realize the sacrifices that are made because first responders see the ugly. They don’t see much good,” Zorovic said. “ … First responders (need to) appreciate the help that’s out there. It’s a working relationship. Show people who you are, what you are and don’t be afraid to accept some help sometime because that’s going to get you through some bad times.”

PODCAST

Between the Headlines: Listen to Mario Zorovic share his first-hand account of 9/11 on our podcast at cdispatch.com/podcast