Changed by 9/11: Louie Varrialle

Louie Varrialle was working for the Town of Smithtown at the Highway Department on the day that forever changed our country and way of life.  

The lifelong Kings Park resident said the first report he heard from his dispatcher was that one of the twin towers was on fire, that it had been hit by a plane.  Like so many other people, he thought perhaps the plane crash had been an accident. 

"After the second plane hit, the town closed down as most governmental agencies had. I was back home before 11 a.m."

Varrialle, father of three and soon-to-be grandfather of two said he found a tremendous reverence for firefighters and police officers after that day.

"When everyone else was running out of the building, those firefighters were running in."

He believes 9/11 has changed him personally and has given him a far greater respect for individual lives and the impact one life can have.

"It is hard for me to believe that 10 years have passed since the attacks. 9/11 has changed all of our lives. We always have to be on the defensive as a nation, at the train stations, at the airports and at our various ports," he said.