IT is hard to imagine that a year has passed since America experienced its worst terrorist attack.

But for a Bispham fireman, September 11 will always be a haunting reminder of the day he lost many of his firefighting pals across the Atlantic.

Lancashire Fire and Rescue firefighter Gary Collins was a regular visitor to the USA where he worked alongside his American counterparts in New York.

Little could he have known that when he said goodbye to his 'brothers' after his last trip two years ago he would never see many of them alive again.

"I knew many of the 343 firefighters who died, including fire chief Pete Ganci who was a really nice bloke. He was fire chief to 12,000 in the organisation but was still one of the lads. Our own assistant chief fire officer John Williamson knew him very well."

For assistant divisional officer Gary, 36, the fateful day last year was just like any other shift at Preston Fire Station, where he is station officer for fire safety.

But it soon turned into a nightmare as Gary and his colleagues watched the horrific scenes unfolding in America after two hijacked passenger jets were slammed into the twin towers of the World Trade Centre.

A third hijacked plane flew head-on into the Pentagon while a fourth aircraft crashed in Pennsylvania killing all those on board.

"I just couldn't believe it," said Gary, who lives with wife Joanne and children Ashleigh, 10, and Joseph, three. "I just cried," said Gary. "It was awful. A very sad time."

Soon afterwards Gary flew to New York to pay his respects to his fallen firefighting pals.

Gary said: "Although the whole department was in turmoil they welcomed me with open arms.

"When I went to Ground Zero they were still pulling out bodies.

"It just looked like a construction site.

Everything had been reduced to dust and rubble."

Despite feeling loss for his firefighting friends in the New York Gary remains humbled by the 'fighting talk' of the emergency service. "There are so many people who have lost fathers, brothers and so on," said Gary, who has worked at both Bispham and Blackpool fire stations during his 12-year career. "Generations of families gone.

"But after all this the firefighters have this commendable 'we'll be back' attitude. They'll say, 'we've taken a knock but we'll come through it' -- that is the spirit of the New York fire service."

Later this year Gary plans to return to New York to visit his friends once more.