WESTBROOK – Ten years ago, Christopher Shepard began work at the Westbrook Fire Department as a full-time call firefighter, representing the fourth generation of his family to enter fire services.

His first day on the job was Sept. 10, 2001.

This week, Shepard, now a lieutenant with the department, is preparing to mark two 10th anniversary events that couldn’t be farther away from each other on the emotional spectrum.

Shepard will join other local law enforcement officials – and the nation as a whole – to commemorate the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. In Westbrook, Public Safety Director Michael Pardue said there would be a memorial service at 8:45 a.m. Sunday at the Public Safety Building, along with a moment of silence.

In addition, he said, five members of the Westbrook Police Honor Guard will be going to a regional memorial event in Freeport, while a number of Westbrook firefighters will be attending a similar event in Portland. Also in Portland, the Red Cross will be holding a special blood drive in honor of the Sept. 11 victims, at the relief agency’s 524 Forest Ave. location, from 8 a.m.-2 p.m.

Churches are also reaching out in Westbrook to the community through an ecumenical service at the Westbrook Performing Arts Center. The service, “Forgive and Remember: An Ecumenical Service of Worship on the 10th Anniversary of September 11,” will begin at 10 a.m. Sunday, with a reception to follow.

The service is being organized by six Westbrook congregations: First Baptist Church, Highland Lake Congregational Church, Prides Corner Congregational Church, Trinity Lutheran Church, The Vineyard Church of Greater Portland and Westbrook-Warren Congregational Church.

The Rev. Kelli Whitman, minister of Prides Corner Congregational Church, said the churches are hoping to see about 400 people. The event, she said, is designed to offer comfort, even to people who often don’t go to church.

“I think that anytime something like (Sept. 11) happens, we’re faced with bigger questions than we’re used to,” she said. “I hope this worship service will provide an opportunity for the community to reflect on everything that has happened.”

Like most everyone else who remembers that fateful day, Shepard said this week that he knows where he was and what he was doing when terrorists hijacked four passenger jets and used them to attack the United States.

The day began with Shepard doing a routine equipment check in the fire garage when he and his fellow firefighters began hearing about what at first sounded like a high-rise fire in New York City.

“They called me into the captain’s office and said, ‘Hey, look what’s on TV. FDNY’s got a fire in the tower,’” he recalled.

“FDNY” was a reference to the Fire Department of New York, among the largest in the country, and known as a department that knew how to do things right. For that reason alone, he said, the local fire crew watched.

At first glance, Shepard and his fellow firefighters didn’t understand the magnitude of what was happening. The details of that initial attack were lost amid the confusion, and a second airliner, bound for the second tower, had not struck yet.

“We weren’t sure what was going on, like everyone else,” he said.

Then, he saw it: A second airliner slamming into the second tower and setting it ablaze, too.

“I said, ‘Wow, is this really a terrorist event?’” he said, the realization dawning on him and the other firefighters watching with him.

For Shepard, and most of America, it was a sobering thought, especially when news finally came in that nearly 3,000 people lost their lives that day, among the attacks in New York and Washington, and the failed attack that led to a fourth airliner crashing in Pennsylvania.

Among the dead, Shepard said, were 343 firefighters, many of whom had dashed into the burning buildings to save people – the very thing he had just recently signed up to do himself. It was the kind of thing, he said, that would give anyone pause.

“You always have that in the back of your mind,” he said.

But the attacks did nothing to sway Shepard’s interest in fire services. His great-grandfather, he said, was a fire chief in Connecticut, his grandfather a fire chief in Bridgton, and his father a call firefighter in Windham and Bridgton.

When Shepard was 16 years old, he said, his father talked him into accompanying him on a fire call. There, Shepard witnessed the team at work, the camaraderie among firefighters, and was inspired.

“I got to watch what they do, and I’ve wanted to do it ever since,” he said.

Not even the terrorist attacks, he said, could dampen his firefighter’s spirit.

“It helped strengthen it,” he said.

Today, Shepard still loves his job, and will actually be on duty on Sunday, waiting for a call for help. The sacrifice of the New York firefighters, he said, will likely be in his mind, but not just because they became the victims of the deadliest terrorist attack in history.

He also remembers them, he said, because they were doing a firefighter’s job: rushing into danger in order to save others.

“They did the same thing that we always do,” he said.