WRAL's security officer reflects on working as a first responder on 9/11: 'It wasn't fixable'

"I was in shock," said Darryl Davis, as he recalled looking out at the smoke billowing from the Twin Towers.

"The cloud was completely over Long Island."

Davis, who works today as WRAL's Senior Security Officer, was a police officer in New Rochelle, New York, on Sept. 11, 2001.

When the first plane hit the Twin Towers, Americans were unclear if the crash was an accident or an intentional terrorist attack.

Despite the shock and confusion, Davis and his fellow officers tried to help in any way they could. They went to Costco and asked for supplies for those who would ultimately work in the response at what became Ground Zero.

"We need water, gloves, socks, boots ... in 20 minutes we had this big box truck full," he said.

They arrived to the site of the attack and opened up the truck.

"The buildings were down by then," he said. "It was a pile of dust."

Davis said it was difficult for him to wrap his head around what he was seeing. He and his colleagues went down to Lower Manhattan, where people were climbing out of the rubble in shock.

"I never remember a day so clear. You could see so sharply downtown and that smoke coming off those buildings," he said.

In a field of concrete, rebar, dust and confusion, Davis found himself looking for a way to make things right.

"My head was still around the theory that this is fixable. Clearly, it wasn't fixable," he said.

Davis didn't know any of the first responders who died that day.

In total, more than 400 first responders died — 343 firefighters, 37 port authority officers, 23 police officers, 8 medical technicians and a member of New York's fire patrol.