John Taggart was among about a dozen Philadelphia police officers sent to New York City in the aftermath of the attacks.
A former crime scene investigator, Taggart was tasked with documenting the devastation and assisting recovery efforts at ground zero.
Today, his Roxborough home serves as a personal museum dedicated to Sept. 11. Among the items he has preserved are the hard hat he wore at the site, a World Trade Center subway sign and hundreds of photographs he took during the response.
The images document both the scale of the destruction and the police officers and firefighters who worked alongside him in the days that followed.
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Excavation and recovery were the primary missions as responders searched for evidence and human remains.
"You could tell almost immediately," Taggart recalled. "The first time you turned off, I don't know what street it was... you were like, 'There's no one alive.'"
He said the destruction was unlike anything he had ever witnessed.
"I don't remember seeing any glass, any telephones, any computers or anything like that," he said.
Taggart also remembers seeing personal belongings scattered throughout the area.
"There were shoes everywhere," he said.
According to Taggart, his team was among the first law enforcement personnel from outside New York to reach ground zero.
"Apparently, we were the first outsiders to actually get to ground zero, and it was only five of us," he said.
Many of the first responders he worked with in New York have since died from illnesses linked to exposure to dust and debris at the site.
Taggart said one of his biggest concerns is that another tragedy like Sept. 11 could happen again.
"You know it's going to happen again," he said. "It's surprising that it hasn't."
Today, Taggart works for Action News as a weekend overnight assignment editor.
Although he spent 32 years with the Philadelphia Police Department and witnessed countless major incidents, he said nothing compares to the events of Sept. 11, 2001.