Recollections of a scene of horror, the clear ring of a bell, a young girl and her father helping to plant a tree, strangers holding hands in silence — all moments from Friday's remembrances held across the Salt Lake Valley honoring the 9/11 tragedies of eight years ago.

Residents and firefighters gathered in Magna at the start of the day to share memories and honor the thousands who perished in the attacks with the promise to never forget.

Magna Community Council President Dan Peay ceremonially rang a bell at 8:46 a.m. to mark the moment that American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the World Trade Center's North Tower. Three more rings followed, each marking the subsequent plane crashes on a day of attacks that led to the deaths of almost 3,000 people.

Michael Jensen, a Salt Lake County councilman and deputy chief of the Unified Fire Authority, spoke briefly to the 40 or so people gathered at the west-side community's Veteran's Memorial Park. Jensen, along with a team of about 70 firefighters and support personnel from the UFA and Salt Lake City Fire Department, were in New York City at the scene of the collapsed towers just a week after the attacks aiding in the recovery effort. Jensen said he is still haunted by memories of the grisly task.

"Think about two buildings that size coming down … all the furniture, all the materials inside … what was left just looked like mulch," he said. "We didn't find any bodies intact … I still have bad dreams about them."

Although most of the deaths that day were civilian passengers on the planes and workers at the two office buildings and the Pentagon, almost 350 of those who died were emergency responders engaged in the job they were tasked with — working to save lives. Jensen, a career firefighter and paramedic, said decisions were made that day of an almost unthinkable nature.

"The incident commanders knew they were probably sending people in to die," he said. "And most of the guys going in knew the towers were going to come down, but they still went in."

Later Friday morning, another gathering remembered the lives lost with an act of nurturing new beginnings.

A perimeter of new trees was planted around a new playground constructed by community members at the site of the new Salt Lake County Northwest Recreation Center. The tree planting, conducted by newly launched chapters of community group TreeUtah, was part of an inaugural 9/11 Day of Service and Remembrance. The national day of service is part of the ServeAmerica Act, which was co-sponsored by the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass. and Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch. Sharon Garn, a spokeswoman for Hatch, read a statement from the senator, praising the work at the park.