09/11/2026
25 years ago today.
On September 12th, 2001, Roy Hervas, owner of Shark Frenzy & Fossil Frenzy, left Illinois in a convoy of 55 other firemen headed for New York City.
There wasn’t much time to plan. The country had just experienced the unimaginable, New York desperately needed help, and they went.
Roy was also a fire photographer, so he brought his camera with him. These are some of the photographs he took at Ground Zero.
For the first few days, protective equipment was extremely limited. They were working in the middle of an emergency unlike anything this country had ever dealt with, with more people arriving to help than there was proper gear immediately available for. Roy and many of the men with him breathed the smoke and dust that hung over Ground Zero while fires were still burning.
When you look at these photos, that part is easy to forget. This wasn’t something photographed weeks later after things had settled down. The smoke you see is the air they were breathing. The destruction in front of the camera is what Roy was standing in front of.
These photographs have been part of our history here for a very long time. Many of our customers know Roy from Shark Frenzy and Fossil Frenzy, but may not know this part of his story.
It’s hard to believe that today marks 25 years.
We remember the 2,977 innocent people who were killed that day. We remember their families. We remember the first responders who ran in, those who came from all over the country in the days afterward, and the thousands who have lived with the effects of what they were exposed to at Ground Zero ever since.
We’re incredibly proud that one of those 56 men who got in that convoy and headed for New York was our own Roy.
And 25 years later, we’re still sharing the photographs he brought home.
Never forget. 🇺🇸❤️