Days before the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, first responders in Orange came together to honor and remember.

Turnout gear laid at the base of a memorial as members of the Orange Volunteer Fire Department honored firefighters and first responders who died in the attacks.

The department says over 400 firefighters, EMS workers, and law enforcement personnel were killed during the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Since that day, fire officials say about 450 firefighters have died due to 9/11-related illnesses, while others continue to be ill from attack-related ailments.

"I'm working with a lot of young, eager, excellent firefighters... but they weren't even around in 2001," firefighter Doug Fenichel says. "It's important they remember and understand that they have a connection to what happened on that day, and we can never forget those people."

Although 25 years have passed, the message remains clear.

"We didn't forget those lives lost," Chief Vaughan Dumas says. "Not only the lives lost, but those who are suffering now from illnesses, and not only that, but the people who have lost somebody and are enduring that pain of remembering this day and what they lost on this day."