Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick said what happened at Logan Airport today was "just dumb."
On the 12th anniversary of Sept. 11, Logan officials OK'd a fire drill that included flames and thick black smoke. Remember, two of the planes used in the terrorist attacks took off from Logan. Peter Wilson of WBZ-TV tweeted this picture of drill:
Questionable timing? Logan has airfield training today, surprising those seeing smoke pour from airport on 9/11 #wbz pic.twitter.com/NhxSE5ziw1
— Peter Wilson (@PetesWire) September 11, 2013
The Boston Globe reports that Twitter and the airport's Facebook page erupted with complaints about the drill — "you should be ashamed of yourself," wrote one user — the airport apologized.
"Massport apologizes for conducting the fire training exercise and understands that it may have offended many of those touched by the events of Sept. 11," the airport said in a post on Facebook. "Safety and security is our top priority and constant vigilance and readiness is critical, but the exercise should not have taken place on the anniversary of 9/11."
The Globe adds that the attacks of Sept. 11 "claimed the lives of 206 people with ties to Massachusetts."
Gov. Patrick told My Fox Boston that he did not know about the drill.
"It's just dumb," he said. "The timing could not be worse. I know and have a tremendous amount of confidence in the leadership at Massport and I have to believe that they just didn't catch this and to people who experienced 9/11, many of whom work at Massport, I just feel so sorry."
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