FIREFIGHTERS stood in silence outside York fire station today - exactly 20 years after the start of the 9/11 terrorist attack in America.

The blue watch crew - watch manager Norman Denton and firefighters Metcalfe, Allanson and Barlow - stood for one minute at 1.46pm, the time when the first hijacked plane crashed into one of the twin towers in New York.

They stood to attention outside the station in Kent Street in memory of the 2,977 innocent people who died in the attacks by Islamist extremists on New York and Washington, including 344 firefighters.

Within seconds of them ending the silence, the crew was called out to a house fire in Chesney Fields, Foxwood.

A North Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service spokeswoman said a grill pan fire was out on crew's arrival, but they assisted with ventilation.

She said crews at stations elsewhere in the county, such as the one in Northallerton, also took part in the same minute's silence.