A Maui Fire Department training captain and a Honolulu Emergency Medical Services assistant chief will represent Hawai'i alongside first responders from every state during a Sept. 11 memorial ceremony in New York on Sunday.

The event, hosted by New York Gov. George Pataki, will honor first responders for the strength and courage they exemplify every day, particularly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Capt. Mark Paranada, of the Training Bureau of Maui County's Department of Fire and Public Safety, has served as a fire captain, rescue fire captain and assistant fire chief during his 31-year career.

Donnie Gates, assistant chief of operations at EMS, is the only paramedic to achieve 40 years of service in Honolulu, serving as an ambulance driver, emergency medical technician, unit supervisor and field operations supervisor.

In a ceremony at the State Capitol yesterday, Gov. Linda Lingle honored Paranada and Gates along with four other nominees, praising the first response community for its service to Hawai'i.

"All of you who were nominated are true heroes in our book," Lingle said. "We value what you do, we thank you for your service day in and day out, and being willing every day to walk out not knowing what the day holds for you."

While Lingle acknowledged that returning to memories of Sept. 11 can be painful, the remembrance "also gives us a unique opportunity — one we don't get often enough, and one we don't exercise often enough — to thank the men and women who run toward a disaster and not away from it, who will risk their lives to save the life of another person."

Paranada acknowledged team members, chiefs and others who keep the first responder system functional.

"It is going to be with a bittersweet experience that I represent the state of Hawai'i at this luncheon," he said. "After all, I'm an individual."

Said Gates: "I go with a good heart, as everyone in Hawai'i has. We'll do our best to show people in New York and in the world what a great bunch of people we are here, and how much we love and we appreciate what everybody's done."

In honor of those who died in the Sept. 11 attacks, Lingle has proclaimed Sept. 11, 2006 Patriot Day in Hawai'i and ordered state flags to be flown at half-staff alongside the U.S. flag from sunrise to sunset. Hawai'i also will participate in a nationwide moment of silence at 8:46 a.m. on Monday, the moment the North Tower of the World Trade Center was struck by a hijacked passenger jet.