Twenty-five years after the Sept. 11 attacks, communities across South Dade are preparing to pause and remember. Observances are planned at Homestead Air Reserve Base, South Dade Senior High School, Butterfly Cooperative School and Miami Dade College's Kendall Campus, in a community shaped by military service and first responders. The anniversary also carries a local connection through Florida Task Force 1, the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue team that deployed to Ground Zero.

Urban Search and Rescue Florida Task Force 1 (FL-TF1) and Florida Task Force 2 (FL-TF2) returned to Miami International Airport after a weeklo…