HARRISBURG, Pa. -- With tears in his eyes and a defiant set to his jaw, Gov. Tom Ridge promised to send firefighters, search-and-rescue personnel and as much blood as Pennsylvanians could donate to aid the victims of Tuesday's terrorist attacks.
Ridge, who flew by state police helicopter from Erie to Harrisburg on Tuesday morning after learning of the attacks, spoke briefly to reporters at the state's Emergency Operations Center before flying to the site of a jetliner crash in Somerset County.
Ridge, who was visibly shaken during his appearance in Harrisburg, called the attacks the "most brutal act of terrorism" in mankind's history and urged Pennsylvanians to help their neighbors in New York and Virginia by donating blood.
He said he spoke earlier Tuesday with Govs. George Pataki of New York and James S. Gilmore of Virginia, and promised to send aid. He said one search-and-rescue team from Pennsylvania already has been dispatched to New York to help with the rescue effort there.
He also sent 100 state troopers to Shanksville, where an apparently hijacked United Airlines Flight 93 crashed about 10 a.m. Tuesday with 45 people aboard.
Ridge told reporters he had little information about the crash of the Boeing 757 and said there was little he could do at the scene, other than offer encouragement to investigators.
Ridge also said measures are being taken to protect possible targets in Pennsylvania.
He ordered all nonessential state employees to go home at 10:45 a.m. Tuesday, closed state buildings and dispatched state troopers to the state's five nuclear power plants to provide extra security.
"I don't think anybody ever anticipated terror would strike this country ... this is something you thought you might read about in a novel, or see on video," he said.
Ridge ordered all nonessential state employees to go home at 10:45 a.m. Tuesday, closed state buildings and dispatched state troopers to the state's five nuclear power plants to provide extra security.
On Tuesday night, he said that state offices would reopen Wednesday morning.
The governor also signed an emergency disaster declaration Tuesday evening to speed the flow of state money to affected communities in Somerset County and to state civil-defense authorities. It also makes available additional resources to the state police and the Pennsylvania National Guard.
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published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
