Paul Gill was last seen helping evacuate a hotel near the World Trade Center during the Sept. 11 attacks. But the New York City firefighter’s body was never recovered in the aftermath of the attacks.

Jeremy Ranch resident Michelle Spencer worked as a supervisor for US Airways at an airport in Charlotte, N.C., the day four commercial jetliners crashed into the Twin Towers, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania.

Today, more than seven years after the attacks, Spencer’s black Canadian Labrador puppy bears Gill’s name in honor of the 34-year-old fallen firefighter. The dog belonged to a program in San Antonio, Texas, which trains puppies to become bomb-sniffing dogs for the Transportation Security Administration. Spencer adopted Gill when a slot wasn’t available for the pup on TSA’s National Explosives Detection Canine Team.

“They hardly ever have puppies that become available. But they had such a large litter this year, and little Gill was the last puppy born,” said Spencer, who is 60 years old. “They just didn’t have a spot for her and they decided to give her up for adoption.”

TSA dogs share names with victims of 9/11, said Spencer, who works at the agency as a customer liaison at Salt Lake International Airport.

“In honor of all the victims, they have a big bin and they literally pull a name out when the puppies are born. Originally, I was going to change her name. I didn’t realize the connection,” Spencer said. “Now she’s just our little Gill.”

Meanwhile, Spencer recalled the mood of would-be passengers at the airport the day the planes crashed.

“It devastated the airlines. Planes were not where they were supposed to be. Crews were not where they were supposed to be,” she said. “People were glued to CNN. The airport was packed and it was sort of an eerie silence. It was quite an experience.”

She was chatting on the phone with a colleague when the first plane hit.

“We immediately worried that it was one of our planes, so I called my tower. I was actually one of the first people who knew about it, and have a personal experience of working that day,” Spencer said.

TSA was born from those attacks, she explained.

“They realized that we had to step up our security,” Spencer said. “I took an early retirement from US Airways and went over to work for TSA because I had a passion for it and I wanted to be a part of securing the nation and making it safe to fly.”

After receiving the puppy, Spencer said she reached Paul Gill’s stepmother via the Internet to tell her about the adoption.

“Paul loved dogs and he loved to go hiking in the mountains. She said that Paul’s spirit is living with little Gill,” Spencer said. “She felt like this is a connection; this is Paul connecting back to the world.”

When the dog gets older the firefighter’s family may visit Park City.

“Our relationship has really been about honoring Paul’s life through this little dog,” Spencer said. “Gill will always carry his name proudly and hopefully remind people and represent Paul Gill.”

Her husband, John Spencer, said Gill’s stepmother was thrilled that her stepson’s name lives on.

“Paul apparently was a real outdoors kind of guy,” said John Spencer, who is 65 years old.

Today, the puppy hikes alongside his new owners who snowshoe daily on trails in Jeremy Ranch.

“We knew that this was where we wanted to end up,” said Michelle, who moved with her husband to the Park City area four years ago. “We didn’t know how we were going to get here, but some day we would come here.”