Recalling the aftermath in a 1999 interview for The Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum, Hansen said the department tried hard to push as much information along as it could.

"He personified the Oklahoma Standard before we had even put a name to it," she said.

"It really did tell the world that despite this tragedy Oklahoma could get through it and really be whole again, and Jon was a big part of that," he said.

"You know one of the main reasons we wanted to do that is to let people know that we were going to win this," he said. "We had some of our precious citizens perish in this, and so many more that had become injured, that we, as Oklahomans and the rest of this country, want to send a message to people outside... to the terrorists, that they could certainly wound us but they weren't going to beat us. And each day we got closer to recovering all of our citizens out of that building, was to let people know that you can certainly wound us but you are not going to defeat us."

Before his retirement, Hansen's own house was hit by the deadly May 3, 1999 tornado that hit Moore and south Oklahoma City. Hansen worked throughout the night and for days that followed providing updates to the local and national media.

After his retirement in July 1999 after 26 years with the department, Hansen continued to serve the fire service in various capacities. He was executive director of Oklahoma's Council of Firefighter Training at the time of his death.

Hansen wrote "Oklahoma Rescue," his memoirs of the event, while off duty. It was published just over two months after the bombing.