Equine veterinarian Jim Hamilton is like the rest of us in that he can remember ­exactly where he was at 9 a.m. on Sept. 11, 2001: driving down Valley View on his way to a vet call.

But unlike most of us, Hamilton knew only a few hours later that he’d be an integral part of the search and rescue operation at the World Trade Center, which would ultimately be known as ground zero.

Hamilton, a partner in Southern Pines Equine Associates with fellow veterinarian Tom Daniel, has been involved in disaster response as one of the American Veterinary Medical Association’s (AVMA) veterinary medical assistance team leaders since 1995. His first major ­deployment as a VMAT leader came in 1999 in the aftermath of Hurricane Floyd, where he and several other ­veterinarians traveled from county to county throughout the state assessing and treating animals in shelters, ­clinics and stockyards.

On the morning of the 9/11 attacks, Hamilton was listening to NPR when news of the first airplane hitting the North tower broke.

“I hadn’t even reached the end of Valley View yet,” Hamilton said. “I can remember them breaking in and saying something strange had happened. That’s where I was.”

Seven days later, Hamilton was at ground zero leading a team of ­veterinarians charged with providing around-the-clock care for the search and rescue (and eventually, cadaver) dogs that had been brought in to work the site.

Hamilton spent three-and-a-half weeks with the dogs at ground zero, and was overwhelmed by the energy and focus they brought to their mission.

“There were so many dogs that made an impression, to be truthful,” Hamilton said last week. “They’re on it. They know exactly what to do. You’re incredibly impressed by their professionalism. I don’t know what other word to use.”

Last weekend, Hamilton was in New York City for the 10th ­anniversary of 9/11, and took part in a ceremony across the Hudson River at Liberty State Park in Jersey City, N.J., honoring the surviving rescue dogs. Hamilton said “close to 50” dogs came to New York for the ­tribute.

“At the peak of the rescue and recovery, we had 300 dogs working the pile,” Hamilton recalled.

In addition to the canine rescue squads overseen by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), several New York and New Jersey dog teams took part in the recovery effort. By the night of 9/11, 10 canine teams were already in place awaiting orders at a staging area in a hangar at La Guardia Airport.

“The federal government is pretty amazing when it decides to do ­something,” Hamilton said. “Thank goodness this country doesn’t have to ramp up that kind of response very often.”

Hamilton and his team operated out of two main locations during the search and rescue operation.

“We set up an actual clinic at the Javits Center on the West Side so dogs could come and be seen for any kind of problem,” Hamilton said. “We also had a de-contamination station on the edge of ground zero.

“As the dogs came off the pile when their shift was over, they were given a physical exam and an elaborate bath with some pretty stringent chemicals to get rid of the bad stuff in the air.”

Additionally, two Gators — with a veterinarian and veterinary technician in each — patrolled the area watching the dogs for signs of injury or fatigue.

“They were basically like mobile triage units,” Hamilton said. “The fatigue level for the humans was huge. People were incredibly stressed. Some just fell apart.”

The dogs worked in three-hour shifts, and most rested for an hour before returning for another shift. No dog worked more than two three-hour shifts a day.

Besides their mission at ground zero, a large number of cadaver dogs were transported to the 2,200-acre Fresh Kills landfill on Staten Island.

“People wanted remains of their loved ones,” Hamilton said. “The dogs train for just this type of recovery and they know what they have to do.”

Dr. Cynthia Otto, an associate ­professor of critical care at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, began taking blood samples from the 9/11 dogs immediately after the recovery effort to measure the long-term impact of the rescue mission on their health.

Surprisingly, while many of the human relief workers stationed at ground zero, the Pentagon and Fresh Kills have developed respiratory problems in the past 10 years, the search and rescue dogs displayed no such problems with their lungs or sinuses compared with a control ground of non-deployed search and rescue dogs.

Otto’s study also found that the deployed dogs lived an average of 12.5 years, while the non-deployed dogs lived an average 11.8 years.

Being back in New York with his fellow recovery workers — two-legged and four-legged — was a ­moving experience for Hamilton.

“Obviously, it’s been 10 years, so most of the dogs aren’t alive anymore,” Hamilton said. “A lot of the people, quite honestly, hadn’t seen one another since 9/11. It’s incredibly difficult to put your mind in that place again without becoming ­emotional.”

Contact Stephanie Diaz at MediaPlan88@aol.com.