Courtesy of The New York Post

A symbol of hope has emerged from the rubble at Ground Zero.

A ladder truck that was burned and battered in the Sept. 11 attacks went back into service yesterday at Ladder Co. 9 in the East Village.

And the Virginia workers who brought the truck back to life were on hand to show their common bond with the firefighters of Ladder 9, which lost 10 members in the tragedy.

The truck is "a symbol of hope, a sign that things can get better, a sign that things can change," said Tom Grein, general manger of Seagrave Fire Apparatus, which makes FDNY firetrucks and rebuilt the vehicle.

When the ladder truck was pulled from the rubble, its cab was badly burned and the rest badly dented. It was also covered with dust.

It was sent to the company's Aerialscope subsidiary in Richmond, Va., where 16 employees brought it back to life - cleaning it, placing it on a new chassis, doing extensive body work and giving it a new paint job.

During the work, employees found a wallet that turned out to belong to a firefighter who survived the attack.

"Rebuilding this truck was very important to all of us. We're all very proud that we could give back to the city and make everything a little less worse," said production manager Mike Wallo. "We put in extra time and put in that extra bit of quality. We are bubbling over with pride."