The Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks are still exacting a devastating toll on the FDNY, with more members now dead from World Trade Center-related illnesses than perished on that day itself, advocates said Wednesday.
Fire department union leaders and supporters gathered to mark the recent release of 170,000 documents about air quality and the aftermath of 9/11 – and to highlight that dark day’s lingering impact 25 years later.
Firefighters on Tuesday buried the 453rd FDNY member to die of a 9/11-related illness, surpassing the 343 members who made the ultimate sacrifice on the day itself, said Robert Eustace, president of the FDNY Uniformed Firefighters Association.
“For the FDNY, Sept. 11 did not end on Sept. 11,” he said.
“There are firefighters who cannot make it up the stairs without losing their breath,” he said.
“It’s a member who sits with chemotherapy. It’s a widow who has to explain to her children that their father is not coming home. The retiree who survived 9/11 only to find out, years later, that the dust he breathed in is still killing him,” Eustace said. “That’s why today matters.”
