Tuesday, September 10, 2024
Year : 2, Issue: 36
Illnesses linked to the September 11 terror attack on the World Trade Center have now killed more members of the New York City Fire Department than were killed on the day of the attack itself. “Those insurmountable losses did not end at the World Trade Center site,” Fire Commissioner Robert Tucker said Monday. “Instead, we have seen our members become sick because of time they spent working in the rescue and recovery.”
There were 343 members of the FDNY that died on 9/11. In the 23 year since, more than 370 have died of World Trade Center-related illnesses, the department said.There were 28 deaths since last year’s anniversary of 9/11, according to the FDNY Uniformed Firefighters Association.
“Just because you’re alive doesn’t mean you’re living and these people are suffering every day, just trying to stay alive,” said president of the FDNY Uniformed Fire Officers Association Lt. Jim Brosi.
The most recent firefighter diagnosed with a 9/11-related cancer was in his early 50s, active and healthy and less than a year ago he was full-duty riding on a fire truck. He was buried on Saturday — yet first responders and survivors find themselves once again, fighting for federal funding. Congressmember Dan Goldman is among the bipartisan coalition of elected officials pushing legislation that would make funding for the World Trade Center Health Program permanent. Least year Congress had to pass a $676 million stop gap measure to make up for the shortfall. Of the 2,753 people killed at the World Trade Center 1,103 – about 40% — remain formally unidentified. There has not been a new identification of 9/11 remains since January.
Source: ABC7 News
