September 11 in New York: A day for firefighters
By Morgan Sweeney
The Center Square
Sept. 11, 2001, marked the largest loss of firefighter life in a single incident in recorded history.
The New York City Fire Department lost 340 firefighters and fire officers, two paramedics and Chaplain Father Mychal Judge on the day of the attacks.
Some of the firefighters killed had just completed their training and were called to duty a day early because of the attacks.
The losses reached every level of the department, FDNY Chief of Department John Esposito recalled at a 2024 commemoration.
“Twenty-three years ago, the lives of everybody in this department, both uniform and civilian, changed forever. All ranks suffered losses. We lost our first deputy commissioner; we lost our chief of department; we lost probies on their first day in the firehouse. We lost fathers and sons, and we lost entire companies,” Esposito said.
There were many events throughout the week leading up to the 25th anniversary of 9/11 honoring the fallen firefighters, and those continued on the anniversary itself. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani participated in a wreath laying event at the Firemen’s Memorial in Manhattan and the New York City Fire Museum hosted its own preceding other commemorative events that carried on into the afternoon.
The museum includes a 9/11 exhibit that was open to the public until 5 p.m. Friday. It includes an art installation featuring tiles with the names and images of each firefighter, as well as some firemen’s tools recovered from the wreckage.
Judge’s fire jacket is the only one displayed in the exhibit, his name emblazoned across the back. Judge was the first officially recorded victim of the Sept. 11 attacks, designated Victim 0001 by the New York City medical examiner’s office.
A first responder whose name is not included among the 343 but some argue should be is 27-year-old Keith Roma. Roma was a patrolman for the New York Fire Patrol — an organization that was disbanded in 2006 but used to work alongside the fire department to help protect and salvage property from fire damage — who nonetheless gave his life to save victims of the terrorist attacks.
The museum is also hosting a special six-month 25th anniversary exhibition called Ground Zero 360 Remembrance that includes a collection of international contemporary art honoring the victims, survivors and first responders of 9/11.
New York pubs are particularly packed with firefighters and first responders on 9/11. Firefighters notoriously toast the fallen at 3:43 p.m. at a local pub. Wendy Lanski, a 9/11 survivor who spoke to The Center Square Friday, had stepped outside O’Hara’s, a pub that was salvaged from the wreckage of 9/11 and has become a favorite for first responders, said the evening was “like New Orleans and St. Patrick’s Day all rolled into one.”
“The only time you can drink in the street in New York is 9/11 because no one's gonna stop you,” Lanski said.