New York Fire Department Deputy Chief Richard Alles was the keynote speaker at South King Fire and Rescue’s Sept. 11 memorial ceremony. Alles’ remarks, edited for spelling, punctuation, grammar and length, appear here with permission.
Today I’d like share my Sept. 11 remembrances and also tell the story of the good, the bad, and the ugly of Sept. 11. If that sounds like the title of a famous Clint Eastwood movie, you’re right.
I’d like to delve first into the bad, move on to the ugly, and close out with the good. I’m sure you’re all wondering, “What good could possibly come from such a devastating day for the fire service as well as for the American people?”
On Sept. 11, 2001, I was a battalion chief assigned to Battalion 58. My office was located in Canarsie Brooklyn, in the FDNY’s busy Division 15. At the time of the first plane striking the first tower, I was in my office finishing up paperwork after a 24-hour shift.
By the time of the second plane strike, when a terrorist attack was now confirmed, I was in the process of mustering up with fellow 15th Division members. FDNY had issued a total recall of the department.
While on a bus in transit to Ground Zero, we were already aware of the first collapse. While en route, we were informed of the second collapse.
It’s truly difficult to comprehend such a cataclysmic event and to try to grasp the fact that we had just lost a sizable number of hard-working Americans, as well as a sizable number of first responder rescuers. In all, the attack in New York alone claimed 2,753 victims. Included in that total are 343 members of the New York City Fire Department and 23 members of New York law enforcement agencies.
When our bus arrived on the scene, my mind was not able to grasp the magnitude of what had happened, even though I was physically on site. My visual is perhaps what you may recall from footage of the London bombings during World War II.
There was an eerie quiet, and the air was heavy with particulate debris that continued to swirl throughout the day like a snowstorm that wouldn’t end.
My principal assignments were supervisory duties in the various rescue locations the Command Post had determined were most promising. It’s indescribable. You’re just hoping, at some point, you’re going to find somebody. Being involved with hundreds of firefighters searching the vast wreckage.
Twenty people would be found alive in the rubble, the last one on Sept. 12. I think I was fooling myself into believing we’d find many more, but in looking back, what the heck was I thinking? There was nothing left. Everything was pulverized. Where could anyone possibly be?
A few weeks after Sept. 11, as I supervised operations in various sectors of Ground Zero, there was no longer any energy. That moment of clarity, when we all realized that it was over; that the hope was gone. We weren’t going to bring out anyone else. It kind of switched to a recovery mission at that point. The largest search-and-recovery mission in our nation’s history.
The FDNY, knowing the toll the work was taking on us all, began rotating us on a monthly basis at that point. My last monthly detail was in an unusually warm March in 2002, a month in which we made 80 recoveries. Gruesome work indeed, but providing some comfort to the families of our comrades in the form of closure for having found something remaining of their loved one… Many families went without that simple comfort. We were not able to account for everyone.
We concluded operations in May 2002, after a total of nine months. All the while attending numerous line-of-duty funerals for those we found and memorial services for those we did not.
And here lies the bad. Having attended many of these services, we frequently had elected officials from not only New York but from around the country attend and speak their words. Unfortunately, words do not walk a daughter down the aisle on her wedding day when her dad is no longer here. Words do not teach a boy how to hit a curveball when his dad is no longer here. Words do not console a child whose mom is no longer here to lend her nurturing shoulder.
“Never forget” is an expression I heard time and time again. But forget they did when a few years later we began our quest for passage of the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act. When the 9/11 tragedy struck, the people of our country could not fathom the repercussions that would follow and linger 15 years later. Thousands of responders who sifted through the destruction continue to struggle with the horrors they witnessed.
These same brave men and women are now fighting for their lives as they battle illnesses directly related to their call of duty on 9/11. They stepped up to do a job they were hired to do despite the loss of family, friends and colleagues, and without knowing who or what they would find.
When the attacks occurred, toxic materials were released into the air and were immediately breathed in by first responders.
In the days and months after the attack, responders ingested and inhaled minuscule particles of fine dust that was a mixture of cement, glass, fibers, plastics, asbestos, chemicals and heavy metals like lead and mercury. As a result, many dedicated workers who worked around the clock are suffering from terminal diseases such as cancer and conditions like asbestosis, upper and lower respiratory problems, and a host of other ailments too numerous to list today.
Additionally, many responders struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental health issues. So our fight for the 9/11 Health bill – which was truly national legislation that involved first responders from 433 of the 435 congressional districts across all 50 states – began in 2002.
What should have been an easy task took us eight years of battling many of the same elected representatives who wrap themselves in the American flag each Sept. 11. That historic legislation would not be signed into law until January 2011. The name James Zadroga in the “James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act” comes from New York City police officer James Zadroga, the first confirmed 9/11-related death.
The legislation, however, was shrouded in compromise and originally set to last only five years. I wasn’t worried about renewal then because I knew the numbers of sick and dying members would be so enormous that renewal would be easily obtained. How wrong I was!
The “ugly” reality lies in the numbers. Nationwide: registered in the Health Program are more than 72,000 people. Nationwide: there are over 33,000 responders and survivors that have at least one 9/11 condition, and over two-thirds have more than one condition, and a large number of those suffer from multiple injuries and illnesses. Over 2,000 active-duty FDNY personnel and over 550 NYPD personnel have had to retire due to disabling 9/11 injuries. 10,218 unique FDNY responders have at least one certified WTC-related health condition, representing roughly two-thirds of our FDNY WTC responders. Nationwide: 5,441 responders and survivors have been certified with a 9/11-related cancer. FDNY: 1,346 members with 9/11-related cancer.
Luckily, we began lobbying Congress a good two years before expiration. We needed every bit of that time to gain passage of its re-authorization in December 2015.
It has always been my opinion that “good” triumphs over evil, and I believe that that is what should be the prevailing theme of any 9/11 remembrance. My journey over these last 15 years has exposed me to tremendous exhibits of courage. To the tremendous exhibition of brotherhood in the fire service.
It is a legacy of fearlessness, patriotism and faith, wrapped now in 15 years of reflection, as we continue to seek understanding of America’s most tragic day.
I have had the honor of escorting various sick members to meetings in Washington for them to tell their story. And aside from their unbelievable courage, their main concern was never for themselves, but only for their families and for those members who, unfortunately, will follow in their footsteps.
People like FDNY Lt. Marty Fullam, who spent years with me fighting to obtain benefits for our sickened 9/11 workers. Lt. Fullam was a 24-year veteran. He was off-duty the morning of Sept. 11, but he reported to the scene of the attacks and sifted through rubble, often with only a paper mask for protection.
In 2005 he was admitted to the hospital with severe muscle aches. His lung capacity had dipped to 50 percent. Within weeks, he lost 60 pounds from polymyocitis, an autoimmune disease, and he couldn’t even sit in bed.
In March 2009, after his lung capacity sank another 30 percent, he received a lung transplant. But his body had trouble accepting it; afterward, he had to take 40 pills a day.
Despite this, Marty and his wife, Trish, came with me to Washington, DC, several times in 2010, against the advice of his doctors, to lobby and testify at Senate and congressional hearings.
In one memorable Senate hearing, a particularly unsympathetic senator (who shall remain nameless), who would always ask tough questions in a condescending tone to those testifying, had nothing to say after Lt. Fullam had finished.
Lt. Fullam passed away in January 2013 at the age of 56, two years after passage of the legislation, leaving behind a wife and three daughters. I was at his bedside, and he died a contented man knowing he had done his duty to the very end. He refused to allow me to call him a hero.
Well, today I revoke that pledge and declare that, Marty, you are a true American hero!
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Memorials and monuments to our losses continue to be built across the country. This outpouring of commemoration, not just in metal and stone but in solemn ceremonies and prayer vigils, stair-climbs, and other events, is so important to the American spirit. It is a source of comfort for those who lost loved ones and shows that the nation truly remembers those who lost their lives.
Our members’ response from across our nation on that horrific day showed the hallmark of our profession’s heroism, bravery and dedication. To paraphrase Abraham Lincoln, “With malice toward none, with charity for all.”
Let us strive on to continue the work we are in, to bind up the wounds of fire departments everywhere, as we all suffered a great loss on Sept. 11 and bear the scars on our souls and hearts.
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“Lord, take me where you want me to go, let me meet who you want me to meet, tell me what you want me to say, and keep me out of your way.”
God bless the fire service, God bless the great state of Washington, and God bless America!
