The Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY) hired McKinsey & Company, one of the best management consulting firms in the country, in March 2002 to do a five-month study of how the department responded to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the World Trade Center (WTC).
The 133-page report that came out of it said that FDNY workers “facilitated the safe evacuation of [over] 25,000 people,” which made it the biggest rescue operation in US history. It also proved that 343 firefighters “sacrificed their lives” after the terrible terrorist attack “while trying to save others.”
Sadly, FDNY Fire Commissioner Laura Kavanagh recently said in a statement that the number of deaths of FDNY employees since 9/11 reached an all-time high.
Post 9/11 Deaths Reach Somber Milestone
On September 23, Commissioner Kavanagh posted on her X account (which used to be Twitter) that two more FDNY members had died from illnesses linked to the World Trade Center. They were the 342nd and 343rd people to die since the 9/11 attacks, which is very sad. Since it was the 22nd anniversary of that terrible day, she said, their deaths bring the total number of deaths in the department to the same number as those that day.
Since marking the 22nd anniversary of the WTC attacks earlier this month we have experienced the loss of 2 more FDNY members due to WTC illnesses, our 342 and 343 deaths. With these deaths, we have now suffered the same number of deaths post Sept. 11th as we experienced that day. pic.twitter.com/7XI1dwVRRc
— Commissioner Laura Kavanagh (@FDNYFC) September 23, 2023
Kavanagh said that people in the city government and the FDNY had “long known this day was coming.” Nevertheless, she said that learning that the department had seen the same number of deaths as it did 22 years ago was still “amazing.”
The commissioner said that Hilda Vannata, an emergency medical technician, died on September 20 after a long fight with cancer. She also revealed that three days later, retired firefighter Robert Fulco died of pulmonary fibrosis. Kavanaugh stated that both of the firefighters who died were sick because they worked so hard to save people at the World Trade Center.
This past weekend, FF Robert Fulco of E250 in Brooklyn became the 343rd member of the department to succumb to WTC Illness.
— FDNY UFA (@UFANYC) September 25, 2023
343 members of the department were murdered by terrorists on 9/11/01 but now with the passing of Firefighter Fulco the number has equaled since then. pic.twitter.com/z7crSDgAhB
Kavanaugh made it clear that the FDNY has duties to its employees that “extend far beyond” what the department asked of them on 9/11 and in the days and weeks that followed the attack on the World Trade Center.
Kavanaugh said the number of first responders who are getting the life-threatening illness “continues to grow.” There was more to the problem than just the 343 FDNY workers who died. It also covers the 11,000 people still working for the department who have “WTC-related illnesses,” such as 3,500 people who are fighting cancer.
Kavanaugh reminded readers that the FDNY’s “commitment” to the “service and sacrifice” of the 9/11 heroes “must remain unshakeable.” She concluded her remarks by writing that the department would never forget the 343 heroes it lost in 2001 or the 343 who died since. “This is our legacy,” she wrote, adding, “This is our promise.”
