First Responders

The number of FDNY firefighters who have died as a result of 9/11-related cancer or respiratory illness now exceeds 300, the FDNY Uniformed Firefighters Association (UFA) announced recently. Retired FDNY Battalion Chief Joseph McKie passed away in late September of colon cancer, which he developed as a result of his exposure to Ground Zero toxins […]

A recent study published in Blood Cancer Journal found a higher risk of multiple myeloma precursor disease in FDNY firefighters who were exposed to Ground Zero toxins at the World Trade Center site on and after 9/11. The firefighters included in the study had nearly double – 180% – the normal risk of developing myeloma […]

A recent study in the medical journal Nature Medicine found that FDNY firefighters who worked at the World Trade Center site on and after 9/11 have an increased risk of all types of cancer, with a particularly elevated incidence of prostate, thyroid, and tonsil cancer, as well as melanoma. For thyroid cancer, for example, the […]

Thousands of emergency medical responders were deployed to Lower Manhattan on 9/11 and in the weeks and months that followed, to help people injured in the attack and participate in search-and-rescue and recovery operations. Yet even as these responders, members of FDNY EMS Local 2507 and DC 37 Local 3621, were saving lives, their own […]

An upcoming deadline approaches for volunteer 9/11 first responders and recovery workers who worked in Lower Manhattan on 9/11 and in the weeks and months that followed.  Thousands of volunteers supported the search-and-rescue and recovery operations at Ground Zero, the Fresh Kills Landfill, barges between Lower Manhattan and the landfill, and the New York City […]

Westchester County recently asked the public to submit the names of people who passed away from 9/11-related illness for a memorial at Kensico Dam. The memorial honors first responders who were deployed to Ground Zero, the Pentagon or the Shanksville, PA, crash site, worked or lived in Westchester County, and died of a 9/11-related illness […]