First Responders

There were more than 100,000 union first responders who deployed to Lower Manhattan on and after 9/11, working tirelessly for weeks and then months on search-and-rescue and recovery operations. At the time, government officials claimed the air near Ground Zero was safe to breathe. Yet within weeks, many responders had developed “World Trade Center cough” […]

May 31, 2022 will mark the twentieth anniversary of the end of the cleanup at the World Trade Center site. Ground Zero burned for more than eight months after 9/11, as more than 100,000 union responders conducted search-and-rescue and recovery operations, starting New York City on the difficult and heroic path to recovery. These responders’  […]

Today, February 8, 2022, would have been NYPD Detective James Zadroga’s 51st birthday. A native of Arlington, New Jersey, and Barasch & McGarry client, Detective Zadroga was a 9/11 first responder whose premature death demonstrated that the air near Ground Zero in Lower Manhattan was toxic. His illness provided crucial evidence linking Ground Zero toxins […]

Dennis Smith, a longtime New York City firefighter and bestselling author, passed away on January 21. He was 81. Raised on the East Side of Manhattan, Smith joined the New York City Fire Department (FDNY) in 1963, when he was assigned to Engine Company 292 in Queens. In 1966, Smith was transferred to the busiest […]

The 9/11 community includes half a million people, from first responders to Lower Manhattan office workers to teachers and students at area schools. Everyone breathed in the 9/11 toxic dust, increasing their risk of 68 different types of cancer and dozens of respiratory illnesses. Sadly, we recently learned of the passing of retired NYPD detective […]

Firefighters who worked at the World Trade Center (WTC) site on or after 9/11 have a 13 percent higher risk of cancer, especially prostate and thyroid cancer, according to a recent study. The study, published in the journal Occupational & Environmental Medicine, also found the WTC firefighters were diagnosed nearly four years earlier than other firefighters […]