NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Throughout the summer, WCBS Newsradio 880 is presenting a series of reports looking ahead to the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Our series, "Rising from the Ashes," tells stories that inspire and teach; stories that honor the sacrifices of that day and how that work continues to impact the lives of others 20 years later.
For the FDNY, Sept. 11, 2001 was their finest hour and their darkest day.
"I knew a lot of the gentlemen that were killed that day…a lot of friends, a lot of friends,” said Chief of Department Thomas Richardson.
About 343 firefighters were killed in the attacks, and even more have lost their lives since then due to 9/11-related illnesses.
Richardson said the wounded department immediately took steps to rebuild.
Following a top to bottom review of the FDNY, the department sought to bolster the upper ranks and increase training and education. The goal was to help firefighters become better prepared if anything like 9/11 was to ever happen again.
“We all got our Masters in Homeland Security – security studies. I got that through the fire department,” said Richardson.
The FDNY poured resources into the Center for Terrorism and Disaster Preparedness so that New York City would be better able to help in a similar situation.
“[The center is] responsible for intelligence gathering, information sharing, collaborating with the federal partners as it relates to terrorism with local police departments, the NYPD, the Joint Terrorism Task Force,” the FDNY chief explained.
Beyond fire simulations, trainees looking to join the department also found themselves training for technical rescues, water rescues, hazmat rescues and terrorism responses in the aftermath of 9/11.
“We have a collapse simulator pile,” Richardson said. “You go in the back, it's a collapsing-related training module. It's literally a pile of material with all kinds of voids that we train our special operations folks to do that kind of collapse rescue work.”
The FDNY chief says that in addition to increased training to better prepare for a terrorist attack, the department has much better technology to help in a crisis than it did in 2001.
“Just because of the communication enhancements, we would be able to manage an operation better if we felt like, ‘Hey, we got to get these guys out of here,’ we'd be able to communicate much sooner than we were able to back then,” Richardson said.
Statistics show around 75% of the firefighters currently serving with the FDNY came on the job in the aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001.
Richardson says those new recruits may not have experienced the horrors of 9/11 firsthand, but the department makes sure that those new men and women on the job understand the history of that day thoroughly.
All new recruits are taken to the former site of the Twin Towers so that they can learn the lessons of that day.
Now, Richardson believes the department has grown a lot and is prepared for any and all possible disasters.
“The department became better, the people became better and the leadership became better in the department,” he said. “It’s just evolved.”