NO END TO TRAGEDY
Another grim milestone as 200th FDNY member dies from 9/11-tied illness
The terror attack that still haunts New York and the nation reached another sad milestone after the 200th member of the FDNY died from a 9/11related illness, officials said Thursday.
Retired Firefighter Richard Driscoll, 73, died Wednesday as a result of inhaling the toxins swirling around the twin towers nearly 18 years ago, the FDNY said.
“It is almost incomprehensible that after losing 343 members on Sept. 11, we have now had 200 more FDNY members die due to World Trade Center illness,” FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro said. “These heroes gave their lives bravely fighting to rescue and recover others. We will never forget them.”
Driscoll, a Vietnam veteran, retired from Engine 91 in East Harlem in 2002 after serving the department for 32 years.
On Sept. 11, 2001, after terrorists crashed hijacked planes into the World Trade Center’s North and South towers, Driscoll rushed to Ground Zero and “worked tirelessly in the rescue and recovery efforts that followed,” the FDNY said.
Driscoll was cited for bravery five times during his firefighting career, officials said.
His death came a day after retired FDNY Firefighter Kevin Nolan died of a 9/11-related illness — and as debate heated up over an effort to renew and add more than $10 billion to the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund.
Survivor advocates were in Washington this week fighting a bid by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) to block an extension of the federal compensation fund, which provides financial support to first responders and lower Manhattan residents sickened following the terror attacks.
Paul said the bill to pump an additional $10 billion into the VCF, which has already passed the House of Representatives, was too costly and that any new spending should be offset by other cuts.
Senate Democrats slammed the move as “political game playing.”
But Rand and another lawmaker, Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), backed down Thursday, agreeing to vote next week in return for having their own amendments considered.
Rand and Lee had been standing in the way of a unanimous consent request Wednesday that would have sent the $10.2 billion renewal of the fund to President Trump’s desk.
Lee had said he was concerned about fraud and abuse in the program, and wanted to cap payouts for the next 10 years at the $10.2 billion cost estimate for the bill. He also wants to allow just another $10 billion in payments for the remainder of the legislation, through 2092.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) accepted the deal to get a vote on the bill, and predicted they would defeat the Republicans’ changes.
“Eighteen years after 9/11, Congress is finally poised to permanently stand by our first responders for the rest of their
lives, and we need to finish the job now,” Gillibrand said in a statement.
Schumer said Driscoll’s death is as hurtful as the deaths of the heroes who died the day of the attack.
“The public will not know the actual bravery and personality and strengths of people who now die every day,” Schumer said. “But their legacy is continuing by the fact that now we will take care of people, and God forbid something like this happens in the future, I think it will be easier to take care of people the next time.”
According to the best estimates, 90,000 first responders showed up at the World Trade Center in the aftermath of the attack. An additional 400,000 survivors lived and worked in the area at the time. All of these people have the potential to come down with a 9/11 illness, advocates said.
Uniformed Firefighters Association President Gerard Fitzgerald learned of Driscoll’s death as he returned home from Washington, where he was lobbying for an extension of the fund.
“It’s a number, but it’s real,” Fitzgerald said. “He is the 200th member, and it’s not going to stop. These milestones get attention, but sadly, this number is going to continue to grow.”
The formal name of the bill is the “Never Forget the Heroes: James Zadroga, Ray Pfeifer and Luis Alvarez Permanent Authorization of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund Act.” Zadroga died in 2006 from his exposure. Pfeifer and Alvarez both died of cancer that they fought even as they were lobbying Congress to pass 9/11 legislation.