FDNY 9/11 Hero Joins Barasch & McGarry Team

Michael O’Connell joined the FDNY on May 5, 2001, as a Probationary Firefighter assigned to Engine 273 / Ladder 129 in Flushing.

Only four months later, he deployed to Lower Manhattan on the morning of September 11, immediately after the terrorist attack on World Trade Center.

For several weeks, he never went home, rotating between his firehouse and Ground Zero, where he extinguished fires in the rubble and participated in search-and-rescue operations.

O’Connell continued his work at the World Trade Center site until Christmas 2001, when he joined Engine 285 / Ladder 142 in South Ozone Park.

In the years since 9/11, O’Connell has been a tireless advocate for the responder community, lobbying Congress to pass the Zadroga Act and fully fund the World Trade Center Health Program and the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund.

In 2007, he was diagnosed with sarcoidosis, an auto-immune disease, because of his exposure to Ground Zero toxins. He retired from the FDNY in 2010.

Today, as an Outreach Coordinator with Barasch & McGarry, O’Connell helps active-duty and retired firefighters secure their right to free health care and compensation under the Zadroga Act.

A native of Williston Park, O’Connell now lives in Huntington with his wife, Rebecca, and their three children: Aidan, Colton, and Allie.

He regularly speaks at local high schools to share his 9/11 story and to encourage students to develop resilience in confronting adversity.