FDNY responders

Lt. Edith Torres was off-duty when the hijacked planes crashed into the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.  The veteran FDNY EMS paramedic soon arrived at Ground Zero, where her partner from Battalion 49 in Astoria, paramedic Carlos Lillo, died searching the North Tower for his wife. Torres was promoted to lieutenant in 2005, […]

9/11 devastated the New York City Fire Department, which lost 343 heroes in the wreckage of the horrific terrorist attacks. In the nearly two decades since then, hundreds of FDNY firefighters and emergency responders have succumbed to 68 different types of cancer and many respiratory diseases resulting from exposure to Ground Zero toxins. And now, […]

Not everybody is familiar with the terminology that the WTC Health Program and Victim Compensation Fund use to classify the populations they serve. Here’s a quick primer: General Responders: This category is for people who worked or, in some cases, volunteered down at the WTC site on September 11th or during any part of the […]

On January 9, Mayor Bill de Blasio presented former FDNY firefighter Ray Pfeifer the keys to the city at City Hall in honor of his tenacious advocacy of Zadroga Act reauthorization. Pfeifer, currently battling stage-four renal cancer, played a pivotal role in persuading Congress to continue health benefits for sick 9/11 responders until the year […]

It is with great sadness that we at Barasch & McGarry acknowledge the passing in January of another brave 9/11 responder who succumbed to 9/11-related illness at all-too-young an age. The Journal News recently reported that Thomas John Kelly, 58, an FDNY firefighter for 17 years in the Bronx and a resident of Carmel, New […]

If you suspect you are suffering from a physical or mental condition because of exposure to the hazards resulting from the 9/11 attacks, you may be eligible for free healthcare under the World Trade Center Health Program. Even if you currently have no symptoms, you may be entitled to free long-term health monitoring and clinical […]