Capt. Al Hagan: Grateful to those who succeeded in killing bin Laden; fearful over the possible closing of NYC firehouses

ONLY ON THE BLOG: Answering today’s five OFF-SET questions is Capt. Al Hagan, head of the Uniformed Fire Officers Association, Local 854 in New York.

Tonight In The Arena, a number of firefighters who served at Ground Zero will speak with Eliot at our World Trade Center location.

Hagan was off-duty at the moment of the attack and scheduled to work that night. Once he found out about what was happening at Ground Zero, he put his bicycle on his car. His daughter, an assistant district attorney, drove him from Queens towards Manhattan. They got as far as they could in the bad traffic. Hagan removed his bike, while his daughter pleaded with him to not go. To retire now. “But that’s what we do,” Hagan said today. “Our job is to go into danger.”

He rode his bike to his firehouse in Spanish Harlem–Ladder Company #43– where firefighters were taken by bus to the World Trade Center. He spent the next month there or at the firehouse. He said, “I didn’t go home for a month.”

What is your reaction to the killing of Osama bin laden?

First of all, some of my reaction is unformed, and I imagine everyone in the country has similar unease. I am hopeful that the families of those members killed on 9-11 will be able to achieve some measure of closure as a result of this successful mission.

And I am grateful to the American intelligence community and the military for succeeding.

But it is very frightening that that the mayor of New York has announced the closing of 20 fire companies in the city and I am concerned that the impact on the security of our citizens—particularly in the event of another terrorist attack-would be devastating. The whole world knows that the Fire Department is one of the cornerstones of homeland security here in New York City.

The number we’ve seen reported is that 343 firefighters and paramedics killed at the WTC—is that correct?

It was a correct number as of 9-11–as of 2001. Sadly, dozens more have succumbed to illnesses that were a direct result of our members’ work at theWorldTradeCenter.

According to The New York Post, a city official for the first time says there has been rise in cancer among firefighters who served at Ground Zero. The newspaper reported that Dr. David Prezant, the Fire Department's chief medical officer, has found that firefighters who dug for victims at the World Trade Center are getting cancer at a higher rate than firefighters before 9/11. Do you know more?

The results of that study have not yet been released, but our anecdotal evidence is frightening not only to the members, but the families of our members.

New York magazine reported that some 300 firefighters were on leave for respiratory problems by January 2002. Do you have any idea if those problems have continued?

Oh yes, they certainly have. I will tell you, again anecdotally, when you’re in the presence of group of firefighters who were on the job and worked at Ground Zero, you would think you were at a tuberculosis patients meeting.

How will firefighters be remembered at the 9/11 memorial?

We don’t know yet if names will be grouped together or not. There seems to be a systematic campaign to erase what the firefighters did at Ground Zero, to erase the sacrifice they made.

Yes, there were 3000 victims who died so tragically in the attack, people who were working attheir desks. But only the police and fireman CAME to the building. The first responders went into harm’s way to help others.

Even today, Mayor Bloomberg, with his treacherous plan to close firehouses, is trying to have people forget what the firefighters did–and what they do to protect the people of the city.