The number of first responders who have died from 9/11-related illnesses is now as high as the number of firefighters who died in the World Trade Center attack itself.
Retired firefighter Robert Fulco, who served with Engine 250 in Brooklyn, died Saturday of pulmonary fibrosis.
The 73-year-old was the 343rd first responder to die from an illness related to the terrorist attack, the same number as on September 11, 2001.
His death comes after New York City Fire Department (FDNY) member and paramedic Hilda Vannata, 67, died Wednesday from complications of cancer.
The couple suffered from illnesses due to the time they spent doing rescue and recovery work at Ground Zero.
The number of first responders who have died from 9/11-related illnesses is now as high as the number of firefighter deaths related to the attack itself
Hilda Vannata, 67, a New York City Fire Department (FDNY) member and paramedic, died Wednesday from complications of 9/11-related cancer
Retired firefighter Robert Fulco, 73, who served on Engine 250 in Brooklyn, died Saturday of pulmonary fibrosis. He was the 343rd first responder to die from an illness related to the terrorist attack. This corresponds to the same number as on September 11, 2001
Fire Commissioner Laura Kavanagh said in a statement: “Since we marked the 22nd anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center earlier this month, we have experienced the loss of two additional FDNY members due to World Trade Center illnesses, 342 and 343 deaths.”
“We have known this day would come for a long time, but its reality is still astonishing.”
“We have now suffered the same number of deaths after 9/11 as we did the day the North and South Towers collapsed.”
“Our hearts hurt for the families of these members and for everyone who loved them.”
Fulco joined the FDNY in 1977 and worked firefighting until his retirement in August 2002, said Andrew Ansbro, president of the Uniformed Firefighters Association.
In recent years he has relied on an oxygen tank as it was determined he was too old for lung replacement.
Vannata, who was born in Puerto Rico, joined the FDNY EMT team in 1988 and served with Battalion 14 – Lincoln Hospital for 26 years.
She and her husband John Vannata, a retired NYPD officer and military veteran, volunteered after the September 11 attacks.
“She embodied public service and honored a family tradition of first responders that she passed on to her son,” her obituary said.
Vannata, who was born in Puerto Rico, joined the FDNY EMT team in 1988 and served with Battalion 14 – Lincoln Hospital for 26 years
In 2019, a federal government study found that 9/11 first responders had an increased risk of cancer compared to the general population, including a 41 percent increased chance of developing leukemia
A paramedic and a police officer breathed oxygen after the south tower of the WTC collapsed
Commissioner Kavanagh announced that over 11,000 FDNY members who responded to the terrorist attacks still suffer from related illnesses, including 3,500 from cancer.
“So many of our members came for us that fateful day, and so many were lost,” she said.
“The legacy we are creating for them is honorable and promising.” That’s why we remain committed to survivors and will not stop pushing until all of our members receive the care they deserve for the rest of their lives. “
The official death toll from the attacks is 2,996 – including 2,977 victims and 19 hijackers who committed suicide by crashing planes into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and an uninhabited field in Pennsylvania.
Thousands more were injured, and New York bore the brunt of the deaths – with an estimated 1,600 victims in the North Tower and another thousand in the South.
But long after the last embers have been extinguished and the dust of the disaster has settled, the effects are still being felt – with a still-rising death toll, cancer diagnoses and illnesses attributed to the smoke that filled the city’s streets this time Day.
According to the CDC, since the September 11 attacks (as of June 2023), 17,175 cancer diagnoses have been made in living first responders.
The city’s fire department added 43 names to the Ground Zero memorial on Sept. 6, citing long-term health effects related to the attack.
Twelve years ago, as the death toll from the attack continued to rise, the FDNY built its own memorial wall dedicated exclusively to firefighters, paramedics and other first responders who died from illnesses related to the rescue effort
The addition added 43 new names to the plaque – separate from the much larger memorial at Ground Zero that honors the 2,977 people killed in the immediate aftermath of the attacks
In the decades since, more than 5,000 people in the area have reportedly died from 9/11-related illnesses, such as cancer and cardiovascular disease – but they were not given a place on the memorial.
Twelve years ago, as the death toll from the attack continued to rise, the FDNY built its own memorial wall dedicated exclusively to firefighters, paramedics and other first responders who died from illnesses related to the rescue effort.
When it was introduced, the plaque, found at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in Lower Manhattan, initially contained 55 names, but has since been engraved with nearly 300 more.
The decision to reserve the plaque for first responders, made on the tenth anniversary of the attack, highlights the health risks faced by many of these heroic men and women following the event that saw many selflessly rush to the aid of others as toxic smoke filled the city’s streets .