FDNY-Uniformed Firefighters Affiliation President Andrew Ansbro speaks to the media following the invention of 68 containers of paperwork associated to 9/11-related toxins at a DEP facility final week. Photograph by Shane O’Brien.
The union representing FDNY firefighters is demanding solutions following the invention of 68 containers of paperwork associated to 9/11 toxins at a Division of Environmental Safety (DEP) facility within the metropolis.
Andrew Ansbro, president of the FDNY-Uniformed Firefighters Affiliation, stated at a press convention Monday that the invention 24 years after 9/11 represents a betrayal of first responders who rushed to the scene on Sept. 11, 2001.
Ansbro stated town had repeatedly denied the existence of paperwork associated to 9/11 knowledge regardless of constant requests from the union and 911 Well being Watch, regardless of a number of memos references such paperwork.
Talking close to the World Commerce Heart on Monday afternoon, he demanded solutions about an alleged effort to cover the paperwork within the aftermath of 9/11.
“We need to know who lied,” Ansbro stated Monday, including that efforts to find the paperwork date again to the de Blasio Administration. “We really need to know who kept this lie alive by hiding all the information we’ve been asking for.”
Metropolis officers stated 68 beforehand undisclosed containers had been found in a DEP facility after Manhattan Council Member Gale Brewer enlisted the Division of Investigations earlier within the yr.
A Metropolis Corridor spokesperson stated Mayor Eric Adams has been “unwavering” in his dedication to 9/11 victims however stated the Adams Administration couldn’t touch upon ongoing litigation.
“While we cannot comment on the specifics of pending litigation, the city has begun turning over documents to plaintiff’s counsel, and both parties are working out a schedule to continue this process,” a Metropolis Corridor spokesperson stated in a press release.
“We remain dedicated to getting 9/11 victims and their families the answers they need, and thank the brave men and women who risk their lives every day to keep our city safe.”
A DEP spokesperson referred New York News to Metropolis Corridor, whereas Brewer’s workplace has not but returned a request for remark.
Found 9/11 paperwork ‘show things we didn’t know’
Firemen work across the World Commerce Heart after each towers collapsed in New York on September 11, 2001. The kamikaze airplane assaults that destroyed New York’s World Commerce Heart and broken the Pentagon on Tuesday had been unprecedented within the historical past of civil aviation, safety consultants stated. REUTERS/Peter MorganPM/ME
Ansbro stated Monday that 911 Well being Watch and the Uniformed Firefighters Affiliation have to this point obtained and reviewed 24 of the containers, with the remaining 44 containers but to be launched. The launched containers, Ansbro stated, comprise knowledge associated to the toxins within the air following the terrorist assaults on the World Commerce Heart.
He added that the disclosure of the paperwork may have considerably altered healthcare for 9/11 survivors by alerting medical professionals to sure illnesses and signs.
“Those documents show things that we didn’t know,” he stated.
He additional acknowledged that the disclosure of the containers would have made a big distinction on efforts to struggle for the World Commerce Heart Well being Program in Washington.
“Had these documents been available, then they could have helped prove our case to get that life saving health care more available quickly,” Ansbro stated. “It would have been less of a fight.”
He’s now demanding accountability for anybody concerned within the alleged effort to cover the paperwork in a metropolis facility.
“Everyone that was exposed, they need to know. Their families need to know who lied to them. They need to be held accountable,” Ansbro stated.
He additionally stated first responders within the metropolis “deserve to know” that town can be clear about future emergencies.
Thomas McManus, an lawyer with legislation agency Sullivan Papain, which supplies basic counsel for the Uniformed Firefighters Affiliation, described the invention as a “bittersweet day” for transparency for 9/11 survivors and their family members. He additionally stated the invention “could lead to more questions.”
“It’s bittersweet because we finally have the first semblance of transparency from the city,” McManus stated. “We finally will begin to know what they knew and when they knew it. But it’s bittersweet because it took 24 years to get here.”
Thomas McManus speaks at Monday’s press convention. Photograph by Shane O’Brien.
McManus added that it was “shocking and appalling” that the 68 containers could possibly be misplaced and added that town should now decide whether or not incompetence or intentional misconduct was at fault.
Ansbro and McManus each demanded that the Adams Administration launch the remaining paperwork as quickly as potential and vowed that they are going to strain Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani to take action if the paperwork should not launched earlier than Adams leaves workplace.
“Those boxes will be open, the evidence will be found, and we’re going to find out exactly who lied to us back then,” Ansbro stated.
Ansbro added that he hopes the paperwork will comprise a “chain of custody” demonstrating who’s answerable for the lack of the paperwork.
Brewer’s Decision 560-A, handed by the Council in July, directed the Division of Investigation to conduct an investigation to establish the information possessed by mayoral administrations on the environmental toxins produced by the 9/11 terrorist assaults.
“The remaining residents and survivors of the September 11, 2001 attacks are deeply interested in what the city knew about the hazards of that period, and when,” Brewer stated in a press release on the time. “Resolution 560-A will provide answers that are 20 years overdue. Successive mayoral administrations have refused to release the documents due to concerns over legal liability. Fear-based opacity is bad public policy.”
Because the 9/11 assaults, roughly 400 New York firefighters have died from diseases linked to toxins produced by the assaults.
