Calls for accountability after release of Ground Zero air quality documents

We are here at a ceremony to remember the 343 firefighters who died on 9-11, but yesterday we learned that the number of people that we have lost since 9-11 surpasses that. 453 firefighters have died in the 25 years since. And this morning, union leaders met to discuss the trove of documents that were released by the Mamdani administration. With the documents comes the question that has haunted many members of the service. How many of the illnesses and deaths could have been prevented because of the air quality concerns on 9-11 and in the days and weeks after. The city released more than 170,000 pages of previously undisclosed records on air quality, health risks, and the government's response after 9-11. Some were stored in 68 boxes that officials say were only discovered last year. The documents show city officials had internal evidence of serious hazards around Ground Zero, including asbestos, all the while New Yorkers were being reassured that it was safe to return to lower Manhattan. These records also allude to conversations about the city's potential legal liability from toxic exposure. Union leaders said today that firefighters repeatedly returned to the site for weeks and months without really understanding the risks. It is appalling that they did this to us, despite our willingness to knowingly go into that environment repeatedly for long-term exposures, long after the acute exposure of that day, to give dignity to the people that were lost, to give the greatest possible effort towards a recovery, and then hopes to put New York back on its firm footing that it was on the days before 9-11. Now, 25 years later, there's one thing that almost everybody knows, and that's that 9-11 did not end on 9-11-2001. The fire commissioner here at this ceremony said it is as if September never ended. Now, we should also mention that since 9-11-2001, more than 12,000 FDNY members have been diagnosed with at least one illness as a result of their efforts at Ground Zero. Natasha, also I should mention to you, behind me and down on the street level here in Staten Island, there is a procession honoring the 343 members who lost their lives in 2001. Their families are also here paying tribute as well.