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Elite firehouse looks back to 9/11

BY LUIS PEREZ | NEWSDAY STAFF WRITER

September 11, 2006

A plastic soda bottle oozing with volatile household chemicals is thrown against a brick wall in Jamaica. But the Molotov cocktail doesn't blow up.

In minutes, firefighters of Hazmat 1 -- trained to defuse dirty bombs and clean up toxic chemicals -- arrive at 89th Avenue and the Van Wyck Expressway, responding to an incident that is more teenage prank than Orange Alert.

A firefighter punctures the container with a penknife, another dumps ash on the bubbling liquid. That fast, the threat is over.

The most specialized firefighters of the FDNY pull into a red brick station house in Maspeth, Queens, that is home to Hazmat 1 and Squad 288, another specialized anti-terrorism unit. Outside is a billboard-sized memorial dedicated to the 19 men from the house killed on Sept. 11, 2001 -- the most from any firehouse in the city.

Dealing with past and future
For the 69 firefighters who work here, it's a balancing act: being the city's first response team for the next big terrorist or chemical disaster as they live with the excruciating weight of 9/11.

"You definitely think about it," said Hazmat 1 firefighter Michael Herold, 43, of Levittown, catching his breath after responding to a call one recent Thursday.

"I wouldn't call it pressure," adds Seaun Boland, 48, of upstate Newburgh. "It's always on your mind. Are we thinking about an attack? I am. I personally feel it's absolutely going to happen. I'm surprised it hasn't happened yet."

Only two of the 39 men who were assigned to Hazmat 1 on Sept. 11, 2001, remain working there today -- veterans Phil McCardle and Joe Iovino.

"For a house to completely change over in five years," said Lt. John Berna, 44, of Massapequa, a 17-year-veteran who leads Hazmat 1, "it's completely unheard of."

Loss of veterans
Most of the reasons relate directly to 9/11. Since fire department pensions are determined by hours worked and not years served, many who toiled for months in the recovery effort opted to retire during the past few years, according to union officials. Others have left because of lung ailments contracted during that time. Some simply couldn't handle continuing to work as firefighter.

The names on metal plaques affixed to the marble memorial belong to 11 men from Hazmat 1 and 8 more from Squad 288.

"The guys that we lost were a lot of the senior members, and when you lose people like that, you lose the knowledge," Berna said. "I have an immense amount of respect for the new people that came over from the various firehouses, because we threw an awful lot at them in here in a short period of time."

Herold and Boland are both FDNY veterans, each with nearly 20 years on the job. Yet both are new to Hazmat 1. They volunteered for this work after Sept. 11, knowing the unit had taken a big hit.

"I came here with 16 years on the job and I feel like a brand-new probie," said Herold, who was surprised at how much homework and reading was involved.

It's firehouse tradition to assign mentors to new recruits.

"Before 9/11, when you came into Hazmat, you had guys who had 10 to 15 years here, teaching you," Berna said. "Now they have to learn it, understand it, and pass it on."

So Iovino and McCardle have done a lot of passing it on in the past five years.

They were there that day