‘We need to know who lied’: Firefighters’ union demands answers after 68 boxes related to 9/11 toxins discovered in city agency facility

The union representing FDNY firefighters is demanding answers following the discovery of 68 boxes of documents related to 9/11 toxins at a Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) facility in the city.

Andrew Ansbro, president of the FDNY-Uniformed Firefighters Association, said at a press conference Monday that the discovery 24 years after 9/11 represents a betrayal of first responders who rushed to the scene on Sept. 11, 2001.

Ansbro said the city had repeatedly denied the existence of documents related to 9/11 data despite consistent requests from the union and 911 Health Watch, despite several memos references such documents.

Speaking near the World Trade Center on Monday afternoon, he demanded answers about an alleged effort to hide the documents in the aftermath of 9/11.

“We need to know who lied,” Ansbro said Monday, adding that efforts to discover the documents date back 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.”

City officials said 68 previously undisclosed boxes were discovered in a DEP facility after Manhattan Council Member Gale Brewer enlisted the Department of Investigations earlier in the year.

A City Hall spokesperson said Mayor Eric Adams has been “unwavering” in his commitment to 9/11 victims but said the Adams administration could not comment on 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 City Hall spokesperson said in a statement.

“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 amNewYork to City Hall, while Brewer’s office has not yet returned a request for comment.

Discovered 9/11 documents ‘show things we didn’t know’

Firemen work around the World Trade Center after both towers collapsed in New York on September 11, 2001. The kamikaze airplane attacks that destroyed New York’s World Trade Center and damaged the Pentagon on Tuesday were unprecedented in the history of civil aviation, security experts said. REUTERS/Peter Morgan
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Ansbro said Monday that 911 Health Watch and the Uniformed Firefighters Association have so far received and reviewed 24 of the boxes, with the remaining 44 boxes yet to be released. The released boxes, Ansbro said, contain data related to the toxins in the air following the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.

He added that the disclosure of the documents could have significantly altered healthcare for 9/11 survivors by alerting medical professionals to certain diseases and symptoms.

“Those documents show things that we didn’t know,” he said.

He further stated that the disclosure of the boxes would have made a significant difference on efforts to fight for the World Trade Center Health 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 said. “It would have been less of a fight.”

He is now demanding accountability for anyone involved in the alleged effort to hide the documents in a city 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 said.

He also said first responders in the city “deserve to know” that the city will be transparent about future emergencies.

Thomas McManus, an attorney with law firm Sullivan Papain, which provides general counsel for the Uniformed Firefighters Association, described the discovery as a “bittersweet day” for transparency for 9/11 survivors and their loved ones. He also said the discovery “could lead to more questions.”

“It’s bittersweet because we finally have the first semblance of transparency from the city,” McManus said. “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 conference. Photo by Shane O’Brien.

McManus added that it was “shocking and appalling” that the 68 boxes could be lost and added that the city must now determine whether incompetence or intentional misconduct was at fault.

Ansbro and McManus both demanded that the Adams Administration release the remaining documents as soon as possible and vowed that they will pressure Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani to do so if the documents are not released before Adams leaves office.

“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 said.

Ansbro added that he hopes the documents will contain a “chain of custody” demonstrating who is responsible for the loss of the documents.

Brewer’s Resolution 560-A, passed by the Council in July, directed the Department of Investigation to conduct an investigation to ascertain the knowledge possessed by mayoral administrations on the environmental toxins produced by the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

“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 said in a statement at 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.”

Since the 9/11 attacks, roughly 400 New York firefighters have died from illnesses linked to toxins produced by the attacks.