25 years on from 9/11: How New York’s firefighters paid the highest price on September 11

From Father Mychal Judge to the 343 firefighters who died, the FDNY’s losses reshaped a department and its enduring bond

The lifeless body of FDNY chaplain Fr Mychal Judge is borne from the World Trade Center North Tower by firefighters Christian Waugh and Zachary Vause; NYPD Lt William Cosgrove; civilian John Maguire, and FDNY EMT Kevin Allen on September 11, 2001. Picture: Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

In the end, there were 400 funerals or memorials for FDNY service members in the year after 9/11.

Of the 2,753 victims of the terror attack in New York in 2001, no organisation bore as much of a human cost as the city’s fire department.

The department suffered its greatest loss of life in a single day, with 343 firefighters and other FDNY personnel killed at the World Trade Center as they attempted to evacuate the towers before they collapsed.

While, chronologically, the first victim of the day is likely to have been a passenger on board one of the hijacked airliners, the first registered victim, WTC 0001, is Father Mychal Judge, the son of immigrants from Co Leitrim. 

Fr Judge, the FDNY chaplain, rushed to the World Trade Center after hearing about the attacks and went directly to the North Tower lobby, where he prayed with firefighters, comforted injured people, and offered emotional and spiritual support to responders.

This article is part of Paul Hosford's special report on the 25th anniversary of 9/11 published by the 'Irish Examiner' in print and online on Friday and Saturday, September 11 & 12, 2026

As the situation deteriorated, he remained with firefighters rather than leaving to safety. When the South Tower collapsed, debris entered the North Tower lobby, and Fr Judge was struck and killed.

A photo of his lifeless body being carried by firefighters Christian Waugh and Zachary Vause, NYPD Lt William Cosgrove, civilian John Maguire, and FDNY EMT Kevin Allen became one of the most enduring images of the day. Dubliner Martin Nutty, who has lived in New York for over 40 years, had mutual friends with Fr Judge and was struck by the photo.

The New York Fire Department's Emerald Society Pipes and Drums playing a lament during a ceremony in 2023 at the Garden of Remembrance, Ringfinnan, Kinsale, Co Cork. FDNY Mychal Judge was among those they commemorated. Irish Examiner Archive: Larry Cummins

“I think it’s one of these kinds of iconic images from 9/11, and it never goes away. You know, and to some degree, he was a representative, if you will, of all those men that had died in the fire department; he was down there trying to give support to those men.”

For Brian Davan, who responded on the day and who lost his father-in-law, the abiding memory is memorials and funerals and the incredible dedication of pipe bands.

“We were either in the firehouse, or at funerals, or down here [at the World Trade Center] digging.

“I look back on it. I don’t know how we got through it. I don’t know how we got through it. You know, we lost 343, but there were more than 400 funerals, if you count funerals and memorials. 

"The Catholic Church came right out and said you cannot have a funeral without a body or a body part. So a lot of families would have a memorial, or just a picture on the altar. Two months later, they found a body part [and they would have a funeral].”

Emergency services near the site of the World Trade Center n Manhattan, New York, Wednesday September 12, 2001, following yesterday's terrorist attack. Picture: Jennifer S Altman

Brian McDonald, the author of Five Floors Up: The Heroic Family Story of Four Generations in the FDNY, said the incredible loss of life led to a decade of rebuilding within the FDNY, as the following year saw a huge jump in the number of retirements, but that the institutional memory remains.

“The adoration towards the fire department was, you know, through the roof. It was incredible.

“There’s a whole generation of firefighters, but the organisation doesn’t forget. You go into any firehouse, and there are pictures of all the guys.

For Brian Davan, what carried firefighters through those days and weeks was a dedication to the job and, mostly, to each other.

“We do it for each other. You know, some people think that bravery means you don’t get scared. 

"Well, I was scared that day. I was scared at almost every burning building I went into in 37 years. But bravery or courage is not to not be scared, but it’s being scared and overcoming that. 

"We’re right next to each other, and you don’t want to you don’t want to turn your compadres.

“You don’t want to let them down, and you’ll go wherever they go, and vice versa.”

One hundred New York firefighters cycled into the Ringfinnan Garden of Remembrance, Kinsale, Co Cork in 2024 to honour those who were killed in the 9/11 attacks. Irish Examiner Archive: Dan Linehan