CA Firefighters Reunite with Helper from 9/11 Deployment

A receiving line had formed inside the Old Spaghetti Factory in Riverside. At its head was a diminutive woman in tank top and skirt and with an East Coast accent. She and the men had seen each other for the first and only time 20 years before.

"I remember you," she would say to each, giving them a hug.

"You haven't aged at all," one told her.

"You brought steak sandwiches," one recalled wistfully. "Best steak sandwich I've ever had."

The woman was Blanche O'Connell, a real-estate agent in Greenwich, Connecticut. The men, all firefighters and medics around Riverside County, had met her in New York City after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

Sent by the Federal Emergency Management Agency due to their expertise in search and rescue operations, they arrived at Ground Zero the afternoon of Sept. 12.

Their 12-hour shifts included checking nearby high-rises and subway tunnels. It was all search, alas, no rescue, but they found many human remains and brought closure to families, said Dave Lesh, a team leader.

O'Connell came out of nowhere to drop off pizza, sandwiches, socks, cots, pillows and other items to their forward base, a gymnasium without electricity.

"She supported the team, brought us food and comfort items like beds and boot warmers, to help get us through," Steve McKister, a medical specialist, told me. "She kind of adopted our team and took care of us."

"We would see Blanche every day when she brought stuff in," said Paul Haynie, a medic. "She was a comforting figure to have there. She brought normalcy to a pretty chaotic field."

She also brought in Haynie's mother from Connecticut, who surprised her 37-year-old son at his workplace with fresh socks and underwear in front of all the guys. He seems to still be trying to live that down — even if he found O'Connell's gesture remarkable.

Mysterious good Samaritan

O'Connell's aid was somewhat mysterious at the time. And after the men's 10-day tour was over, there was no further contact. But she was featured in a Press-Enterprise story filed from New York City by then-staffer George Watson, and the men remembered her name.

Tim Roche, now of Riverside and originally from New York, volunteered earlier this year to put together a documentary in time for the 20th anniversary of the attack that will focus on Riverside's assistance.

Learning about O'Connell, he found her online and gave her a call. She'd been thinking back to that time herself and accepted Roche's invitation to visit Riverside, arriving Aug. 4 and departing Sunday. The local Marriott put her up for free.

Roche interviewed her on camera Friday. "The guys wanted questions answered: 'Who are you? Why did you do this?'" he told me later. And he arranged the dinner that evening at Old Spaghetti Factory, inviting me.

Urban Search and Rescue Task Force 6 is made up of firefighters and medics from various Riverside County agencies who are activated by FEMA for disasters like Hurricane Katrina. (I'm thinking of them like the Avengers, who all have their own adventures but assemble for a major threat.)

"Forty-five minutes after the building collapsed, our pagers went off. They'd activated our team," recalled Scott Hudson, now retired from the Hemet Fire Department and the team's safety officer.

Of the 62 men and two women in the task force 20 years ago, all of whom were sent to Ground Zero, most have retired and many moved out of state. But seven of the guys made it to the dinner, some bringing their wives.

9/11 left an indelible mark on the crew.

"Sights, sounds and smells are very vivid," Lesh said. "I can close my eyes and be there."

'I just wanted to make a difference'

The night crew had limited interactions with O'Connell, but even the day shift didn't know much about her.

"I just remember her being around the deployment every day. She just mysteriously popped up," said LaWayne Hearn, now the city of Riverside's deputy fire chief. "There was a lot of security. She was able to get through security and get us cots and boot warmers. Like a magician."

According to Watson's story, O'Connell brought 20 of the boot warmers, which blow warm air into wet boots to dry them quickly, after a member of the team requested them. Pillows and food, too. She'd called a high-ranking official in the New York Police Department and received clearance.

"I just wanted to make a difference. When I saw these guys were in need, it all made perfect sense," she told Watson. "These guys are my heroes, my personal heroes."

That's a big vague, and in an Old Spaghetti Factory private room at a Last Supper-style long table, O'Connell told me she wanted to catch up with "the guys," not field questions.

Elements of the story became clearer from others who likewise sought to piece things together and had had a moment with her.

"She heard something on the news and felt the need to help. She called her church and said 'We need to get people supplies,'" related Jennifer Haynie, Paul's wife.

"They weren't letting anybody in. But she got a police escort in to bring in supplies. Then she was given a pass to get in," Haynie continued. "Blanche said she felt the need to come back every day to help."

A well-timed need for car repair played a role too. O'Connell was driving a sport utility vehicle — but it wasn't hers.

"Her car was in the shop," said Linda Hudson, Scott's wife. "She was given an SUV and she was able to fill it with supplies."

O'Connell told her seatmates in my hearing that from her home, she could be in Lower Manhattan in an hour. "I got a badge on the second day. I was the only private car onsite," she said.

"There was no traffic," she said. "I came down early in the morning and left late at night. I think I slept two hours a day."

On her right, Hearn asked if O'Connell had continued helping after the Riverside team returned to California. Not for long, she said.

"You didn't love them like you did us?" Hearn joked, leaning toward her.

"I didn't feel the connection, let's leave it at that," O'Connell said dryly.

It was a connection that, 20 years later, pulled her across the country.

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