The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, altered history and impacted the lives of people all over the world. Dozens of South Florida firefighters are now suffering from health problems after their heroic efforts.
In the days after 9/11, about 180 firefighters from South Florida, members of the Urban Search and Rescue Team, traveled to New York City and worked at Ground Zero. Now, four and a half years later, some of them have illnesses they cannot get rid of.
I felt privileged to be able to go and help out, Hollywood Fire Chief Virgil Fernandez said while speaking with NBC 6s Ari Odzer. Fernandez spent days at the site as part of the rescue team.
The catastrophe at Ground Zero is still claiming victims. Rescue workers are sick; some are even dying. Their exposure to the toxic dust that covered everything in the vicinity in the days following the buildings collapse may be the cause.
It was a constant smoke, haze, dust in the air, said Lt. Tania Martinez of the Key Biscayne Fire Department.
A volunteer at the site, Martinez now suffers from chronic sinus problems and had surgery to remove polyps. She said another operation may be needed. Before Ground Zero, Martinez said the sinus trouble did not exist.
Since his return to Florida, Fernandez said he has been taking steroids to control a cough. He once ran a marathon, but running overwhelms him now.
"I can tell you with all certainty that prior to Ground Zero, I never took any medication. I never had any problems breathing, and I could run," Fernandez said.
Broward County fire Lt. Rick Scorgie also served as part of the rescue team. His wife, Cindy Scorgie, said he knew that he was putting his health at risk.
When he came home, we talked about everything and he said to me, There's going to be a lot of firefighters who get sick, because we all breathed in the dust, she said.
Rick Scorgie was right. He got sick constantly and came down with pneumonia four times. A year ago, he died in his sleep.
Cindy Scorgie is now raising their 4-year-old daughter alone.
"My daughter turned 4. I turned 40. And then eight days later, Rick died," Scorgie said. "At 40 years old you don't think you're going to be a widow and be left alone to raise a child."
New York firefighter Vinny Forras believes more people have yet to become ill. He has sinus problems comparable to those of Martinez.
"We lost 2,786 people on 9/11. It is my absolute conviction and belief that we will lose many times more than that in the coming years due to the exposures of 9/11 for those people who responded. So, this is a national catastrophe that is unfolding, Forras said.
During the rescue at Ground Zero, Forras was trapped under debris. He founded Gear Up Foundation, an organization dedicated to saving the lives of firefighters by providing equipment to stations.
Forras was not sure if all the dust at Ground Zero could make that many people sick, but Dr. Stephen Levin of the World Trade Center Medical Monitoring Programs at New York's Mt. Sinai Hospital claims that the sicknesses and exposure are correlated.
"To deny the relationship [of illnesses] with their 9/11 exposures, I think, defies all logic," he said.
So far, Levin said 16,000 Ground Zero workers have been examined, turning up abnormally high rates of chronic sinusitis, asthma, bronchitis, acid reflux disease and more.
Levin said that as many as 60 people have died from Ground Zero-related illnesses. He feels that the government should treat and monitor everyone who worked at Ground Zero as payment for their service to the country.
This is a group that may be at risk for cancer 15, 20 years down the road, he said.
Martinez recently had a baby and said she hopes her health doesn't continue to diminish.
I'd like to be around for him a few more years. I just don't know to what extent my condition is. Am I going to be dealing with more in the future? I don't know, " she said.
"I just think people don't realize all they gave up, Scorgie said. "They volunteered to go there. They weren't required to be there."
Even in hindsight, every firefighter NBC 6 spoke to said they wouldn't hesitate to volunteer for their Ground Zero duty again.
Levin said everyone who was exposed to the dust there should be examined.
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