FDNY Deputy Chief, who Searched Ground Zero for Son, Dies at 74
James “Jimmy” Riches, an FDNY deputy chief who spent months at Ground Zero in a recovery effort to find his firefighter son’s body after the World Trade Center attacks, died from a Sept. 11-related illness on Thanksgiving, the FDNY announced.
Riches, who retired in 2007, suffered from a lung illness for more than two decades before dying at age 74 on Thursday.
“He had a great legacy, very respected and loved,” Riches’ son Daniel Riches, who is a retired FDNY captain, told the Daily News.
“He was a great person. He was a great father, great friend. A lot of people reached out to tell us how much they loved him.”
James RIches spent six months searching through the rubble and debris at Ground Zero for the remains of his son Jimmy Riches, who died heroically responding to the terror attacks.
“He went out every day looking for him,” Daniel Riches said.
Jimmy Riches’ body was later found in March 2002. He was a member of Ladder 114 in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, but on Sept. 11 he was at Engine Co. 4 in lower Manhattan.
He died a day before his 30th birthday. A street co-naming sign was later added at the corner of Shore Parkway and Bay Eighth St. in Dyker Heights, Brooklyn, dubbing it Jimmy Riches Way, NY1 reported.
James Riches was a vocal advocate for Sept. 11 survivors, joining rallies on Capitol Hill to fight the federal government’s attempts to cut 9/11 health care funding and pushing for a trial for terror mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.
“Chief Riches walked the halls of Congress with us in 2010 and 2015 and he was intense, he was passionate, and he was committed to the movement. The 9/11 community lost a voice,” said 9/11 survivor advocate John Feal. “He belongs on the Mount Rushmore of the 9/11 community.”
Riches noticed a trend among many people who worked on the Pile after the 9/11 attacks — they were getting dry coughs, bloody noses, spitting up blood, some even getting mercury poisoning — he told the 9/11 Memorial & Museum in an audio interview.
He also shared in the interview that in 2005 he had a health scare when he thought he had the flu but noticed his fingernails were turning purple. His blood oxygen level had plunged to one-third of normal. X-rays showed he had double pneumonia.
“I went to the emergency room. He looked at my fingernails, listened to my chest. ‘Get him upstairs to ICU right away,’ ” he recalled the doctor saying. “They X-rayed my chest — two white lungs, bilateral pneumonia. They ran about 30 lines in my neck, my arms, everything else. They put on the ventilator and that breathed for me. My oxygen level was supposed to be like 99. It was like 30.”
His health problems continued, Daniel Riches told the Daily News.
“In the past 25 years, he has had a lot of different health issues and it took a toll on him,” the son said. “He was breathing in all the toxins — he was suffering from a lot of different illnesses from his work down there.”
Riches lived in Brooklyn. He served 30 years in the FDNY from August 1977 until his retirement in December 2007, the Uniformed Firefighters Association said in a tribute post, hailing his “distinguished career” that “exemplified the highest traditions of our department.”
“Those who didn’t know him should be jealous of those who did know him, because he was the best of the best,” Feal said Sunday. He was a quiet man, but when he opened his mouth, he got your attention. He’s one of the few people that could command everyone’s attention in the room. When he spoke, he was not only heard, he was felt.”
A funeral is planned for Monday at 11 a.m. at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church on Fourth Ave. in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.
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