The firefighters who rushed to Ground Zero on Sept. 11 of 2001 can still vividly remember the plumes of black smoke clouding that Tuesday morning’s sunny blue skies. Many have spoken about the distinct smell in the air after the World Trade Center towers fell, and the sounds of horrified screams from confounded citizens. The FDNY lost 343 of the city’s bravest during the attacks, which left permanent physical and emotional scars on hundreds more whose lives, and whose world, changed in an instant. For the children of those heroic first responders, though, the post-9/11 world is the only life that their adult selves have ever truly known — and the compulsion to run …
Firefighters battle blaze at Bay Ridge supermarket
A popular Bay Ridge supermarket drew crowds Friday afternoon as dozens of firefighters worked to battle an all-hands-on deck blaze on the roof. Smoke-eaters arrived to battle the blaze at the Bay Ridge MetFood near 96th Street and Third Avenue at around 2 pm, and the inferno was deemed under control shortly after. No injuries were reported, and it is not yet clear what damage the supermarket sustained.
Thousands attend funeral for Marine Park firefighter killed in bridge fall
Nearly 10,000 firefighters and other rescue workers attended the funeral for FDNY Firefighter Steven Pollard, who lost his life when he fell from a Brooklyn bridge, at Good Shepherd Church in Marine Park on Jan. 11. The line of firefighters and rescuers stretched from Gerritsen Avenue to East 27th Street in Sheepshead Bay. “Steven was everything we want in a firefighter,” FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro said on Friday as he delivered the eulogy in the Avenue S church. “This young man was strong, smart and hardworking. Bravery was in his blood.” A giant TV screen displayed…