Almost every firefighter in New York City went to the World Trade Center on or right after Sept. 11, and firefighter Frank Signorelli of Ladder Company 84 in Staten Island was no different. Although Signorelli, a 20-year veteran to the New York City Fire Department, wasn’t one of the firefighters who responded to the scene on Sept. 11, he joined the bucket brigade the next day.
“One of the guys was there with a cast on his arm,” remembers Signorelli, who fell during his search at the World Trade Center and received 12 stitches in the back of his head. “I thought, ‘If he can do it with a broken arm, I can search.'”
Signorelli spoke about his experiences at the World Trade Center and about fire safety to students at the Hudson School in Union City on March 12.
Cheering them on
After watching the Twin Towers collapse on television on Sept. 11, the students at Hudson School made cards and wrote to the firefighters at Signorelli’s Staten Island firehouse.
“We wanted them to write about their feelings and any questions they had,” said fifth grade teacher Linda Molinary.
Most of the letters gave the firefighters words of encouragement while others just made them laugh.
“I told the firefighters to feel better and not to be sad,” said fifth grade student Kevin Malasquez, who turned 12 last week. “We don’t want the people who did this to the World Trade Center to make us feel bad.”
“I told them that they were doing a great job and to keep up the hard work,” said Reamy Pena, another fifth grade student. “Everything was going to be okay.”
These letters prompted Signorelli’s visit.
“I felt that it was only right to come here to the school and thank them,” said Signorelli, who said that the fireman sat in a corner and read the letters sent to them. “These letters gave us hope. They showed us that kids really did care about us. Some were funny and some were sad.”
Ready to retire
Signorelli, who worked in Manhattan before being transferred to Staten Island, had been one of the firefighters who responded to the first terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in 1993, when a van parked in the basement parking garage that was filled with fertilizer and chlorine bleach exploded.
However, that attack was nothing compared to Sept. 11.
“A lot of the firemen [who died] were my friends,” said Signorelli. “They were like family. My brothers and sisters, and I still constantly think about it.”
Signorelli said he has been haunted by a recurring dream each night. “Time will heal all wounds they say, hopefully,” he said. In the dream, Signorelli is running up stairs trying to get to an elevator. But the door won’t open. Signorelli said that he thinks he needs therapy.
However, six months after the towers fell, Signorelli is ready to retire.
“I am very happy being a firefighter,” said Signorelli who will retire on March 27. “I did my thing. I fought fires. I saved people. Now it is time to retire.”