September 11th, 2001. FDNY Firefighter Stephen Siller’s shift on the elite Squad 1 in Brooklyn’s Park Slope neighborhood had ended earlier that morning. He was looking forward to a day off, so much so that he was already on the way to the links to play golf with his brothers. That outing was interrupted by the blaring two-way radio traffic on his fire dispatch scanner. He called his wife and told her to inform his brothers he would catch up with them later. Although he was off-duty, Stephen knew all hands were needed at the World Trade Center.
Stephen returned to his firehouse to find it empty. The massive red and white apparatus had already left for the Twin Towers. Figuring he would join his coworkers at the scene, Stephen placed his firefighting gear in the back of his personal vehicle and took off. Thousands of people were fleeing the borough of Manhattan by this time. As he and his fellow first responders had done thousands of times before, Stephen Siller was racing towards the disaster rather than away from it. However, there was a problem: The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey ordered all bridges and tunnels into Manhattan closed as a safety measure.
Firefighter Siller didn’t have to think twice. He donned over 60 pounds of gear, abandoned his pickup truck, and ran nearly two miles through the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel to the World Trade Center. Within an hour, both towers had collapsed, taking Stephen’s life and that of 342 other firefighters in the process. Never prouder of his courageous actions, Stephen Siller’s family chose to keep his legacy alive by creating the Tunnel to Towers Foundation. Through various fundraising efforts, “T2T” has committed millions of dollars to helping injured first responders and veterans, as well as supporting the families of those lost in the line of duty. Last year I had the honor of participating in the most widely known of these events, the Tunnel to Towers 5K.
For one morning each September, a portion of the 47,000 vehicles that pass daily through the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel must divert their traffic in lieu of 35,000 pedestrians retracing Stephen Siller’s final steps. The turnout was incredible. Active-duty military personnel, entire sports teams, members of the London Fire Brigade, Rudy Giuliani, police officers and firefighters in full gear, wounded veterans, widows, and surviving family members. The race starts off on the streets of Brooklyn with excitement in the air. It’s not until midway through the tunnel that the solemn reality begins to set in. Having known the loneliness of being left to one’s own thoughts while responding to the unknown dangers of an emergency scene, I silently wondered how Stephen must have felt on that tragic morning. Within minutes my question was partially answered. As we emerged from the tunnel on the Manhattan side, the gigantic One World Trade Center building was impossible to miss. Firefighter Siller would have been staring directly at the smoke and debris pouring from the Twin Towers as he ran out of the tube and into Lower Manhattan.
Stephen Siller’s story is but one of many belonging to those men and women whose fate was sealed that terrible day. He wasn’t the only firefighter to traverse one of New York City’s many bridges and tunnels in full gear on foot. Many others turned around on their day off and went right back to work without being told or even asked. Each September in the years to come, I will highlight more these extraordinary heroes while encouraging others to do the same through their own research. This is one of many ways we can ensure that future generations will never forget.
09/11/2023: New pictures of life outside of training were added to the private photo gallery. New book review added to my Goodreads feed which can be accessed on the Status page.
The Dark Passport 