WATCH: Deputy Chief of New York Fire Department speaks of 9/11 in Waterford as part of charity cycle
Left: Conal Kane, firefighter from Ballyshannon Fire Station in Donegal. Right: John Corcoran, Deputy Chief at the New York Fire Department.
Firefighters from New York and across Ireland visited Waterford’s 9/11 monument to pay tribute to their comrades who died during the terrorist attacks, as part of a commemorate charity cycle through Waterford.
The charity cycle began at the US Ambassador’s residence in Dublin and will finish on September 11, at the Garden of Remembrance in Kinsale. The cross-country cycle is aiming to raise money for the Friends of Firefighters of New York, a New York-based non-profit, as well as Aoibheann’s Pink Tie, a charity providing support for children suffering from cancer in Ireland.
Among those present was John Corcoran, Deputy Chief at the New York Fire Department.
“I am here to give back to the members we lost in 9/11 and everyone we have lost now due to cancer as a result of 9/11,” he said. “We don’t forget our military, we don’t forget the civilians who died; that includes our brothers and sisters in NYPD (New York Police Department), all of the people that we have lost.”
Mr Corcoran was not scheduled to work on September 11, 2001, but responded to a request from his fire department to report for duty: “We got a call for all members off-duty to report to the firehouse, then we went down to the World Trade Centre site.” He said that being at the monument and taking part of the commemorative event helped him to deal with the tragedy of 9/11.
“I am consoling my own soul by being here. This is the first time that I will not be in a firehouse on the day of 9/11, in 23 years,” he said, “but I will be cycling into Kinsale to the Garden of Remembrance.” Mr Corcoran will be placing 10 challenge coins in the Garden of Remembrance, one to remember each of the 10 men who lost their lives during 9/11 from Engine 8, Ladder 2 - his department in the Fire Department of New York. He said that being entrusted with the duty to remember these fallen men was a “great honour”.
The American firefighters collaborated with Irish firefighters in the National Retained Firefighters Association (NRFA) to organise to run the event outside of New York for the first time.
“The guys reached out looking to run the cycle here. It’s an historic cycle, which had never left America,” said Conal Kane, a firefighter from Ballyshannon Fire Station in Donegal, “As part of the NRFA, we took it on to welcome them over to Ireland.” The NRFA are also taking part in the cycle to raise money for Aoibheann’s Pink Tie which provides practical and financial support for children suffering from cancer in Ireland and their families. The charity is named after Aoibheann Norman, an 8-year-old girl who died from a rare form of cancer in 2010.
