By:LARRY MAIER
Firefighters from the Merrick and North Merrick Fire Departments and EMTs from the Bellmore-Merrick Volunteer Ambulance Corps joined in the heroic rescue efforts at the World Trade Center last week. The volunteers labored in the twisted hell that remained after the collapse of the buildings, and hoped against hope that they would find and aid survivors. But, like so many of their fellow rescue workers, they were frustrated that there were not more survivors to help. And, as of press time on Monday, Sept. 17, two volunteer Merrick firemen who worked as New York City Firefighters, Brian Sweeney and Ronnie Gies, were still among the missing.
Sweeney and Gies are members of Squad 288 of the New York City Fire Department. Chief John Fabian, of the Merrick Fire Department, said the two men would have been among the first to respond to the scene on the morning of Sept. 11. He added that his department and both the Geis and Sweeney families still believe the men may come home alive.
"I'm still hoping my friends are coming back," Fabian said on Monday.
Though North Merrick's Fire Department escaped fatalities, they joined firefighters across New York and the nation in mourning their fallen brothers.
"We know a lot of volunteers who are city firemen that unfortunately have perished," said North Merrick's Chief James McCauley.
Last week, one of the biggest challenges faced by Fabian and McCauley was keeping volunteers at home. Local firefighters wanted to be at Ground Zero in the days after the Twin Towers collapsed.
"The guys all want to go, to help," Fabian said.
"I'm having trouble holding them back," said McCauley last week. "If I would have let them take every rig we have in the house they would have taken them and left."
Matt Weinick, assistant chief of the Bellmore-Merrick Volunteer Ambulance Corps, said his team was dispatched to Shea Stadium the day of the attack along with other Nassau County EMT units. They were then called to South Street in lower Manhattan and by 3 a.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 12 they were moved to a triage area at Liberty Plaza.
Weinick said the scene at Ground Zero was indescribable. "It's really unbelievable, that's all you can say," said Weinick, who was frustrated that he and other EMTs had very little to do.
"We were just waiting for patients. They weren't bringing many people out who were treatable," said Weinick. "We did a lot of standing by and we did a lot of [body] removals."
A memorial remembrance for the estimated 350 firefighters who perished in the terrorist attack will be held on Sept. 23 in Central Park at 3 p.m.
