Out of the 343 firefighters that sacrificed their lives as first responders to the attack, 12 members of the New York City Fire Department (FDNY)’s Black Vulcan Society were lost during rescue and recovery efforts.
About 3,000 people were killed during the terrorist attack where four planes were hijacked, two flown into the towers and two into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. Almost 10,000 people were injured but survived that day.
Capt. Paul Washington, former Vulcan Society president, said this year they are also doing a street renaming on a section of Monroe Street to honor fallen firefighter Shawn Powell. Washington recalls that most of the 12 that died were inside or right outside the Twin Towers when they collapsed. “It’s up to us to keep the memory alive. They made the ultimate sacrifice,” said Washignton.
“One of things I didn’t like was that we were just alike, but now that my brother is no longer here, [it’s] something that I cherish. “Everybody was playing skully at the time, he created our own skully board—in the living room,” said Monique Powell. “Surprised my mother let him do it, but she did. My mother was very supportive, so he was always creating stuff.”
“We started a foundation in memory of him for Haiti,” she said. “The reason we did it was also when the earthquake happened in Haiti, everybody was going down there. And I knew there was like a group of firefighters in FDNY who actually went to Haiti.”