MIAMI — It has been 24 years since 2,977 people died on Sept. 11, 2001, after extremists hijacked and crashed commercial jet airliners in New York, Virginia, and Pennsylvania.
Robert “Bobby” Suarez, the executive officer to the Miami Fire Chief, remembered he was among the city’s firefighters at the firehouse in Miami’s Little Haiti on the tragic day.
Miami Fire Rescue deployed Suarez days later to the highly toxic environment of Ground Zero as part of the department’s urban search and rescue team’s 9-day mission.
“Each year that goes by, even within our team, we have members that suffered very serious ailments, and some of them haven’t been able to continue to be with us,” Suarez said.
Many of the first responders who worked at the three 9/11 sites in Manhattan, Arlington, and Shanksville have suffered respiratory illnesses, cancers, and mental health conditions, according to the World Trade Center Health Program, which aims to serve over 125,000 responders and survivors.
The majority of the respiratory illnesses have been chronic rhinosinusitis, the majority of the cancers have been non-melanoma skin and prostate, and the mental health conditions have been mostly anxiety and major depressive disorders, according to WTC Health Program data.
The program’s membership as of March 31 was 9,507 in Florida, including 6,944 responders and 2,563 survivors.
On X, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wrote he and President Donald Trump, who visited the Pentagon on Thursday, “will ensure” the WTC Health program “continues to serve our 9/11 heroes-firefighters, police, cleanup crews, survivors, and Pentagon workers. We will never forget.”
With them in mind, Suarez was among the first responders who participated in a remembrance ceremony at 8 a.m., outside of City Hall, in Miami’s Coconut Grove neighborhood.
Miami Beach firefighters and police officers met at 8:30 a.m. outside of Fire Station 2 for a ceremony.
Miami-Dade deputies and firefighters met at 9:30 a.m. for a ceremony at Tropical Park that also included guests from the U.S. Southern Command.
Doral police officers met for a challenging 9.11-mile run that started at 11 a.m. at Doral Central Park.
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