West Side House That Lost 15 Firefighters on 9-11 Marks Another Solemn Day

Fifteen times the bell tolled as it has every year since 9-11, 2001 when 15 firefighters from Battalion 9, Engine 54 and Truck 4 climbed into their vehicles and raced toward the World Trade Center.

All 15 from the firehouse at the corner of W. 48th St. and Eighth Ave. would perish when the towers fell, marking the single greatest toll of any firehouse in the city. Now the current team in the firehouse joins the friends, family, military and clergy who turn out every year in a vest park on West 48th St. donated en perpetuity as a permanent memorial to the fallen firefighters.

The youngest to die that day was Christopher Santora, 23, a probationary firefighter who was the last to jump on board a vehicle heading downtown. “He was getting off duty, we thought he was on his way home,” recalled Chris’s dad Al Santora, who was so proud his young son just shy of his 24th birthday had followed him into the FDNY.

Al Santora had only retired a year before. His wife Maureen was a school teacher and since 9-11 that year was also the first day of the school, she counted it as her first day being retired. “I was expecting champagne and chocolate covered strawberries” she said instead of death from the sky. Chris, starting his career in the FDNY was still living home with them, she recalled.

Their son-in-law, John Cardona, married to daughter Patricia Santora was working for a toy company on Fifth Ave. and 23rd St. on 9-11 he said when he heard news that a plane had struck the World Trade Center. Like many, he initially figured it was a small private plane, and while there might be a pilot or passenger fatality, he never anticipated the conflagration that would cause the Twin Towers to pancake.

The North Tower, was hit first around 8:46 a.m but did not collapse until 10:28 a.m; then the South Tower which was the second tower struck at 9:03 a.m. pancaked less than an hour later at 9:59 a.m. Black clouds billowed and toxic debris filled the air as charred papers from the towers fluttered to the ground and a white powdery dust encased the streets and the people fleeing. In New York City, there would 2,753 deaths the lion’s share of the 2,977 in total who would die that day at the Pentagon in Washington D.C. and near Shanksville, PA, where passengers overpowered the hijackers who were believed to be aiming for the White House or the Capitol and instead force the jet to crash into a field, killing all 40 passengers and crew members. One hundred seven five would die at the Pentagon.

In New York, Cardona recalled, “I was excited for Chris at first. It would have been his first fire.” Like a rookie police officer pursing his first “collar,” a probie firefighter fresh out of the Fire Academy wants to be tested in real time in a fire.

For Chris Santora, his first fire would also be his last. Cardona called his mother-in-law and father-in-law who could see the WTC from their apartment in Astoria. His father-in-law watching on tv informed Cardona, “It wasn’t a small plane. Something big is going on. You better get out of the city,” recalled Al.

Not all the families return every year. For some, such as the family of battalion chief Ed Geraghty they have never returned. Others find great comfort in their loved ones former place of work, even if the old colleagues who survived have long since moved on. “We’re here more often than not,” said Al. They have lunch with the current crew every year on their son’s birthday on Sept. 19. “He died a few days before he would have turned 24,” recalled Al “If we’re going to a play, we stop by.”

And while the occasion is somber, there is also comfort as many of them have watched families grow up. Rebecca Asaro is now a firefighter in the house where her father Carl Asaro had worked before his death on 9-11. Two other Asaro brothers also followed their dad into the FDNY and work at other firehouses.

While the Sontaros chatted, Wendy Feinberg, daughter of firefighter Alan Feinberg stopped by. “How are you doing?” asked Maureen. Wendy now has seven-year-old twins who will never know their grandad, but she says she has returned every year on 9-11 except for a brief few years when they lived in Florida before returning to the metro area in Colt’s Neck, N.J. Wendy’s mom opted for a cruise out of the city that day.

”How many grand children do you have now, 27?” she kidded Al Sontaro. “Not so fast,” said Al, “only nine.”

As the clock ticked toward 8:46, the time the first plane struck on 9-11, a bagpiper and drummer began warming up. There’s two here today because their forces are spread thin all over the metro area. They would, of course, soon break into “Amazing Grace”, the moving song that while upbeat, still breaks your heart at every funeral and memorial service no matter how many times you hear it. And that’s when you notice you’re not the only one doing the blink, blink, blink and looking up at the sky. The dignitaries began to pile in. Cardinal Timothy Dolan said he always makes the park across the street from this tragic firehouse his first stop on 9-11 and his assistant offered water to those around the him. After this, Dolan said he heads to St. Peter’s on Barclay Street where Father Mychal Judge, the FDNY chaplain who became victim #`1 on 9-11, was carried by four firefighters. And from there to the Greek Orthodox Church of St. Nicholas close by Ground Zero that had become a refuge for many in the days and weeks after 9-11. And there is a Mass at St. Patrick’s and at Fr. Mychal Judge’s former parish, St. Francis of Assisi on W. 31. St. And of course the historic reading of the names at Ground Zero that drew former President Donald Trump and his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris only hours after their debate wrapped up. Also on hand was president Joe Biden and Trump’s running mate, JD Vance. While Biden and Harris shook hands and seemed to put politics aside, just to be on the safe side former NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg stood between them at the ceremony. Later Biden and Harris would visit the United Flight 93 memorial and the Pentagon and later that day so would Trump and Vance.

Dolan at the vest pocket park greeted retired four star US Army General Austin Scott Miller, former Delta Force commander who was the final commander of Nato’s Resolute Support Mission from 2018 to July 2021. Miller tells the crowd he only attended his first memorial in 2021 after he retired from the military, but said, “I will return every year as long as I am able.”

He said of his meetings with firefighters, he always noted a “certain humbleness.”

“We’ve had some bad days in the military, but none of us have had this hard a day....I personally cannot think of more heroic men. The U.S. military is always inspired by you.”

The towers of light from Ground Zero pierced the night time sky in downtown Manhattan once again on 9-11 at sundown and remained blazing until dawn on 9-12, a ray of hope on another tough day in the city.