FDNY loses 300th member to 9/11-related illness
NEW YORK -- The FDNY has reached another tragic milestone 21 years after 9/11. According to the union, more than 300 firefighters have now died from illnesses related to the terror attack.
Thursday, a funeral was held for Retired Battalion Chief Joseph McKie, who died Sunday from a 9/11-related illness, in Floral Park.
The funeral for another FDNY member will be held on Monday.
"The numbers are accelerating. It just doesn't stop and the need for health care for our members is ongoing," said Andrew Ansbro, president of the FDNY-Uniformed Firefighters Association.
"Over a thousand people have been diagnosed with cancers in the fire department alone. Many of them in hospice, all of them under medical treatment," said Lt. James McCarthy, president of the FDNY-Uniformed Fire Officers Association
Funding for the Zadroga Act, which covers health care for 9/11-related conditions, was recently extended to 2025.
Three hundred and forty-three FDNY members died on Sept. 11, 2001.