A quarter of a century after the catastrophic terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, veteran members of the Chicago Fire Department are looking back on the pivotal days when hundreds of the city's first responders rushed across the country to aid recovery efforts at Ground Zero. The anniversary serves as a solemn reminder of an event that permanently altered the geopolitical landscape and forever bonded first responders from Chicago and New York City.
The coordinated attacks claimed thousands of lives across three locations: the World Trade Center towers in Lower Manhattan, the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where passengers on United Flight 93 fought back against hijackers to prevent the aircraft from reaching another intended target. In the immediate aftermath, emergency personnel nationwide watched the catastrophe unfold in stunned disbelief before mobilizing into action.
In Chicago, the morning began with profound confusion and rapid security assessments. Jim Joyce, who was serving as the Chicago Fire Department commissioner at the time, was exercising at a downtown fitness center prior to starting his workday when initial news reports flashed across the television screens. As the magnitude of the tragedy in New York became apparent, local officials quickly braced for the possibility of broader threats.
Joyce soon received an urgent communication from City Hall, where officials were actively considering shutting down the municipal headquarters out of fear that Chicago might be the next target in the unfolding assault. Joyce pushed back strongly against the proposal, arguing that evacuating the building would send a damaging message of panic and helplessness to the public when strong leadership was needed most.
Ultimately, Chicago’s City Hall remained open, and the department quickly pivoted from local defense preparations to organizing mutual aid for New York. Driven by a deep sense of professional duty, hundreds of Chicago firefighters prepared to travel east to reinforce their overwhelmed counterparts in the Fire Department of the City of New York.
Among the earliest personnel to reach Manhattan was Pat Maloney, who served as the CFD's Chief of Operations before later becoming chief of the Niles Fire Department. Maloney recalled crossing the George Washington Bridge under the cover of darkness, encountering a surreal and smoke-choked skyline that bore little resemblance to the television footage they had watched hours earlier.
Upon checking in with incident commanders at the disaster site, the Chicago team was immediately thrust into grueling conditions. Maloney remembered the scene commander offering a grim greeting—"Hey Chicago, welcome to Hell"—before immediately assigning a 10-man team equipped with two hand lines to suppress active fires still burning beneath the mangled wreckage.
A second wave of Chicago personnel arrived the following day, including Tom Ryan, a veteran firefighter who would later serve as president of the Chicago Fire Fighters Union Local 2. Facing a mountain of twisted steel and pulverized concrete, Ryan and his fellow crew members joined the painstaking search for potential survivors, relying on basic tools, buckets, and their bare hands to dig through the rubble.
The physical demands placed on the responders were severe, with personnel working exhausting shifts lasting between 16 and 18 hours daily. With local infrastructure decimated and operational demands high, exhausted firefighters often collapsed to sleep directly on nearby sidewalks before resuming their search efforts amid the ruins.
Throughout their time at the site, rescue crews constantly inhaled toxic dust and particulate matter generated by the collapse of the Twin Towers. Despite the hazardous environment, the Chicago teams remained focused on the singular, urgent objective of sifting through the debris pile in hopes of pulling someone out alive.
Beyond the physical labor at the pile, Chicago firefighters took on the solemn duty of standing with FDNY families at memorial services. Ryan noted that contingents of 12 to 15 Chicago members would attend funerals in full dress uniform, offering support to grieving households devastated by the loss of 343 FDNY members who perished in the initial collapses.
The shared tragedy forged unbreakable bonds between the two departments that have endured for decades. Herbie Johnson, a Chicago firefighter who responded to Ground Zero, was killed in the line of duty in 2012 while battling a fire in Chicago's Gage Park neighborhood. Dozens of FDNY firefighters traveled to Illinois to pay their respects at his funeral, reciprocating the support shown to them years earlier.
Johnson’s legacy, along with that of the fallen New York responders, is permanently memorialized at Chicago's King-Lockhart Park, which features a piece of recovered World Trade Center steel donated in Johnson's honor. The connection remains vibrant today through the annual Herbie Johnson Memorial Golf Tournament, which continues to draw New York firefighters to Chicago each year.
The human toll of September 11 continues to grow long after the towers fell. In total, the attacks claimed the lives of 343 FDNY firefighters, 60 police officers, and eight paramedics, while the remains of more than 1,000 victims have never been recovered. In the decades since, hundreds of additional emergency responders have died from chronic illnesses linked to Ground Zero exposure, with veterans like Maloney and Ryan continuing to manage long-term medical complications.
Twenty-five years later, as Joyce reflects with gratitude that Chicago avoided direct attack, Maloney and Ryan are returning to New York for milestone remembrance ceremonies. For the responders who answered the call in 2001, honoring their fallen comrades and standing together remains an enduring obligation anchored in the principle that united them in the pile: united we stand.
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