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NEW YORK — Twenty-five years after Sept. 11, 2001, a group of New York City firefighters, who were stationed together on the Upper East Side, continue to honor the memories of colleagues lost in the attacks through the preservation of historic firehouse riding lists.
The firefighters began their careers at a firehouse on East 85th Street and were assigned there on 9/11. Now among a shrinking number of firefighters still serving from that era, they recently returned to the firehouse where their careers began.
“This is my home,” said Captain Douglas Mitchell, who has been on the job now for 27 years. “This is where I started, this is where I learned the whole job.”
7 Eyewitness News in New York was there as he reunited with two other firefighters, Stephen Saucedo and Juan Rivera, who originally worked at the firehouse on East 85h Street. All three men are still on the job today.
“I’m blessed I’m still here,” Saucedo said. “There aren’t a lot of us left, obviously.”
Rivera added, “Twenty-five years later it’s like, oh wow, you’re the old man here.”
There are about 840 firefighters left on the job today that were working on 9/11.
The men reflected on the passage of time and the bond that has kept them in the profession.
Asked what has kept him going, Saucedo said, “It’s a belonging. A camaraderie that you like to be part of and it’s hard to let it go.”
While the firefighters joke that they have grown “a lot grayer” over the years, they said their memories of Sept. 11 have not faded. They worried, however, that another important reminder of that day could disappear.
In firehouses across the country, firefighters maintain chalkboard riding lists that display the names of those on duty. The lists are updated regularly.
“We change them every morning and every evening,” said the captain.
Following the collapse of the World Trade Center towers, nine firefighters from the firehouse were unaccounted for. Their names remained on the riding list board.
New York City firefighters are preserving the memories of colleagues lost in the 9/11 attacks through the preservation of historic firehouse riding lists.
“These are our people,” Capt. Mitchell said. “Nobody wanted to touch anything about them. Looking at that board made us have some hope.”
As days passed, firefighters became concerned that the chalk-written names would not survive.
“You know, this is chalk on a chalkboard, this is not going to last,” the captain said.
Their concern was eventually addressed when conservators at the nearby Metropolitan Museum of Art learned about the boards. They used special pins and glue to repair them, then they preserved the riding list behind temperature controlled glass.
“You’re doing something different for a good cause,” one conservator said. “You become attached to them. Even though they’re gone, they’ve been here so long I know all these guys.”
Historian Harold Holzer, who worked at the museum during the restoration, recalled the significance of preserving the boards.
“The Roman chariot was in the same room and the conservator just left it there, which shows you that civilizations can endure as long as we can protect their memory,” Holzer said.
For the firefighters, the preserved boards are more priceless and teachable to the men than any ancient artifact.
“What a wonderful history it is to have it here in the firehouse where those members worked, and where they died,” said Capt. Mitchell.
They’re not just names on a board. They’re nine men who rushed in when everyone rushed out. Each name represents a life and a story, from the longtime captain in charge, to the police officer turned firefighter, and the father who had twin babies at home. There’s a story behind each one.
When asked whether they still wonder why they survived while others did not, the firefighters offered a simple answer: “All the time. Every day. All the time.”
Many of the firefighters spent months working at Ground Zero after the attacks, searching through the debris.
“Time, for me, doesn’t heal all wounds,” Saucedo said. “You just learn to adapt.”
For Saucedo, the losses remain deeply personal. His brother Gregory, also a firefighter, entered the north tower on Sept. 11 and never returned. His remains were never recovered.
“My brother and I lived together our whole life in the same house, you know?” he said. “I think I never went 25 days without seeing him let alone 25 years.”
He said preserving the riding lists and the memories they represent is an important responsibility for those who remain.
“We’re here to pass down that tradition,” he said. “What they taught us, instilled in us and pass it on to the next generation.”
The firefighters said their duty now extends beyond answering emergency calls. It includes ensuring future generations remember the men whose names remain preserved on the firehouse wall.
“Sept. 11 comes around once a year for everybody else,” Saucedo said. “But for us, it’s every day.”
The nine firefighters who worked for Engine 22/Ladder 13/Battalion 10 on East 85th were:
- Captain Walter Hynes
- Firefighter Thomas Casoria
- Firefighter Michael Elferis
- Firefighter Thomas Hetzel
- Firefighter Vincent Kane
- Firefighter Martin McWilliams
- Firefighter Thomas Sabella
- Firefighter Gregory Stajk
- Firefighter Dennis McHugh
