{"id":396365,"date":"2026-09-11T00:22:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-11T00:22:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/396365\/"},"modified":"2026-09-11T00:22:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-11T00:22:09","slug":"finding-healing-how-two-retired-fdny-firefighters-honor-fallen-brothers-in-florida","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/396365\/","title":{"rendered":"Finding Healing: How two retired FDNY Firefighters Honor Fallen Brothers in Florida"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Retired \"Retired Retired FDNY Firefighters Honor 9\/11 in Pinellas<\/a> <\/p>\n

Louis Kikis and Rich Miccio are choosing to honor their fallen brothers in Pinellas County rather than traveling to New York City for the 25th anniversary of 9\/11. Fox 13’s Mark Wilson reports.\u00a0<\/p>\n

DUNEDIN, Fla. – Louis Kikis and Rich Miccio are choosing to honor their fallen brothers in Pinellas County rather than traveling to New York City for the 25th anniversary of 9\/11.<\/p>\n

Firefighters seek peace in Dunedin <\/p>\n

What we know:<\/p>\n

For retired FDNY firefighters Louis Kikis and Rich Miccio, avoiding the journey to Manhattan is a way to protect themselves from returning to the site of their trauma. Instead, both men have found a sanctuary for healing at the 9\/11 Memorial located at Curlew Hills Memory Gardens in Dunedin, Florida.<\/p>\n

Miccio, who served with Engine 325 in Queens, completed his shift just as the attacks began and arrived near the North Tower after the South Tower collapsed. Kikis arrived shortly after to lead search and recovery efforts through the rubble. Both men lost dozens of friends on that day and have lost many others in the years since to 9\/11-related illnesses.<\/p>\n

World Trade Center steel in Florida <\/p>\n

The backstory:<\/p>\n

The memorial site at Curlew Hills Memory Gardens features plaques listing the names of the fallen alongside a weathered steel beam recovered from the World Trade Center. The site provides an everyday space for solace rather than just a venue for annual commemorations.<\/p>\n

Both Kikis and Miccio serve on the Curlew Hills 9\/11 Committee. Together, they help organize an annual ceremony that has grown into one of the largest 9\/11 commemorations in the country outside of New York City.<\/p>\n

Memorial service honors 25th anniversary <\/p>\n

What’s next:<\/p>\n

The 25th annual memorial service will take place Friday, Sept. 11, at 10 a.m. at Curlew Hills Memory Gardens, located at 1750 Curlew Road in Palm Harbor, Fla. The public is invited to attend the ceremony.<\/p>\n

This year’s guest speaker will be Genelle Guzman McMillan, the final survivor rescued from Ground Zero. She will share her story of surviving 27 hours buried under the rubble following the collapse of the World Trade Center North Tower.<\/p>\n

Solace away from Manhattan <\/p>\n

What they’re saying:<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s hard to believe it\u2019s 25 years… It’ll always be 9\/11 in our eyes,” Kikis said of the milestone. Reflecting on the aftermath of the attack, Kikis noted, “Everything was gone… so we got out, picked a spot and started looking for bodies. And that\u2019s what we did. If it wasn\u2019t down at the site, it was one funeral after another and wakes… And that\u2019s all you did.”<\/p>\n

Miccio recalled his arrival at Ground Zero, saying, “Some guys went right, some guys went left. The only heroes didn\u2019t go home that day. The rest of us were lucky.” Explaining what the local memorial means to him today, Miccio added, “Everyone who comes to visit us\u2014friends and family\u2014they get in the car and they’re going with us. I’m taking them… It’s home for us, for sure.”<\/p>\n

Details surrounding local recovery efforts <\/p>\n

What we don’t know:<\/p>\n

Officials have not detailed how many total attendees are expected at Friday morning’s ceremony in Palm Harbor. It also remains unconfirmed whether additional local first responder agencies will participate in the formal procession.<\/p>\n

The Source: The information in this story was gathered from accounts provided by retired FDNY firefighters Louis Kikis and Rich Miccio, as well as event details released by the Curlew Hills 9\/11 Committee regarding the annual commemoration service in Pinellas County.<\/p>\n

September 11<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Retired FDNY Firefighters Honor 9\/11 in Pinellas Louis Kikis and Rich Miccio are choosing to honor their fallen…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":396366,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[115,21612,202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-396365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-news","tag-september-11","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=396365"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396365\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/396366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=396365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=396365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=396365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}