JACKSONVILLE, Onslow County \u2014 Twenty-five years after the Sept. 11 attacks, retired New York City firefighter and Vietnam veteran Dennis Keating still remembers the decision that took him and his fellow firefighters to Ground Zero.<\/p>\n
Today, Keating calls Jacksonville home. Before moving to Eastern North Carolina, he lived on Staten Island and served with the New York City Fire Department’s Ladder 37.<\/p>\n
“As far as I\u2019m concerned, I was in the two best outfits in the world \u2014 brotherhood \u2014 Marine Corps and fire department,” Keating said.<\/p>\n
On Sept. 11, 2001, that brotherhood was called on after the attacks on the World Trade Center.<\/p>\n
Keating said his unit reported to Manhattan North, where numerous units were waiting for orders. Eventually, his captain asked if they wanted to head to Ground Zero.<\/p>\n
“And we says yeah,” Keating recalled.<\/p>\n
At Ground Zero, Keating and other responders searched through the destruction, still holding out hope that survivors could be found.<\/p>\n
“You can\u2019t let it eat at you while you\u2019re getting your business done,” Keating said. “You can\u2019t detract, \u2019cause there just might be somebody that is still alive, and that\u2019s what our promise was.”<\/p>\n
Keating said responders knew the site was dangerous, but they did not understand the full extent of the health risks they faced.<\/p>\n
According to reporting supplied for this story, New York City’s administration recently released more than 170,000 pages of records related to 9\/11, including documents concerning air quality and health risks following the attacks. News 12 could not access web search in preparing this version of the story to independently verify current details surrounding that release.<\/p>\n
Asked whether knowing more about the air quality would have changed his decision to respond, Keating did not hesitate.<\/p>\n
“No. No, not at all,” he said. “None of us. None of us. I can speak for them too. They could speak for me.”<\/p>\n
His concern instead centers on the respiratory protection available to those working at Ground Zero.<\/p>\n
“What they should acknowledge is, guys, wear your mask. It\u2019s bad news down there. It\u2019s bad news,” Keating said.<\/p>\n
The reporting supplied for this story also states the FDNY reported this month that more than 10,000 members have been certified with at least one 9\/11-related physical health condition, including more than 4,000 with a cancer certification. Those current figures could not be independently checked through web search for this version of the story.<\/p>\n
For Keating, the toll has become personal as he recognizes names of fellow firefighters who have died.<\/p>\n
“We have a periodical that\u2019s for the fire department and you go through and you look and you go, \u2018Kevin?! From my house!\u2019” Keating said. “And you look and these guys are dying and it\u2019s cancer. Cancer.”<\/p>\n
The release of the records has also become part of a broader controversy involving New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration. Keating was critical of the mayor, saying he does not consider Mamdani part of the 9\/11 community.<\/p>\n
But when Keating looks back at the days immediately after the attacks, he also remembers a sense of unity.<\/p>\n
“We were on the way uptown, people clapping,” Keating said. “And woah, that felt good, that they were actually acknowledging us. We were all like ready to cry, tears coming from our eyes.”<\/p>\n
For Keating, Sept. 11 remains part of his daily life 25 years later. Now, his 14-month-old grandson also gives him something to look toward.<\/p>\n
“I wanna be around for the little guys,” Keating said. “I pray for that, man. Let me live long enough so I can see my grandson.”<\/p>\n
Twenty-five years later, Keating knows more about the dangers he and other responders walked into at Ground Zero. But he says knowing then what he knows now would not have stopped him from going.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Onslow County \u2014 Twenty-five years after the Sept. 11 attacks, retired New York City firefighter and Vietnam…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":404708,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117],"class_list":["post-404707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404707","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=404707"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404707\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/404708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=404707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=404707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=404707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}