FDNY Rescue 1 on 9/11: The Eleven Lost and the Rebuild

On the morning of September 11, 2001, every firefighter aboard FDNY Rescue Company 1’s rig died in the collapse of the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Eleven men rode out of the West 43rd Street firehouse that morning because a shift change put both the outgoing and incoming crews on the truck. None came back. Rescue 1 was one of the hardest-hit companies of the 343 FDNY members killed that day, and rebuilding it took the next year of another captain’s career.

Why Rescue 1 Was There

Rescue 1 is Manhattan’s special operations unit, trained and equipped for structural collapses, high-rise fires, confined-space rescues, and other emergencies that outrun what standard engine and ladder companies can handle. Its members carry saws, torches, and climbing gear, and undergo additional training that regular firefighters do not. Within the FDNY, rescue companies sit alongside squad companies and SOC-support ladder companies under the Special Operations Command. Firefighter Dave Marmonn described the role plainly: “After us, nobody else is coming.”¹

When American Airlines Flight 11 struck the North Tower, Rescue 1 was one of the units dispatched into the building.

What Happened That Morning

The rig carried eleven firefighters instead of a normal crew because members from both shifts boarded when the alarm came in.¹ Captain Terence Hatton, a twenty-year veteran and one of the FDNY’s most decorated officers, led them up the stairs of the North Tower.²

They pushed deep into the building. Hatton’s last known radio transmission was a distress call: “Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! Rescue 1 is trapped.”³ Several members of the company were later found in a stairwell of the North Tower.¹ All eleven died when the tower came down.

The wider FDNY response was crippled by communication failures. Radios worked poorly inside the towers, and the repeater system meant to boost signals was never activated. FDNY and NYPD operated with no effective interagency coordination, and evacuation orders issued by chiefs in the North Tower lobby never reached 911 operators or dispatchers.⁴ Rescue 1, working high in the building, had limited awareness of what was happening above them and limited ability to receive an order to withdraw.

The Eleven Members of Rescue 1

The eleven Rescue Company 1 firefighters killed on September 11, 2001 were:⁵

Captain Terence S. Hatton, 41. A FEMA task force leader who had deployed to the Oklahoma City bombing and the TWA Flight 800 crash, nicknamed “Capt. Man-Hatton” for his knowledge of Manhattan’s buildings. Mayor Rudolph Giuliani called him a “resident hero.” His wife, Elizabeth Petrone Hatton, learned she was pregnant the day after his death; their daughter was named Terri.²⁶
Lieutenant Dennis Mojica, 50. A twenty-nine-year FDNY veteran and former U.S. Navy serviceman from Brooklyn, a member of the FDNY Holy Name Society and Hispanic Society, survived by his teenage daughter Alex. A Manhattan street was later dedicated as “FDNY Lieutenant Dennis Mojica Way.”⁷⁸
Joseph Angelini Sr., 63, the oldest member of the crew lost that day.
Gary Geidel, 44.
William Henry, 49.
Kenneth Joseph Marino, 40.
Michael G. Montesi, 39.
Gerard Terence Nevins, 46.
Patrick J. O’Keefe, 44, survived by his wife Karen, daughter Jennifer, and son Timmy.¹
Brian Edward Sweeney, 29, the youngest of the eleven.
David M. Weiss, 41. A fourteen-year FDNY veteran who had previously earned the Emily Trevor/Mary B. Warren Medal for Heroism after jumping into the East River off the FDR Drive to rescue a driver whose car had gone into the water. On September 11, Weiss was reported to have been on the 30th floor of the North Tower when the evacuation mayday came through. He refused to leave, saying there were people on the 50th floor who needed help. His remains were never recovered. Fellow Rescue 1 members later arranged for his grave footstone to read “hero” rather than “victim.”⁹¹⁰

Before September 11, four memorial plaques hung in the West 43rd Street firehouse, honoring members killed in the line of duty in 1925, 1962, 1970, and 1994. Eleven more were added after the attacks.¹

Rebuilding the Company

Losing an entire on-duty crew meant Rescue 1 had to be rebuilt from the ground up. That job fell to Captain Robert Morris Sr., who took command of the company after the attacks. Morris led search and rescue operations at the rubble pile in the immediate aftermath and then spent the following year reconstituting the unit and returning it to normal operations.¹¹¹²

As company commander, Morris set new standard operating procedures for fireground operations, technical rescue, water rescue, and EMS. He developed protocols for aircraft and helicopter rescue scenarios, including procedures for the movement of foreign diplomats and the President of the United States. Morris invented several firefighting tools during his FDNY career, among them the Rex Tool for forcible entry, a mono pod for high-angle rescue, and a hydraulic lifting strut system. He authored the FDNY Forcible Entry Handbook, later became a senior instructor at the Connecticut Fire Academy, and in 2024 was appointed chief of the Stamford, Connecticut Fire Department. He received the FDIC Tom Brennan Lifetime Achievement Award in 2025.¹¹

The Toll That Kept Growing

The losses at Rescue 1 and across the FDNY did not stop on September 11. Firefighters who worked rescue, recovery, and cleanup at Ground Zero breathed a toxic mix of dust and debris that has produced lasting illness across the department. As of 2016, twenty-six percent of the FDNY’s WTC-exposed cohort had been diagnosed with obstructive airways disease, and rates of post-traumatic stress disorder, cancer, and other chronic conditions were sharply elevated among members who arrived at the site on the morning of the attacks.¹³ More than 15,600 FDNY WTC-exposed responders enrolled in the department’s medical monitoring and treatment program, and by late 2016 over 10,400 had been certified by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health as having at least one WTC-related health condition.

The federal government’s response was the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010, named for an NYPD detective who died of a respiratory disease linked to WTC exposure. The law established the WTC Health Program, which provides free medical monitoring and treatment for eligible responders and survivors, and reactivated the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund for those who suffered physical harm.¹⁴ Cancers were officially added as covered conditions under the act in 2012.¹³ In 2019, President Trump signed the Never Forget the Heroes Act, which permanently authorized the Victim Compensation Fund through 2090. By one count, the number of FDNY members who have died from WTC-related illnesses has now surpassed the 343 killed on the day of the attacks itself.¹⁵

1
CBS News. Rescue 1, Rescue 2
2
National September 11 Memorial & Museum. Remembering Terence Hatton
3
Coffee or Die Magazine. Tim Brown FDNY
4
National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States. 9/11 Commission Report, Chapter 9
5
George W. Bush White House Archives. September 11, 2003 Photo Essay
6
National Fallen Firefighters Foundation. Terence S. Hatton
7
National Fallen Firefighters Foundation. Dennis Mojica
8
Voices Center for Resilience. Lt. Dennis Mojica
9
National Fallen Firefighters Foundation. David M. Weiss
10
NJ Jewish News. Man Honors Firefighter He Considered a Son
11
Fire Engineering. Robert Morris Sr., 2025 Tom Brennan Lifetime Achievement Award
12
Connecticut News 12. Stamford Fire Chief Gives First Interview About 9/11 Experience
13
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. FDNY WTC Health Program Report
14
International Association of Fire Fighters. WTC Health Resources
15
ABC News. FDNY Members Who Died at World Trade Center