Allan Appel Photo
Sens. Murphy & Blumenthal with firefigthters Tuesday.
Two U.S. senators called a press conference with firefighters in New Haven Tuesday — then called it a shame that they had to call the press conference.
The press conference took place at the New Haven Fire Training Academy on Ella Grasso Boulevard, where U.S. Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy celebrated the lobbying of firefighters the helped lead to the passage of a permanent extension of the World Trade Center Health Program and the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund.
Passage of the Zadroga Act extends the programs indefinitely with $3.5 billion for health costs for those with illness or injury related to the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the Twin Towers; and $4.5 billion in compensation to responders and their survivors. The original legislation had been set to expire this year.
The senators called it shameful that they had to convince enough Republicans to sign on to pass the bill — and, to get there, to agree to eliminate some funding in Medicaid programs for the poor and the elderly.
Blumenthal called it shameful that firefighters and other first responders had to lobby the halls of Congress to pass what should have been a clear and simple moral obligation.
“I think it’s an abomination that we are having to have this press conference today,” Murphy declared as he took the podium with firefighter leaders behind him and members of class #59, the newest recruits to the New Haven Fire Department, in their red training sweatshirts looking intently up from below.
Murphy called it an outrageous double standard that “we had to cut Medicaid benefits to pay for this,” which was not done for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Rick Fontana, current deputy director for emergency operations in New Haven, was a West Haven firefighter on Sept. 13 and 14, 2001. He spent those days wearing an N95 mask and other protective gear, along with 24 of his colleagues from the West Haven Fire Department.
They were manning a bucket brigade, removing small debris from the still smoldering pile of the World Trade Center.
Fontana said so far no signs or symptoms of illness from that potentially lethal work have surfaced for him. He called it a “comfort” that that the government’s help is in place in case problems do surface.
The recruits.
Of the 70,000 people who worked at the site, about 33,000 have come down with illness or injury as a result. Some 22,000 have availed themselves of the health program so far, Blumenthal said.
Of those, 4,000 have 9 – 11 related cancers, and 12,000 have been deemed eligible for the compensation fund so far.
About 400 Connecticut residents are involved with the health program; 38 are receiving compensation.
Fire recruits Robert Walker and Matt Muolo both said that while they have dreamed of becoming firemen since they were kids, 9 – 11 offered “additional inspiration,” as Muolo termed it.
New Haven Assistant Fire Chief Matt Marcarelli said that most of the 14 recruits in the audience likely did not even have their drivers’ licenses in 2001. “This is a big deal for us. I’ve attended [too] many funerals,” he said.
The extension benefits not only for firefighters and police but other first responders like iron workers.
The destruction on 9 – 11 “actively changed the way we train. All firefighters now receive training in how to respond to weapons of mass destruction,” Marcarelli said added.
The new class graduates on Jan. 12 in ceremonies to be conducted at Career High School.