9/11: 20 YEARS LATER
How a Gerritsen Beach
council candidate pivoted
to volunteer fi refi ghter
COURIER LIFE, SEPTEMBER 10-16, 2021 A7
BY TODD MAISEL
Doreen Greenwood-Garson
was canvassing for votes
for her New York City Council
primary run on that fateful
Sept. 11, 2001.
At age 49, the life-long
Gerritsen Beach resident
was standing with supporters
at the Volunteer Hall of
the Gerritsen Beach Fire Department
where she served
as a captain at that time when
somebody yelled to turn on
the radio.
“I didn’t pay much attention
at that moment, but then
I went to my daughter April’s
house to join her at the polling
site at PS 277. I turned
on CNN and I watched the
second plane hit the World
Trade Center, and then I realized
why they were telling me
to turn on the radio,” Garson
recalled.
Garson is a 30-year veteran
and only woman to
achieve the rank of chief in
the Gerritsen Beach Volunteer
Fire Department (GBVFD),
one of seven volunteer
fi re companies in a city with
more than 10,000 paid municipal
fi refi ghters.
A day that changed
everything
On that day, all of those
volunteer companies were
called on to run to the site of
the terror attack on the World
Trade Center or to man fi rehouses
after the collapse
killed 343 fi refi ghters and
thousands of other rescuers
and civilians.
At the time, Garson went
to her son Paul’s house and
convinced him not to run to
the disaster until the NYPD
gave the go-ahead. A contingent
of the GBVFD was immediately
deployed to Engine
321 on Gerritsen Avenue in
Marine Park, but the company’s
leadership had “a pow
wow” to discuss deploying
to Ground Zero after the collapse
of the two towers.
At 8 pm that evening, she
and a group of GBVFD members
arrived through a dustfi
lled Brooklyn Battery Tunnel
in a volunteer vehicle
with emergency supplies and
fi rst aid gear.
“An NYPD cop told us to
make a right onto West Street
and we then set up a fi rst aid
station on South Thames
and Albany,” she said. “We
thought they would bring
people, we would assist the
injured and we brought a lot
fi rst aid gear. We went to fi nd
water in a nearby hotel — nobody
was there. We just kept
fi shing and looking for stuff.
When we ventured out, it was
eerily silent and we couldn’t
really fi nd anybody to help.”
Garson had been an EMT
since 1986. She was inspired
to join the GBVFD after her
5-year-old daughter fell unconscious
and she called the
volunteers.
“I called them to help and
nobody answered the phone,”
Garson remembered. “So I
went down to the fi rehouse on
a Sunday for drill and I asked
what’s wrong with you that
nobody answered the phone.
They told me, ‘we don’t have
enough people — here’s an application.’”
She originally joined to be
a dispatcher, but became involved
in fi refi ghting. Over
the years, she became immersed
in the daily workings
and helped to develop the
unit‘s strength.
She also taught fi rst responder
fi rst aid at Randalls
Island, some of those people
were lost on 9/11.
“I loved making a difference
and I knew how it felt as
I had called so many times for
help with my father,” Garson
said.
Garson and her team stayed
through the night and into the
morning into Sept. 12.
“We were tired and I was
up more than 24 hrs so then
we went home to sleep,” Garson
said. “The next day it
rained and I was out with
my son, and President Bush
came down in a helicopter. A
lot of people showed up that
day – it was pouring rain
and we stood on line and got
into bucket brigade, passing
buckets. There were a couple
of friendly search and rescue
dogs – but they were nervous.”
Nervous for a reason, Garson
said. She said buildings
were creaking, dust permeated
the air.
“They said the air wasn’t
toxic, but we had N-95 masks
anyway,” Garson recalled.
“Both my sons were down
there a lot, Charles was in
the electrical union and his
and many other skills were
needed. My son Paul was in
the 60th Precinct down there
directing a lot of traffi c before
he became part of emergency
service units. They all
took turns going there, but I
didn’t go back.”
20 years after
Numerous Brooklyn residents
died in that attack, including
Firefi ghter Larry Veling,
a resident of Gerritsen
Beach. The little league fi eld
on Gerritsen Avenue was
named for him because of his
activism with children in the
community.
While Garson did not win
her primary for City Council
against Lew Fidler, she remained
busy with the GBVFD
for 30 years. She currently
runs a real estate brokerage
in her community, and despite
a bout with bladder cancer
that she caught early on,
she continues to work with
her community.
Her volunteer activity is
now as a member of the Community
Emergency Response
Team, (NYC CERT), who’s
members are dedicated volunteers
who undergo a training
program that provides basic
response skills needed for
fi re safety, light search and
rescue, community disaster
support, disaster medical operations,
and traffi c control.
She learned that it was important
to take an active role
int he community and “to
care about others.”
“I think it is really important
for the kids today to
know that we are all brothers
and sisters and we have to
be there for each other – if we
are not there for each other
and united, even our smallest
brothers and sisters and as
large as America, the United
States, we have to learn that
we are only there for each
other,” she said.
Doreen Garson of Gerritsen Beach talks about 9/11 as a volunteer fi refi
ghter. Photo by Todd Maisel
Doreen Garson, former Chief at the Gerritsen Beach Volunteer Firefi ghters
in Brooklyn, photographed assisting with injuries and search efforts.
She joined hundreds of other volunteer fi refi ghters helping rescuers on
9/11 and after. Doreen Garson