9/11: 20 YEARS LATER
An FDNY lieutenant who survived
9/11 collapse fi nds his spiritual side
BY TODD MAISEL
Lieutenant Raymond
Brown and his company out
of Brooklyn risked their lives
to enter the partially collapsed
Marriott Hotel on Sept.
11, 2001 to dig out his trapped
fi refi ghter brothers after the
south tower fell.
He and his company only
survived the collapse of the
north tower because it had
been reinforced after the 1993
bombing of the World Trade
Center.
Brown, seriously injured
in the collapse, was rescued
by other fi refi ghters that day
and taken to Jersey City Medical
Center by fi re boat, where
he spent two months recuperating
from serious neck, leg
and back injuries. But he was
determined to go back to work
— a trait of many fi refi ghters
who, unlike other fi rst responders
who retire after 20
years, tend to stay well beyond
minimum retirement threshold.
His biggest lesson though
from 9/11 was the love and
respect he felt from members
of the public who sent letters,
gifts, offered free treatments
related to 9/11.
“After Sept. 11, I learned
how much pain the human
heart can take and how much
love it can’t absorb,” sighed
Brown, born in Queens, but
raised in Sag Harbor, Long Island.
“There was so much love
and support — people were
offering acupuncture and all
kinds of things even voodoo,
yoga. People wanted to avail
themselves of their help. I
found out two women were
paying for my acupuncture.
I started to practice yoga. I
started to ride my bike more,
kayak, fi sh, chase after my
nieces and nephew. My daughter
Molly was 9, and her whole
class adopted me. An upstate
class sent me a fl ag, six feet
high by nine feet wide with
children’s hand prints 0-. So
many fi refi ghters received so
much love and support. Everyone
was waving fl ags, but not
like today where people wave
fl ags and claim, ‘I’m a patriot,
you are not.’”
He did eventually return
to his company, Ladder 113 in
Flatbush — but in 2003, he fell
through the fl oor while battling
a house fi re on Lenox
Road.
“When I fell threw that
fl oor, guys were like, ‘Ray, I
think this is the message,’”
Brown recalled that day he
was nearly killed yet again on
the job. “Firefi ghters don’t do
it for the money because there
are other ways to make money.
To this day people say ‘oh, you
are so lucky you retired early.’
If I had my way, they would’ve
had to force me out at 65 – I
would’ve sat in the chief’s car.
Yes, I was beat up. Two years
later, I needed a double hip replacement.”
The day of 9/11, he and his
company responded to the
World Trade Center from Flatbush
and parked their tower
ladder rig on West Street and
proceeded towards the tower.
Shortly after, the tower collapsed
COURIER LIFE, S A14 EPTEMBER 10-16, 2021
and Brown said he was
blown off his feet and across
West Street along with others
from his company.
After the collapse, his men
rallied back at the fi re truck
and then entered the heavily
damaged Marriott Hotel to
rescue fi refi ghters and others
who were trapped.
“Police offi cers were running
away because their radios
were working, but there
were fi refi ghters running
away too, but I can’t blame
them,” Brown recalled
Brown said they were trying
to reach Lt. Robert Nagle,
but then the north tower collapsed,
injuring him and others
who were trying to claw
through the debris. Nagle was
killed in the second collapse.
Brown said Firefi ghter
Ritchie Nogan found him —
Nogan only having taken part
earlier in the rescue of Firefi
ghter Kevin Shea who was
found outside in the debris
fi eld, the only survivor of his
company.
Amazingly, his company
survived the collapse because
they were in the reinforced
Marriott, while 343 fi refi ghters
were killed. Brown had to
be carried out by Firefi ghters
Frank Dileo and James
Heaney of Engine 209 based
on Bedford Avenue in Brooklyn.
They put him on a fi reboat
that took him to the hospital.
“The doctor came up to me
after I woke six hours later and
I was told my men are alive,
and ‘your daughter knows you
are alive,’” said Brown who
then requested that he not get
drugs for the pain – he had
been sober for 37 years.
And while in the hospital,
he found out his friend and coworker
when he was in Rescue
1 in Manhattan, Captain
Al Fuentes had also survived
and was in the same hospital.
It was Fuentes’ wife, Irene,
who came walking into his
hospital room to give him a bit
of good news.
That’s when the letters
started to arrive. The get-well
cards and well wishes. One
card in particular came from
Karen Kluglein, also a Sag
Harbor resident – the phone
number was there so Brown
being single at that time, eventually
contacted her. Today, he
and Karen, a widower at the
time, are now married and living
in East Hampton.
Brown’s family also became
involved in the rescue
operations, including his
brother Paul, a fi re captain
in Manhattan, and his other
brother Tom, who was already
retired and living in Arizona,
came back to help.
His older sister Laura
Brown-Amodeo, a year older
than him, was a cop in the
101st Precinct in Rockaway,
Queens at the time of 9/11 and
was then sent to the Fresh
Kills landfi ll on Staten Island,
referred to at the time as “the
pile” to search through debris
removed from the World Trade
Center, where small bits were
searched for human remains.
Brown-Amodeo worked
several weeks at the landfi ll
and like many others, contracted
cancer, believed to be
from her exposure to the many
toxins deposited there.
“It was absolutely brutal,”
Brown remembered when his
sister became ill. “She got sick
in the beginning of July 2019 –
may be two or three weeks it
was in her liver and spreading.
She was going to Sloan
Kettering, but we knew she
was dying. It was devastating
for me – I’ve never been in
such pain – everything was in
slow motion – she’s survived
by three kids – I’m close with
her two oldest boys they are
like my sons.”
Today, Brown says he has
become “spiritual” and spends
time with his wife, his daughter
Molly who is now a grade
school teacher, and his stepdaughter
Lilly, who is now in
her third year of law school –
currently doing internships
processing visas for Afghans
fl eeing the war torn nation.
Despite continuing health issues
from his injuries including
a double hip replacement
and what he said was recently
a minor stroke, he is thankful
for being alive.
“There is no way I can
think why I was spared – I
don’t know, I don’t question it
– it’s God’s universe and while
I grew up Catholic I consider
myself a recovering Catholic
and so now God for me is not
God I grew up with. It’s now
about the spirit and nature.”
He also bemoans the current
divisions in society, including
some of his own brothers
who he says are overly
critical of political opposition
— reminding fellow fi refi ghters
that “it was a Republican
President, a Republican governor
and a Democratic senator
who worked together that we
are all benefi ting from now.”
“Whenever a fi refi ghter
criticizes Hillary Clinton, I
ask them to name one politician
that did more for us,”
he said, referring to the 9/11
World Trade Center Health
and Compensation Act. “To
me, that is what we should
never forget – how people in
this country came together
and I hope we can learn that
lesson. Last year was a very
sad year – a lot of people died
of COVID and I have friends
denying there was COVID.”
“We can’t forget the real
reason we can’t forget is what
happened afterwards,” he
added. “People in this world
that want to kill us. I am not
your average fi refi ghter politically,
but I just tell them we
must stick together because
there are people who are evil
around the world, and so we
should learn never let guard
down.”
FDNY Lt. Raymond Brown poses with a photograph of himself taken on
9/11. Photo by Debbie Egan-Chin