9/11: 20 Years Later
FDNY lieutenant tells story of surviving
FDNY Lt. Raymond Brown, Aug. 29, 2021, in Sag Harbor, N.Y. Approaching the 20th anniversary
of Sept. 11 he holds a photograph of himself, center, taken by New York Daily News
photographer Todd Maisel and recalls how he survived the terrorist attack at the World Trade
Center.
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 the hotel 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
PHOTO BY DEBBIE EGAN-CHIN
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. 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,
Brooklyn — 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 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,
PROVIDED
Lt. Raymond Brown’s sister Laura, died of 9/11 related cancer.
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