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Visiting NYC Firefighters Offer Perspective on Bin Laden's Death

New York City Fire Department officials John Nykiel (left) and Roger Sakowich (right) greet V.I. Fire Service Assistant Director Daryl George (middle) during their trip to the territory Monday.As the news of Osama Bin Laden’s death fueled celebrations across the mainland Monday, two visiting N.Y. Fire Department officials, on the ground during the 2001 terrorist attacks, offered a more sobering perspective: a simple wish of peace for the families of colleagues lost during the tragedy.

Roger Sakowich was captain of the New York Fire Department’s Engine 6 Company on that fateful Sept. 11 morning, and recalled Monday that he lost four men in the response effort. According to internet reports, Engine 6 was among the first called to the scene, since they had a pumper specifically designed to fight fires in skyscrapers, such as the World Trade Center — which Sakowich said was on the company’s route.

Without going into details about what happened that day — when hijackers took over four commercial passenger flights that were used to bring down targets in New York and Washington, D.C. — Sakowich told local reporters that his sympathies now extend to the families of the victims.

"I don’t know if this is going to bring any relief, but it certainly is something," he said during an interview outside the Hotel Company station in downtown St. Thomas. Sakowich and colleague John Nykiel, New York Fire Department’s battalion chief in charge of counter-terrorism, stopped in the territory Monday while on a cruise and dropped in to greet their V.I. counterparts.

Nykiel, an NYFD deputy chief during 9/11, echoed the sentiment, calling the recent news a "big relief off our shoulders." The hope now, he added, is that the families—and the rest of the nation—can live in peace "for the rest of our lives."

While news reports have continued to speculate over what the response from Bin Laden’s operatives might be, Nykiel said information garnered from the 9/11 attacks have significantly affected operations and procedures—not only for fire departments across the nation, but worldwide.

New "intel sections" keep communications open between the agencies, making sure information that might not have been passed along years ago gets to people—including firefighters on the front lines— who need it, Nykiel explained.

Speaking Monday, Deputy V.I. Fire Chief David Hodge explained that the territory is not far removed from these efforts, but rather, right in the middle of things when it comes to tightening its emergency operations.

"Even our training has been extended to include counter-terrorism efforts," he said.

According to a posting on Wikipedia, the FDNY sent out approximately half of its available units and had more than 400 firefighters at the World Trade Center when the towers collapsed. Hoping to give some perspective Monday, Hodge said that the 343 firefighters killed in the response efforts were more than the V.I. Fire Service ranks in both districts.

"It’s amazing what they did," he said.

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