Angel Juarbe, Jr. had already been chosen to be one of 12 firemen in the “Firehouse Hunks 2002” calendar. Just one week before 9/11 he won $250k and a Jeep in a Fox reality show called “Murder in Small Town X,” being the first to solve a fake murder. This 35-year-old firefighter was a 7-year FDNY vet who turned Ladder 12 into a place for neighborhood kids to hang out – after they had finished their homework.
“If you don’t hear from me by 10:30, cancel my haircut appointment,” are the last words firefighter Robert Spear, Jr. said to his wife. She cancelled the appointment at 10:28 after both towers fell. He rode to the towers knowing his brother-in-law was most likely trapped on the 96th floor of the North Tower in the offices of Marsh & McLennan. Firefighter Spear waited 10 years to be called up to the FDNY, and took a 50% pay cut to take on a job he loved. He and Dana Hannon had each been inducted into the FDNY in February 2000.
Engine 26 is the oldest active fire house in NYC, located at 220 W. 37th. Established in 1865, it took over Valley Forge Engine 46 when the state abolished volunteer fire departments with the creation of the Metropolitan Fire Department, controlled by the governor. The FDNY came into being in 1870, ending state control.
Engine 26 lost three men on 9/11. The second was Dana Hannon, 29. He waited seven years between his FDNY exam and being called up to serve, working as a firefighter in Bridgeport, CT, before the call came through. As long as it wasn’t opening day of duck hunting season, he was always there to help.
37-year-old Captain Thomas Farino of Engine 26 was the youngest of six sons of a police officer. Posthumously promoted to Battalion Chief after 9/11, his wife said, “He was the most content person I ever met.” Through a 20-year marriage he told her “Love me all you want. Want me all you want, but don’t need me so much. You have to get your strength from someone higher than me.” After 9/11 she found those words to be a gift.
Made an honorary Irishman by the Consulate General of Ireland, Stephen Belson, 51, spent 23 years in the FDNY, most of them at Ladder 24. Nicknamed “Mr. Ladder 24,” he could back a fire engine into the station in five seconds flat. His last job was as a driver to Battalion Chief Orio Palmer, whom he drove to the WTC that morning.
Daniel Brethel was Captain of Ladder 24 never wanted to be anything but a firefighter. He had already had some close calls in his career, once getting his own neck and ears burned while holding his helmet over an injured firefighter lying in the street. He had gone off duty at 9 that morning but rode with Father Judge down to the site. He told his men,” A lot of firefighters are going to die today. Don’t be one of them.” As the North Tower fell, he dove under a fire truck with one of Firefighter Michael Weinberg but it didn’t protect them. His body was found and brought out by 4 that afternoon.
Firefighter Michael Weinberg of Engine 1 was off-duty waiting for his tee time in Forest Park, Queens, when he saw that the first plane hit. He raced to his firehouse in time to travel down with Capt. Daniel Brethel and Father Mychal Judge. His sister who worked on the 72nd floor of the South Tower had already evacuated and watched the tower fall from the safety of the Brooklyn Bridge. On site, Michael dove under a fire truck for protection and didn’t survive. His was one of the first bodies found. “He loved to help people,” his sister said. A firefighter since 1994, Michael had played baseball for St. John’s in college, (being awarded MVP of the Big East Conference in 1988), then minor league for the Detroit Tigers for 2 years until sidelined by injuries. He was a part-time model and volunteered at the NY Burn Center.
Lt. Andrew Desperito of Engine 1 was a policeman for three years before joining the FDNY. He was also a firefighter at the Hagerman Volunteer Fire Department on Long Island where he lived with his wife and three kids. As a soccer coach, he led his son’s team to championship twice. Engine 1 and Ladder 24 are based at 142 W. 34th Street and were dispatched after the 2nd plane hit. They were assigned to the South Tower.
Although Lt. Philip Petti dreamed of being a firefighter when he was a kid, he tried a few other jobs before joining the FDNY. By 2001 Petti had 18 years on the force and loved every part of the job. On the side, he played almost every team sport, was a “fierce fan” of the Giants, Mets and Rangers, and coached his kids soccer and baseball teams.
Orio Palmer was the Battalion Chief of Battalion 7, and among the most visited faces of Better Angels on tour. 45-years-old, a 20-year FDNY vet, father of three, marathoner and 5x winner of the FDNY’s physical fitness award – which was renamed for him after 9/11. Palmer personally fixed an elevator in the South Tower and took it to the 41st floor, then RAN up the next 37 flights of stairs to reach the 78th floor SkyLobby, which was where the tip of the wing pierced the building at the lowest level. He maintained radio communication with the lobby command post during the first 15 minutes of his ascent, after 9:21 his transmissions were recorded and could only be analyzed later. “Listening to Palmer and his comrades on the recovered tape, one can hear the urgency of men working at high efficiency, but there was never a hint that the clock was running out on them.” At 9:28 Palmer and his team managed to free evacuees trapped in an elevator. At 9:29 the South Tower came down and took all of them with it. The Washington Post wrote that Palmer and his crew had played an “indispensable role in ensuring calm in the stairwells, assisting the injured and guiding the evacuees on the lower floors.”