NEW YORK — As Sen. Rand Paul halted the bill this week that would ensure a victims’ compensation fund related to the Sept. 11 attacks never run out of money, the FDNY lost its 199th and 200th members due to illnesses related to the attacks.
Retired firefighters Richard Driscoll and Kevin Nolan succumbed to 9/11-related illnesses.
“They didn’t hesitate to run into danger. They stayed until the work was done,” Mayor Bill de Blasio tweeted.
Driscoll served the FDNY before retiring from Engine 91 in East Harlem in 2002. He died Wednesday.
He was cited for his bravery during his FDNY career, bravely responding to the World Trade Center attacks in 2001.
FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro said, “It is almost incomprehensible that after losing 343 members on September 11, we have now had 200 more FDNY members die due to World Trade Center illness. These heroes gave their lives bravely fighting to rescue and recover others. We will never forget them.”
Retired firefighter Kevin Nolan was the 199th FDNY member to die from 9/11-related illnesses. He died Tuesday.
Nolan retired in 2007 from Engine 79.
“Kevin is the 199th member of the FDNY to die of World Trade Center related illness,” Nigro said. “So many years later, we continue to lose those who displayed such incredible bravery on that terrible day, and in the weeks that followed.”
First responders reacted to Sen. Rand Paul’s blockage, mentioning the 200th FDNY death.
“As Rand Paul was grand standing in the senate, one of our brothers was dying,” one said.
Related: Rand Paul stops unanimous passage of 9/11 first responders funding bill
“He’s going to tweet out about the cost? Maybe the federal government should’ve considered the cost before they lied to us and sent us to that toxic dust cloud — before they sent 19,000 students back to a school in that toxic dust cloud.”
