Twenty-five years after Sept. 11, 2001, FDNY Chief of Department John Esposito joins podcast hosts Jim Dudley, Rob Lawrence and Aaron Zamzow of Police1’s Policing Matters, EMS1’s EMS One-Stop and FireRescue1’s Better Every Shift for a deeply personal conversation about 9/11, its enduring impact and the lessons that continue to shape fire, EMS and law enforcement. Esposito was a newly promoted FDNY lieutenant on Sept. 11, 2001. He recalls returning to the city after the towers fell, the collapse of command and communications, the desperate effort to account for missing members, and the realization that FDNY had suffered unimaginable losses.
The discussion moves beyond remembrance to examine what emergency services learned: stronger accountability, controlling self-deployment, incident management teams, interoperable communications, interagency cooperation, intelligence sharing and peer support. Esposito also reflects on the continuing toll of World Trade Center-related illness and explains why “never forget” must mean more than remembering 343 names. For him, it means remembering the decisions responders made, the conditions they faced and the thousands of lives their actions helped save. His challenge to today’s generation is simple: know your job, keep learning, take care of your people and ask whether you are prepared to “measure up” to those who came before.
Key quotes from FDNY Chief of Department John Esposito
“Never forget is not just their names and who they were, how they lived their lives, and most importantly, the decisions that they made that day and the actions that they took.”
“They’re like, ‘No, we think we lost everybody.’ And that was when it started to sink in that no, this is gonna be as bad as it could be.”
“If we never showed up and we had no losses that day, the loss of civilians is in the tens of thousands.”
“This is your legacy. This is our legacy, this is what we do, and these are the people that did this before us.”
“I believe that some of them knew that they were not going to make it home that night. And they still did their job.”
“September twelfth came, the doors of the firehouse went up, people got on fire trucks, and they went out and did their job.”
“It was like an all-star team that we lost. Some of the best people to ever do this job we lost that day.”
“I see my job here and our job in this building and headquarters is to take care of the people that take care of the city.”
“We have no idea. We’re in a firehouse or an ambulance one second and in five minutes we could be in the worst situation we’ve ever been in.”
“It’s our job to make sure that the people in the field are prepared and when they need something, it’s our job to get it for them.”
Episode timeline
00:27 – Introduction: EMS1, FireRescue1 and Police1 come together to reflect on 25 years since September 11
02:28 – Introduction: FDNY Chief of Department John Esposito
03:23 – Chief Esposito recalls Sept. 11, 2001 as a newly promoted lieutenant with a day off and plans to study for the captain’s exam
04:28 – Chief Esposito details arriving in lower Manhattan and finding command structures and communications devastated
05:04 – The desperate process of identifying who was alive, missing or lost
07:00 – Chief Esposito describes his initial response and why he never imagined the towers could collapse
09:00 – “We think we lost everybody.” When the magnitude of FDNY’s losses began to become clear
09:30 – Accountability and self-deployment emerge as major lessons from 9/11
10:00 – How FDNY now wants off-duty members to report to firehouses and EMS stations rather than directly to an incident
10:30 – Modern digital accountability, riding lists and identifiable radio transmissions compared with 2001’s paper systems
12:00 – The human factor: firefighters desperate to get aboard apparatus headed toward the World Trade Center
12:30 – Leadership decisions that removed extra firefighters from overloaded apparatus ultimately saved lives
14:00 – The continuing human toll: FDNY’s memorial walls and deaths from World Trade Center-related illness
16:30 – How FDNY will commemorate the 25th anniversary
17:30 – Why September 11 remembrance is intensely personal for individual firefighters and families
21:00 – Chief Esposito discusses the emotional effect September 11 continues to have on him
22:00 – “Never forget” means remembering actions and decisions, not merely names
24:00 – The actions of responders helped prevent civilian deaths potentially reaching into the tens of thousands
25:00 – Managing the overwhelming desire of responders to help during catastrophic incidents
27:30 – How outside incident management teams helped FDNY solve problems after 9/11
28:30 – FDNY repaying the assistance it received through deployments around the United States
30:00 – How today’s incident command and dispatch systems control resources and prevent uncontrolled response
31:42 – Sponsor message
32:30 – Improved interagency collaboration between FDNY, NYPD and other agencies
36:00 – Peer support, firehouse culture and challenging the stereotype that firefighters do not talk about emotional distress
38:30 – How FDNY’s peer-support system works after difficult incidents
42:30 – September 11 demonstrated why the fire service needs to be part of the intelligence community
44:00 – FDNY members are trained to recognize suspicious activity during routine fire and EMS responses
46:00 – How information spotted by firefighters may become the missing piece in a larger investigation
48:30 – What Chief Esposito wants responders who were not alive on 9/11 to understand
49:00 – “This is our legacy.” Measuring today’s performance against those who came before
52:00 – Know your job and do your job — while recognizing that not every emergency fits an SOP
52:30 – A recent Bronx explosion illustrates the need to adapt principles to situations for which no exact procedure exists
53:30 – Applying the overarching principles of life safety and rescue when the situation is unprecedented
54:30 – What does “never forget” mean 25 years later?
55:30 – September 12: despite catastrophic losses, FDNY opened its firehouses and continued protecting New York City
56:30 – Chief Esposito describes those killed as “an all-star team” and some of the best ever to do the job
58:00 – Aaron Zamzow reflects on the responsibility to “measure up”
59:30 – The nationwide impact of 9/11 and seeing FDNY remembered on apparatus thousands of miles from New York
1:01:30 – Jim Dudley reflects on intelligence, prevention and acting on warning signs
1:03:30 – Chief Esposito discusses the difficulty of measuring successful prevention
1:05:00 – Warning signs, intelligence and lessons shared with other historic disasters
1:06:00 – Rob Lawrence reflects on September 12 and the emergency services reality that tomorrow brings another shift
1:07:00 – “At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember.”
1:08:00 – Esposito discusses how 9/11 affected his career and leadership journey
1:09:00 – Leadership, doing the right thing and measuring decisions against the memory of colleagues lost
1:10:00 – “Take care of the people that take care of the city.”
1:11:30 – Emergency responders never know when the next call will become the worst situation they have ever faced
1:12:00 – The responsibility to ensure frontline personnel are prepared and supported
1:12:30 – Closing message: “Keep learning and keep moving forward.”
About our sponsor
This crossover episode of the Policing Matters, Better Every Shift and EMS One-Stop podcasts is sponsored by FirstNet — the only wireless network built with and for first responders.
Twenty-five years ago, first responders faced an emergency unlike any other. They stepped forward to protect and care for others, demonstrating extraordinary courage and resolve. This September 11th, we remember and honor those who answered the call. The example they set endures through the values that continue to inspire the profession today.
Learn more about FirstNet, Built with AT&T, at www.firstnet.com.
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