Community Corner

9/11 Profile: FDNY Lieutenant Tom Bohn

Lieutenant Tom Bohn of Engine 214, Ladder 111 in Bedford-Stuyvesant, was part of the search, rescue and cleanup at Ground Zero

“If the people of Bed-Stuy only knew how devoted these guys are to the community,” said Tom Bohn, fire lieutenant at Engine 214, Ladder 111, on Lewis Avenue and Hancock Street. 

“I wouldn’t order anyone to do anything that I wouldn’t do myself voluntarily, but I often have to hold these guys back,” he said.

After two failed attempts to catch up with the busy lieutenant, I finally met him at the fire station.

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But not even a minute into introductions, and a tiny bell rang. Suddenly, a dozen or so firefighters descended (from out of nowhere, it seemed), and within seconds, fire engines were flying out of the station, sirens wailing. They were gone in a flash.

I almost lost a foot, everything moved so fast. And Lieutenant Bohn—or "Tommy" as they call him—was gone as well, without so much as an apology or “goodbye.”

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I knew I had to go back a fourth time and try again. Someone tipped me weeks earlier that Bohn was friendly, garrulous and “might talk to me about 9/11”—something very few 9/11 veteran firefighters are willing to do.

September 11, 2001, is emotional to most firefighters who lived and worked through the tragedy. Even Bohn, I later learned, would have much rather talked about Bedford-Stuyvesant and Ladder 111 and how proud he is of his current team.

But he obliged me, still, and used our time to talk as a memorial of sorts.

“By the grace of God, I guess it just wasn’t my time,” he said of why his life was spared that day. Ten years ago, when he was not yet lieutenant, he knew dozens of other firefighters who did lose their lives, and it was clear he mourned for them, still.

He recalled working in special operations, a part of Squad 270, when his station was called onto the fiery scene at the World Trade Center grounds. Beginning a few hours after the second tower fell, and for months to follow, he was a part of the search, rescue and cleanup at Ground Zero.

“We were doing the void searches, trying to get underneath the pile, finding any holes or pockets that were left where people might still be stranded,” said Bohn. “There were six levels underneath the Trade Center, all the way down to the PATH trains. There was a bunch of debris all over. But, amazingly, there were bottles of water and potato chips still sealed, so if someone was down there, we felt that they could survive. So we kept pushing on.”

“The brass globe was still standing in the center. And probably about 50 yards from that, there was a void, and down in there was someone trapped, a port authority cop, I remember his first name was ‘John.'

“Anybody else that was on the top, was picked off right away. So he was probably the last guy underneath our area. It was a joint effort, around the clock, of guys switching up. Finally we rescued him,” said Bohn.

Another month or two passed before the firemen started seeing anything else recognizable. The fires burned for months, he said. And so they spent much of the time just trying to keep the areas cool enough to continue searching.

“Everybody just took turns, there was no going home. We were ordered to go home, but no one could bring themselves to just leave,” said Bohn. “In my mind, if I was trapped under that, I couldn’t imagine someone just going home to hang out.

“When we did go home, it was just long enough dump out a duffle bag of dirty clothes, put on some new clothes and go back,” he said. “The goal was to be able to give something to families so they could at least have a funeral instead of just a memorial service. The pile became therapy; it became an obsession to find something, anything to give someone to bury.”

Bohn and his team spent the next eight months of their lives in the rubble, back and forth. Even as squads were relieved for time-off, guys would still go down there on their own, he said.

“It was like surreal, you know. But the mind and the heart is a funny thing,” said Bohn. “There were a few guys who wanted to leave the FDNY afterward and get a regular desk job. But I would say, ‘Look, think of those men who were sitting at their desks, pushing papers, doing what they thought was safe… and still, they lost their lives. So… I guess I’ll be the one digging you out of the building.’ And they looked at me, and a light went on.

“I know there’s a lot of people who were too young to remember or who seemed to have forgotten what happened that day. And to those people, I would say, ‘Be a part of something that you can be proud of. Every one of the first responders did their department proud.

“You’re not going to be rich being a civil servant. But I’m proud to say I’m a member of the FDNY. I’m proud to be part of this organization," he said.

"Find that niche in the light. Find that something that you enjoy doing, that you can look forward to waking up to, that gives back your community, your country.”


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