Twenty-five years after 9/11, more than 600 FDNY members have died from Ground Zero-related illness, nearly double the number lost in the collapse itself. Retired FDNY Deputy Chief Richard Alles arrived 20 minutes after the second tower fell and spent nine months on-site. Today, as Director of 9/11 Community Affairs for Barasch & McGarry, he works full-time helping first responders and survivors access the WTC Health Program and Victim Compensation Fund.
In this conversation, Chief Alles covers:
•What leadership looked like in the chaos of Ground Zero's first hours
•How detective James Zadroga's autopsy became the forensic evidence that passed the Zadroga Act
•The current FDNY and nationwide illness death toll, now surpassing 9,000 across all WTC-related illness
•Who qualifies for WTC Health Program and VCF benefits, and the exposure-hour requirements by date
•Why skin cancer, not respiratory illness, is the most common Ground Zero-linked condition
•His own two cancer diagnoses, and why he tells everyone with 9/11 exposure "it's not if you'll get sick, it's when"
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