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The Fire Department enshrines the names of line-of-duty fallen on a Memorial Wall of Honor at headquarters - but it has decided that some firefighters and emergency medical technicians who served at Ground Zero don't measure up.
That's just wrong.
The FDNY has determined that members who were sickened and have died, or will die,from exposure to toxins at the World Trade Center do not qualify for tribute on the wall.
That position is in keeping with the department's practice of honoring only those who die in fires or succumb soon after.
As sensible as that generally is, the policy fails to recognize - as the NYPD has - the special circumstances of 9/11. At Commissioner Ray Kelly's order, the NYPD added to its Wall of Heroes the names of eight cops who died of WTC illness.
Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta should bring his department into sync to memorialize FDNY members who lose their lives to defined WTC-related illnesses.
All city employees who toiled on The Pile, sacrificing their health and their lives, should receive equal honors, regardless of what department they worked for. A single standard must apply.
On 9/11, one did. The standard of heroism.
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