Names of 9 Long Islanders added to wall of FDNY members lost to 9/11 illness

The FDNY added 32 names Wednesday, including nine city firefighters from Long Island, to its memorial wall honoring department members who have died of 9/11-related illnesses, surpassing the 343 killed in the World Trade Center terrorist attacks.

Since the memorial was dedicated at FDNY headquarters in 2011, the department has continued to hold solemn ceremonies to mark the latest passings. After Wednesday's ceremony, the list of names stood at 363.

The firefighters killed when the Twin Towers collapsed will again be remembered next week on the 23rd anniversary of the attacks, said FDNY Commissioner Robert S. Tucker, noting how the legacy of loss from nearly two decades back never stops.

“We will be sober in knowing that those insurmountable losses did not end at the World Trade Center site," Tucker told family members gathered for the ceremony at FDNY headquarters. "Instead, we've seen our members become sick because of time they spent working in rescue and recovery. We have seen them, more than 360 members, die because of their bravery and selflessness."

As each name was read, a single bell rang and family members laid a rose beneath the wall. Some family members later returned to trace the name of their fallen relative.

FDNY Battalion Chief Christopher Scalone was home in Port Jefferson Station on Sept. 11, 2001. After the attacks, his widow, Victoria Scalone, said Wednesday, he rushed to the World Trade Center.

Christopher Scalone, 43, at the time of the attacks, spent months working at Ground Zero. He was diagnosed with esophageal cancer last year and died in November at age 65.

“He said, ‘I have to go in.’ I saw pictures that either he took or other people had taken, of the devastation, the mountains of the rubble and everything. And it was just heartbreaking to him. He was devastated,” Victoria Scalone said. “The city said that the air is clean, the air is fine. The air was not fine.”

Outside the memorial, hundreds of American flags surrounded the building, each with a name of the fallen personnel including firefighters, paramedics and chaplains. Scalone said she has found comfort akin to family in the FDNY.

“It's an honor, but it's also just a reminder of the tragedy of it all,” she said of her husband's name going up on the wall.

“It mentally would affect me just knowing that how many people passed on that day and how devastating it was, but 20 years later, I certainly never thought that my husband would be added to the list of people that passed,” she said.

Emery Kelly, 26, said his father, FDNY firefighter Robert M. Kelly, 62, of Holbrook, was proud of his service at Ground Zero, where he worked on the pile for months.

His father initially didn’t worry about getting sick, Emery Kelly said at the ceremony, but later became fearful after losing his colleagues. He fell ill last year with cancer and died in March. The elder Kelly's family said it was an honor for his name to be added to the memorial as a tribute for his place in history.

“He came off as a superhero. This past year has been difficult when he got cancer and things started to catch up to him. He didn't let something like this affect his whole well being and he did it the right way,” Emery Kelly said. “My dad would do it again, a hundred times. There are so many great firefighters here today, who have all been affected in some way from all that dust and destruction.”

By John Asbury

john.asbury@newsday.comJohnAsbury

John Asbury is a breaking news and general assignment reporter. He has been with Newsday since 2014 and previously worked at The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California.