Local First Responders Relieved At Passage Of 9/11 Health Act

The Menlo Park Fire Department had 70 percent of the its first response team get sick after helping sift through the rubble of the September 2001 terrorism attack on the World Trade Center.

On Thursday night, some of those firefighters said they were grateful that the federal government has finally agreed to help them by passing the 9/11 Health and Compensation Act.

Menlo Park Fire Chief Harold Schapelhouman led the Peninsula Recovery Team to New York City to help with recovery. There, he said the toxic fumes, dust, and smoke took a heavy toll on the people working at the site.

"We essentially worked in a graveyard," Schapelhouman said. "We pulled bodies of people out of those places."

Schapelhouman said a month after returning from New York, team members started to suffer a variety of ailments including skin rashes, sinus infections and pneumonia.

"Seventy percent of our people were sick. We knew -- different than any of the other disasters we've ever responded to -- something was wrong," Schapelhouman said. "We've never had that many people sick on an event.

Division Chief Frank Fraone said he now needs an inhaler and medication because he suffers from a respiratory disease and a chronic cough. He said he never had these health problems until he returned from a 19-day recovery mission to New York City's World Trade Center.

During a speech on the Senate floor, New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand cited Fraone as one of the responders who fell ill because of his work at ground zero. Fraone told KTVU News he worked closely with lawmakers to craft the bill

The bill provides $1.5 billion to monitor the health rescue and cleanup workers and treat illnesses related to ground zero. It also reopens a victims' compensation fund with $2.7 billion.

"I'm so glad I did it. I would do it again if they called me today," Fraone said. "I would leave today to go anywhere in the country to do my job."

President Obama is expected to sign the bill into law.