A NYC firehouse was 1st to respond on 9/11. 25 years on, Sal Argano is the last still on staff

NEW YORK (AP) — Sal Argano got lucky. When the World Trade Center was struck by hijacked jets on Sept. 11, 2001, the New York City firefighter was in Brooklyn, on loan to another station, rather than at his usual post at the small Manhattan firehouse just across an intersection from the twin towers.

He rushed downtown to find his firehouse badly damaged but still standing. Six of its members, he'd later learn, were among the 343 New York City firefighters killed in the World Trade Center's collapse.

“If I wasn’t sent out on rotation there would have been a good chance I would not be here today,” Argano says. “I think about that all the time.”

Almost 25 years later, Argano, now 65, is still on duty at the firehouse — the last of the firefighters assigned there in 2001 who still works there.

Today, the crews at the firehouse respond to emergency calls but also serve as a de-facto part of the 9/11 memorial, visited by crowds of tourists daily.

Some visitors come specifically to see the large bronze relief along the side of the building listing the names of the firefighters killed on 9/11.

Others pause to take selfies as they pass by on their way to the National 9/11 Memorial plaza across the street, drawn by the sight of Engine 10 and Ladder 10, the gleaming trucks sitting in the garage that give the station its nickname: Ten House.

“This is definitely one of those companies where if you don’t want to ingratiate yourself to the public, it’s definitely not the right place,” said Capt. Terence Brody, who commands Ladder 10 and has worked at the station since 2016. “People around the world know this firehouse. They’re going to come by and say hello.”

Brody, now 55, was still in the fire academy on 9/11. Cadets grabbed their gear and were bused to ground zero.

The debris hung so thickly in the air around the fallen towers that it looked like it was snowing, he said.

“It was a beautiful sunny Tuesday, and then you’re in this kind of apocalyptic atmosphere,” Brody said. “It was a little overwhelming, to say the least.”

In the days after the attack, Ten House served as both command center and safe space for weary first responders, he said. As the years passed, its crew had a front row seat to the area’s rebirth.

Robert Favata joined Ladder 10 in 2008, fresh out of the academy.

In those early years, he worked beside a giant hole teeming with construction activity. Now 46, he looks out at a transformed landscape.

A pair of waterfall pools sit in the footprint of the old towers, ringed by parapets etched with the names of nearly 3,000 victims. Below ground, the 9/11 Museum houses mangled steel beams, a destroyed fire truck and other artifacts. New skyscrapers ring the memorial.

“When I got here, there was nothing,” Favata says. “I never thought they were gonna finish.”

Argano can be found most days perched near the station's open bay doors, patiently answering questions, shaking hands and posing for photos.

He says Ten House firefighters have a unique charge: they’re both living testimonials to the events of 9/11 as well as public faces of the centuries-old FDNY.

Argano says he tries to impress on younger firefighters -- many increasingly not even born before the attacks -- the importance of treating every visitor with respect.

“This is not like any other firehouse,” he said. “We have our fire duty, we have our responses, and then we have a responsibility toward the people outside.”

He acknowledges the task is not always easy. The packs of gawking tourists can be relentless. Their questions can sometimes come across too personal, too insincere or just simply too out there.

Many of the younger firefighters tend to keep a lower profile for that reason, he said.

After responding to an early morning call this particular day, most of the crew heads to the back of the station to stow their gear or upstairs to help prepare lunch.

Argano meanwhile chats up a firefighter from France and his wife and then invites them into the station.

He points to a wall of patches from fire departments across the world that have been gifted over the years, as well as the well-worn helmets hanging in the rafters.

At another point, though, a lady asks -- perhaps a bit too flippantly -- what's so special about Ten House.

Argano shrugs: “It’s just a fire station.” After she departs, he says it simply wasn’t worth the effort.

“If I need to explain to you all of that, then it’s like, ‘Pull up a seat’,” Argano said. “Let me get another cigarette. It’s gonna be a long one.”

Favata considers the approaching 25th anniversary as likely one of his last before retirement. He worries, though, if he’s done enough to keep the memories of Ten House alive.

“When I got here, so many of the guys worked 9/11 and they told me their stories of that day,” Favata said, choking on tears. “I just hope I can give like a percentage of what they’ve told me to the younger guys.”

Brody, meanwhile, handed in his retirement papers Tuesday. His last day will be in October.

“It’s interesting to think that my first day in the field was right across the street, and this is where I’m gonna end my career,” said Brody, who writes screenplays in his spare time and has already had two of them turned into Hallmark Channel movies.

But Argano, who drives Engine 10, isn’t quite ready to pack it in. He fears something will be lost when no one is there who still remembers.

“I’m not done. I’m gonna be here as long as I can,” Argano said. “I’m going to keep telling them what I know, what I saw, what I’ve been through. Telling them the history of this firehouse. Everything I can remember.”

Follow Philip Marcelo at https://x.com/philmarcelo

Lt. Anthony Giannone of Ladder 10 FDNY work near Ground Zero, 25 years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, on Friday, Aug. 7, 2026 in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)

Firefighter Sal Argano, right, Ladder 10, greets Laurent Cosenefroy, a volunteer firefighter from France visiting New York and the FDNY "Ten House" for his birthday, Friday, Aug. 7, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)

A tour guide talks about Daniel Suhr, the first firefighter to die in the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, on Friday, Aug. 7, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)

FDNY "Ten House" firefighters work near Ground Zero, 25 years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, on Friday, Aug. 7, 2026 in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)

Firefighter Sal Argano, Ladder 10, poses for a portrait at FDNY "Ten House" near Ground Zero on Friday, Aug. 7, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)

Investigators are still trying to determine what caused an Amazon cargo jet to overshoot a runway in Miami and plow into two vehicles, killing five people on the ground.

The Boeing 767 hit a van on Miami International Airport property on Sunday before ramming through a fence and hitting an SUV on a public street. Five people who were a part of a cleaning crew in the van died while two survived. The pilot and co-pilot also lived.

National Transportation Safety Board Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy called the scene at the airport “utter devastation.”

Hundreds of flights at the Miami airport have been delayed or canceled as authorities investigate the crash site, where the jet and a mangled white van have remained. By late Tuesday, only one of the airport’s four runways was still closed, raising the likelihood that the cancellations would begin to ease.

Here's what to know about the crash.

The NTSB said the plane barreled roughly 1,300 feet (396 meters) past the end of the runway.

It was landing after a two-hour flight from Puerto Rico as storms brewed around the Miami airport.

Homendy called the scene “utter devastation,” with pieces of the vehicles, air bags, destroyed navigational equipment and fencing along the plane’s route. Investigators didn't have full access to the site until all the jet fuel was recovered from the plane Monday evening.

Former FAA official Mike O’Donnell said that the fact that the plane landed on its nose and right landing gear first demonstrates this was an unstable landing. He said the pilot might have been attempting a “go-around” to retry the landing approach.

Video of the landing showed the plane hovering above the runway for a long time without flaring the nose to force the wheels onto the ground. Experts said it appeared a strong tail wind propelled the plane far past the point where it was supposed to land. Air traffic controllers also had not changed the approach to the runway to allow the plane to land into a headwind. Investigators will want to know how quickly the winds shifted.

Amazon said in a statement that it is cooperating with the investigation and the company’s deepest sympathies go to the victims and their families.

The five people killed were all in a van owned by Professional Ocean Service Corp., a company that cleans planes. The company said it wouldn’t comment on the crash out of respect for the families who lost loved ones.

“Our employees are far more than the people who work beside us each day, they are family, and they are deeply loved. Our hearts and prayers are with every employee and every family whose lives have been forever changed,” the company said in a statement Tuesday.

The Miami-Dade sheriff identified the deceased as Rolando Aleman Leon, 55; Yoel Rodriguez Naranjo, 53; Julio C. Pineda, 75; Carlos Acosta Fajardo, 53; and Javierkys Reyes Quevedo, 47.

The 32-year-old Boeing 767 was originally built to carry passengers and flew for several airlines in foreign countries for more than two decades before being converted to a cargo plane in 2015, according to flight-tracking site Flightradar24.

The final flight was operated by 21 Air, a cargo carrier based in North Carolina.

Homendy said the jet's ownership history, maintenance records and operations by 21 Air would all be reviewed by NTSB investigators.

It's the second crash of a cargo jet in the U.S. in less than a year. A UPS plane crashed after losing its engine while accelerating down the runway at Louisville’s Muhammad Ali International Airport in October. The crash killed all three pilots and 12 people on the ground. Twenty-three more were injured.

Homendy has said the NTSB will look at Miami's lack of a special system to slow and stop speeding jets at the end of runways. But investigators will examine everything that may have contributed.

About 120 airports in the U.S. have the lightweight, crushable material that the Federal Aviation Administration says has saved around 500 lives.

Even without a runway excursion system, Miami’s airport appears to be compliant with federal rules because it has a 1,000-foot (305-meter) safety buffer at the end of its runways, experts said.

Homendy said her agency’s goal is to prevent tragedies, but runway excursions continue to happen even after the board has suggested installing the systems in the past.

“Our recommendations must be implemented or we’re going to be here again,” she said.

Workers inspect an Amazon cargo plane two days after it overshot a runway at Miami International Airport, Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026, in Miami. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Miami Dade Fire Rescue officials inspect a damaged vehicle two days after an Amazon cargo plane overshot a runway at Miami International Airport, Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026, in Miami. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Law enforcement officers walk in front of a destroyed engine as they inspect an Amazon cargo plane two days after it overshot a runway at Miami International Airport, Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026, in Miami. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Workers inspect an Amazon cargo plane two days after it overshot a runway at Miami International Airport, Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026, in Miami. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)