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American Morning

America's New War: Firefighters Being Mourned at New York Firehouse

Aired September 28, 2001 - 09:11   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: This coming weekend, there will be memorial services for many of those missing and presumed dead at the site of World Trade Center.

CNN's Greg Clarkin is at a firehouse where missing firefighters are being mourned.

Good morning, Greg.

GREG CLARKIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning again, Paula. That's right, this weekend will be yet another difficult stretch for the New York City Fire Department and the surrounding area. Now more than 340 firefighters missing or dead in Trade Center attacks from the New York City Fire Department alone. This weekend, there will be influx, a great deal of funerals, as there have been over the last few day.

Now we're at a firehouse on the West side of Manhattan, that is really kind of booming with people coming by to pay their condolences, offer their respects, and be flowers, candles and the like.

And in speaking with a number of firemen here, they tell me they're struck by one thing in particular, that when they take a look at the photo on the wall here, there's a large display of the 15 firefighters that were lost to this particular house. When the passerbyers take a look at this display, you said that's when you really see it in their eyes, when they see these faces kind of staring back at them. They said you can't help but really be touched by the people that come by here, and that really drives home the magnitude of the loss to this particular firehouse, as well as to the New York City Fire Department.

Now over here in the corner, this is a guest book, where people have been signing it throughout that he day. And we are told by folks here that about lunchtime or so, 12:00, 1:00, there is an actual line that wraps around this firehouse. Down the block, actually a sign, they are on their second or third book, as it is right now, people signing, offering condolences. Other displays that you see here are some of the lost firefighters and their families. You can see photos of these men with their wives and children. Those are adorned -- the outside wall here.

There a number of drawings from schoolchildren as well here. The schools in the area, as well as far away as New Hampshire, have offered drawings and notes from schoolchildren, along with the various flowers that you see here, and again, Paula, speaking with a number of the firemen here, who we were actually supposed to chat with one, who just got called inside. They are doing their morning roll call. Today is the first day that they are going back through what could be described as something of a routine. They resume their normal shift routine, at least today, and that is a step some of these firemen say they're at least kind of bringing them back to a sense of a routine that they used to know.

But as one fireman said here, you know, at this point, their is just really no way of telling what is normal. They expect to be going to a lot of these funerals over the next couple of weeks, and even beyond that. And as you mentioned a little bit earlier, New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, as well as the New York City Fire Department, asking New Yorkers and the like to come out, come to some of these services. There is an awful lot of them. The mayor said it pains him that he will not be able to attend all of these and these Firefighters looking for their show of support there.

Paula, back to you.

ZAHN: And, Greg, I would suspect based on the amount of support we've seen the public show for these firefighters, you will see hundreds and hundreds of New Yorkers show up for these funerals for men and women they have never met.

CLARKIN: Exactly, Paula, not even New Yorkers. I get the sense that there is a much broader community that wants to take part in this. We were just chatting with a woman came from London. She was scheduled to have a vacation in the U.S., said she wanted to come anyway. She didn't want the terrorists to feel like they were winning, so they went ahead with her scheduled trip, and she was stopping by here a few moments ago and said she wanted to do something to help out as well.

ZAHN: All right, Greg Clarkin, good to hear. Thanks so much.

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