Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Saturday Morning News

Firefighters Cope With Tragic Losses

Aired September 15, 2001 - 07:11   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: Earlier we were telling you a little bit about the process that thousands of New York families are going through, in fact, families from all over the world, trying to figure out whether their loved ones were trapped inside the building or weren't able to make it out.

And right now, we're going to focus in on a family who is trying to figure out what happened to a firefighter. We do know that of the 400 or so firefighters who were immediately called to the scene, many of them are presumed to be dead.

Kate Snow now traces the efforts of one family trying to figure out what has happened to their own.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATE SNOW, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Joseph Crowley is a congressman representing Queens and the Bronx. But he's also from a family of firefighters and police officers, a family missing one of their own, the congressman's cousin, New York fire battalion chief John Moran.

REP. JOSEPH CROWLEY (D), NEW YORK: John is a wonderful husband and the father of two small children, beautiful boys.

SNOW: Duty put Moran at the World Trade Center Tuesday morning. His brother Michael called him. Terrorists had just flown a second plane into the south tower. Michael told him to be careful. "I know, I saw it," John told his brother. No one knows if he went inside. No one knows where he is now.

The next day the congressman toured the area. Someone constituents rely on for answers finds himself, like so many other Americans, helpless.

CROWLEY: Under these circumstances, when you're talking about a magnitude of a 300 firefighters and police officers and emergency technicians who are lost, not to mention the tens -- possibly hundreds of -- hundreds and thousands of people that are missing right now, that doesn't matter who you are, and no one is exempt from the pain and the anguish of having to wait for that information.

SNOW: Unlike other Americans, Crowley has the power to make law, his grief reinforcing his resolve. CROWLEY: I'm a pretty tolerant guy, and -- but I have really strong feelings about the people who did this, and I haven't really -- I don't think I've actually taken it all in yet. And I want something to be done.

SNOW: John Moran was already a hero in Queens. On Father's Day, he helped fight a fire that killed three men. At that time, he told "Dateline NBC," "The firefighter performs one act of bravery in his career, and that's when he takes the oath of office. After that, everything else is in the line of duty."

CROWLEY: That's my cousin John. Because all the firemen and firewomen and firefighters, police officers, all these people are very special people. We don't give them enough due. And you can multiply John Moran by 300 more people. There are heroes here that people will never know.

SNOW: Kate Snow, CNN, Capitol Hill.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: And to add to the misery of families like you've just met, there is a call from the mayor of the city for family members to bring to a special center that has been set up downtown toothbrushes, hairbrushes, cigarette butts, anything that could possibly show DNA evidence so investigators can ultimately match up remains with specific people and identifications.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com