Veteran firefighter uses 2 donated helmets to honor memory of those killed on 9/11
Peter Cagnassola says that the helmets symbolize a brotherhood – the foundation of every firehouse.
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A veteran firefighter from Bedminster is doing his part to preserve the memory of those who were killed in the Sept. 11 attacks nearly 23 years ago.
“I get choked up. I’ve seen them hundreds and hundreds of times and it still brings you back to that day,” says Peter Cagnassola.
In the wake of the 2001 attacks, people from around the world sent sympathies in different ways. A pair of helmets came from firefighters in Australia. They were intended for the FDNY, but in the aftermath of the attack, they never got there.
Cagnassola became their guardian. He says that the helmets symbolize a brotherhood – the foundation of every firehouse.
“It’s what allows you to go into a burning building,” he says.
Cagnassola says he went to ground zero two days after the towers fell. He says he remembers boxes of body bags coming in, though he's not sure how many were actually used.
He says he doesn't like to talk about those days or himself. But he's put that aside, hoping the helmets will inspire firefighters today.
"When you have such a significant loss of life, all your fellow firefighters - brother firefighters - lost you wanna learn from it. You wanna honor them. That’s what the helmets are all about,” Cagnassola says.
Cagnassola makes the helmets available to fire and police academies and he's working on schools to help raise money for the Tunnel to Towers Foundation.
