'Did You Find My Dad?'

By Robert Fresco
STAFF WRITER

September 14, 2001

Meaghan Haskell looked to her uncle, Kenneth, a New York City firefighter, for the only words that were going to give her comfort night: "Did you find my Dad?"

But he hadn't found his brother, Capt. Thomas Haskell, amid the rubble that used to be the World Trade Center towers. Nor had he found his other brother, Timothy Haskell; neither firefighter has been heard from since the collapse of the Twin Towers following Tuesday's terrorist attack.

The three brothers are the second generation of Haskells to serve in the city Fire Department. Their late father, Thomas, also was a firefighter.

Their mother, Maureen Haskell, has anxiously waited in her Seaford home for news that either of her missing sons has been found. She is proud that her son, Kenneth, has been among the firefighters digging through the debris trying to find survivors, and is praying hard that his missing brothers will be located.

"I'm trying to be optimistic, but there is something [very worrying] in the back of my head," Maureen Haskell said. Being a firefighter, "is the toughest job. They face danger every time they go into a fire. They're always facing smoke and flames and falling debris [and] the unknown."

Yesterday, the family gathered at a relative's Seaford home and discussed their worries as 32-year-old Kenneth Haskell, also of Seaford, was back at the scene in Manhattan.

"I'm grateful that I have my husband with me," said Genene Haskell, but I'm scared that he's there with rescue [personnel]. I'm sickened for him that he's looking for his two brothers."

It was when Kenneth arrived home from the city Wednesday night that Thomas' oldest daughter, Meaghan asked about her father. "It's a lot for him to bear," Genene said. Thomas and wife Barbara have two other children, Erin, 5 and Tara, 2.

Genene said her husband was visiting a cousin's Farmingdale store at 9 a.m. Tuesday when the disaster occurred. "They had the TV in the back office, and they were yelling that planes were hitting the center. He called me [at work] at 10 o'clock in the morning. He was already home, ready to go, and headed into [his unit in] Brooklyn." Around noon they arrived in Manhattan and "by then, both of the trade center towers had collapsed, and the firefighters started digging."

Timothy Haskell, 34, who has residences in both Seaford and Manhattan, had just gotten off a 15-hour duty tour with Rescue Squad 18 in Manhattan, said his girlfriend, Gabrielle Sanders, about the time the hijacked airliners hit the towers. He called on his cell phone that he was going back in. "I spoke to him at 9:08."

Thomas Haskell, 37, of Massapequa, was at work at Ladder Co. 132. "I know his company was one of the first companies to respond," Genene Haskell said. "My husband, Kenny, spoke to firefighters and they said that he was in the building before it went down." She did not know which of the two towers he was working in.

The family is trying to remain optimistic. Sanders, who has been dating Timothy Haskell for more than three years, said "he's like a cat with nine lives ... What gives us hope is that they're still getting people out of there" alive.
Copyright © 2002, Newsday, Inc.

Back to Thomas' Home Page