Squad 288

Squad 288 shares the Maspeth house with the Haz Mat unit. On Sept. 11 the two units responded together. Squad 288 boasted 25 men prior to Sept. 11, including one captain and three lieutenants. Today, the squad is operating with 17 men. One man is still listed as missing – his remains either buried beneath the rubble at Ground Zero or among those yet to be identified by the City Medical Examiner’s Office.

McArdle said the men of Squad 288 are trained in both hazardous material removal and counter-terrorism: i.e., the Bomb School, nerve agents and biological warfare.

clockwise: Ronald Kerwin, Adam Rand, Brian Sweeny, Timothy Welty	clockwise: Peter Brennan Ronnie Gies Joseph Hunter Johnathan Lelpi

HAZ MAT Co. 1 and Squad 288’s lost heroes.
McArdle said it will be "impossible" to replace those in HAZ MAT and Squad 288 who perished – the "top one percent of the FDNY’s Haz Mat and counter-terrorism specialists."

The FDNY Haz Mat unit was established in 1982 by then-Mayor Ed Koch. Men assigned to the citywide response unit initially worked out of Rescue 4 on Queens Boulevard. In 1984, the FDNY created Haz Mat Company 1, designated as the City’s sole dedicated hazardous materials unit.

Haz Mat Co. 1 boasted a roster of four officers and 35 firefighters prior to Sept. 11. Today, there are 24 men assigned to the unit. McArdle said the bodies of five men from Haz Mat have not been recovered.

"They are either still buried in the rubble or are among the 15,000 partial remains yet to be identified," he said.

"This house was harder hit than any other in the city," McArdle said. "Yet we got zero support from the Fire Department – or any other group or agency.

"We pulled together, and took care of our families and each other. We established an in-house fund for our families, and with it we took care of some other houses, as well," he said.

"When we most needed the job to support us – they weren’t there."