Final 9/11 Firefighter
The Last Remaining 9/11 Firefighter Still Working at Manhattan's Ten House
Anonymous
Key Points
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Capt. Terence Brody recalled that the debris around Ground Zero was so dense it appeared to be falling like snow, turning what had begun as a sunny Tuesday into an apocalyptic scene.
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In the immediate aftermath of the attacks, Ten House functioned not only as a fire station but also as a command center and a safe space where exhausted first responders could regroup.
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Firefighter Robert Favata, who joined Ladder 10 in 2008, witnessed the neighborhood’s transformation from a large construction pit into the National September 11 Memorial and Museum, saying, “When I got here, there was nothing.”
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Brody was still a fire-academy cadet on 9/11 when cadets collected their gear and were bused directly to Ground Zero, giving him an early firsthand connection to the station’s post-attack history.
Nearly 25 years after the September 11 attacks, Sal Argano stands as the last firefighter still working at Manhattan's Ten House who was there on that day. WFXRTV reports that Argano was stationed in Brooklyn when hijacked planes struck the World Trade Center, sparing him from the destruction that killed six of his colleagues among the 343 New York City firefighters who died. Ten House, home to Engine 10 and Ladder 10, remains an active emergency station while also serving as an informal memorial to those lost.
The firehouse sits directly across from the National September 11 Memorial and Museum, drawing a steady stream of visitors and mourners. Firefighters who served there describe it as both a working station and a sacred space — a place where exhausted first responders regrouped during the attacks' aftermath, and where the weight of loss remains deeply felt two and a half decades later.
The Day Argano Wasn't at Ten House
On September 11, 2001, Sal Argano's assignment to a Brooklyn station became a stroke of chance that saved his life. WFXRTV notes that while planes crashed into the Twin Towers, Argano was miles away. Six firefighters from Ten House responded to the disaster and never came home — joining 337 other FDNY members killed that day.
The firehouse itself sustained heavy damage but remained standing. That physical survival, combined with Argano's absence during the initial response, means he became an accidental witness to history rather than a victim of it. His continued presence at Ten House now makes him a living link to that morning.
A Command Center in the Rubble
In the hours and days after the attacks, Ten House transformed into far more than a fire station. Firefighters describe it as a command center where exhausted first responders sought refuge and regrouped between shifts digging through debris. Captain Terence Brody recalled that ash and debris around Ground Zero fell so thickly it looked like snow, turning a sunny Tuesday into an apocalyptic wasteland.
Brody himself was a fire-academy cadet on 9/11 when instructors collected their gear and bused cadets directly to Ground Zero. His immediate immersion in the disaster gave him a firsthand connection to Ten House's role in the aftermath — not as a place of routine firefighting, but as a sanctuary where the living tended to the dying and searched endlessly for survivors.
From Rubble to Memorial, One Firefighter Witnesses It All
Firefighter Robert Favata joined Ladder 10 in 2008, seven years after the attacks. He has watched the massive construction pit where the Twin Towers stood transform into the National September 11 Memorial and Museum. "When I got here, there was nothing," Favata said, describing the empty landscape that greeted him when he arrived at the station.
Today, Ten House operates normally while standing in the shadow of remembrance. The station bears a bronze relief honoring fallen firefighters. Current personnel navigate the unique burden of working in a firehouse that is also a pilgrimage site — where visitors and mourners arrive daily to pay respects, and where the names of the dead are never forgotten.
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