Retired FDNY Firefighter Dies of 9/11-Related Cancer

A retired FDNY firefighter who helped with rescue and recovery efforts at Ground Zero after he had left the department died of 9/11-related cancer over the weekend, according to reports.

Steve Brickman, a former FDNY firefighter living in Jamestown, had been diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer and Stage 4 head and neck cancer in 2013, the Suffolk Times reported in 2016. He joined the department at 23, serving with East Harlem's Engine Company 58/Ladder Company 26, but a variety of injuries forced him into retirement just more than a year before the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Despite no longer being with the department, Brickman went to the remains of the World Trade Center about 30 hours after the attacks. For two weeks, he performed a variety of duties, including working on bucket brigades and driving firefighters back to the station following shifts.

“I knew that he was going to go in because that’s what he’d do. He had to be with the people that were affected," Brickman's wife, Colleen, told the Times.