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On FOX’s 911 spinoff, 911: Lone Star, Rob Lowe stars as Owen Strand, a New York City firefighter who was the lone survivor of his firehouse when the towers fell on September 11th and his team worked at ground zero to try to save as many lives as they could. This is an important backstory because, in the premiere episode, Captain Strand is asked to come to Austin and rebuild a firehouse after a terrible tragedy leaves just one firefighter alive from this Austin crew of firefighters.
Viewers might be wondering if Captain Strand’s backstory is based on a true story. Here’s what we know.
There Is A Real Squad 252 in the FDNY
In the scenes from New York, Captain Strand is shown working for Station 252 in Manhattan. There is a real Squad 252 in New York, but it is actually located in the Bushwick neighborhood in Brooklyn and it is a “squad company.”
Squad companies were initially established by the FDNY to provide extra manpower to the engine and ladder companies. Today, squad companies can be both engine and/or ladder squads at the scene of a fire or they can operate the same tools as rescue companies.
Squad company members are highly trained in working with hazardous materials as a way to supplement the FDNY’s single hazmat company. So while the numbers are the same, Owen Strand’s Station 252 is not the same thing as the real-life Squad 252 in Brooklyn.
But Owen’s September 11th Backstory Might Be Based on a Real Firehouse
There was a real-life FDNY firehouse that lost more members than any other when the World Trade Center towers fell on September 11th, 2001. Engine 54, Ladder 4, Battalion 9 of the Midtown Firehouse lost every member who was working that morning shift, which was 15 in total.
In an article about that firehouse on the 10th anniversary of the attacks, firefighter John File told ABC7 that he switched shifts that day with the newest guy in the firehouse, Christopher Santora, and he thinks about that all the time.
“He was our newest guy in the house, 23 years old,” Fila said. “I think about Chris all the time. I think about what his life would have been, what he should have accomplished by now. It’ a huge weight to carry around.”
The firehouse, much like the New York and Austin firehouses depicted on the series, was transformed into a working memorial, with dozens of photos and memorial plaques on the wall. And even 10 years later, firefighter Joe Ceravolo said the grief is still very present.
“It just comes up on you,” Ceravolo said. “Sneaks up on you, and you can read it in the other guys’ eyes. It’s amazing. You know what the hurt is.”
There Is Also The Legacy Connection
One thing that helped the Midtown firehouse work through their grief was that the surviving firefighters stayed involved in the lives of the 28 children left behind when all of their crew members lost their lives.
“Can’t say it doesn’t get emotional, to see these kids,” Chief John Joyce said. “It’s good to see the kids moving forward with their lives and doing the right thing. Their fathers would be very proud of them.”
In fact, Carl Asaro Jr., one of the sons who lost his father in the attacks, told ABC7 at the time that he planned to join the FDNY and hoped to work at the same Midtown firehouse where his father worked. Well, that did come to pass. In a 2019 Firehouse.com article, it was revealed that Carl, his brothers Matthew and Marc, and their sister Rebecca have all joined the FDNY. On 911: Lone Star, Strand’s son T.K. has followed in his father’s footsteps and joined the FDNY.
The New York Times also detailed that the 2019 FDNY graduating class boasted the largest group of “legacy” firefighters. Legacies are children of first responders who were killed on September 11th or first responders who died of illnesses related to working at Ground Zero. There were 12 sons and a daughter of firefighters killed responding to the attacks, along with six sons of firefighters or police officers who died of related illnesses.
September 11th-Related Illness Is Also Explored on 911: Lone Star
911: Lone Star also touches on this ongoing repercussion of the September 11th attacks. Captain Strand finds out in the premiere that he has tumors in his lungs, stage 1B lung cancer. His doctor tells him that by the 20th anniversary of the attacks, more survivors or first-responders will die from Ground Zero-related illnesses than those killed on the day itself. That is not a made-up statistic for the show.
A 2018 episode of PBS’s Frontline podcast called “The Weight of Dust” actually details how the projected death toll from illnesses linked to September 11th is larger than the number of people who died that day. The coordinating producer for the piece, Amy Gaines, lost her father Scott, a New York City police officer, to an illness believed to be caused by exposure to toxic chemicals at Ground Zero.
The World Trade Center Health Program has actually been set up to provide medical treatment and monitoring for first responders at the World Trade Center and related sites. Information can be found at the Center for Disease Control website.
911: Lone Star aired a special premiere on Sunday, January 20 at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT. It moves to its regular time slot of Mondays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on January 20 on FOX.
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