The morning of September 11, 2001, began for Arnold Roma with the jarring, relentless ring of a wall-mounted telephone. A retired NYPD officer, nurse, and volunteer firefighter, Roma was pulled from a deep sleep following a 12-hour hospital shift. Before he could even greet the caller, he heard the sound of piercing sirens. His 27-year-old son, Keith, was on the other end, shouting that a plane had struck the World Trade Center. Keith urged his father to get to the site, telling him, “Dad, they’re going to need everybody.” Arnold replied, “Thanks, I’ll meet you there,” unaware that it would be the last conversation he would ever have with his son.
When Arnold arrived, the towers were still standing, though they were already burning and leaking jet fuel. Keith was working that morning as a New York Fire Patrolman at Patrol 2, a station located just blocks from the complex. Historically, New York City utilized two distinct organizations for fire response: the FDNY and the New York Fire Patrol. While both wore similar black turnout coats and helmets, the Fire Patrol’s mission, dating back to the 19th century, was to salvage valuables and protect property from smoke and water damage. On that day, however, the distinction between the two groups vanished as both faced the same catastrophe.
Inside the South Tower, a fire chief directed Arnold to establish a triage area. As he worked, he resolved to find Keith later. He soon found himself running toward the lobby, navigating through falling glass and the bodies of people jumping from the upper floors. He was eventually caught in the collapse, blinded by debris and concrete. After digging himself out, he was eventually transported to a hospital, where he spent three days suffering from severe respiratory issues. Throughout his recovery, he held onto the hope that Keith’s company had survived.
Keith’s experience that day was documented by his lieutenant, John Sheehan. Along with driver Joe Krasko, the team had arrived from their West Village firehouse to assist with rescue efforts. Sheehan later recalled witnessing Keith carry at least six people to safety before a sound like a freight train signaled the collapse of the tower. When the dust settled, Keith was gone. He was eventually discovered 104 days later, on Christmas Eve 2001, buried deep beneath the ruins of the North Tower. Rescuers believed he had been in the process of escorting civilians to safety when the building fell.
For the past 25 years, Arnold Roma has lived with the painful reality that his son’s name is excluded from the iconic count of 343 firefighters who died on 9/11. Because Keith was a Fire Patrolman rather than an official FDNY member, his sacrifice is often omitted from the official memorial tallies. This exclusion has fueled a quarter-century of advocacy by his father, who has argued, written, and pleaded for his son’s recognition. “Every waking day of my life the number upsets me,” Arnold told reporters.
The debate over the “343” figure is a point of contention for many. John Sheehan, who has battled several cancers linked to his exposure at Ground Zero, argues that the number is too definitive and ignores the hundreds of others who died from 9/11-related illnesses or were part of support organizations like the Fire Patrol. Sheehan has stated he would be the first to support increasing the count to 344, emphasizing that Keith’s heroism deserves the same honor as those officially recognized. Despite the lack of an official designation, Arnold Roma remains steadfast, driven by the belief that his son’s legacy should be fully acknowledged by the world. The report also notes that the merciless ring of the wall-mounted telephone forced Arnold Roma out of the kind of heavy sleep that only his 12-hour hospital shifts could lull him into. The report also notes that anyway, he’d only been home from work for five hours. The report also notes that the then-49-year-old pulled the corded phone to his ear and, before he could even open his mouth to say hello, was greeted by piercing sirens on the other end, squinting against the morning sunlight threatening to consume his Staten Island living room. The report also notes that it was his son, Keith, yelling into the receiver over the horns and chugging engine of a firetruck. The report also notes that but that promise would never be fully realized. The report also notes that not knowing it was the last time he would ever speak to his son, roma hung the phone in its cradle. The report also notes that for nearly two centuries, New York had had two organizations responding to fires across the city: the New York City Fire Department and the lesser-known New York Fire Patrol, a now-defunct private fire salvage corps that worked intimately alongside the FDNY but remained a separate entity. The report also notes that the only difference between them was the color of their helmets, either red or black, to a bystander.
