Jeff Kozuch thought he had the day off from work, so he spent the Tuesday morning watching TV.

And like so many other Americans, it was on TV that Kozuch saw the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 begin to unfold.

When he learned the first plane had crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center, Kozuch’s first thought was that the next few weeks of his life would be consumed with putting out a single fire in that tower. But as he watched the second plane hit the south tower, he realized that first responders in New York City like himself were now tasked with a much bigger challenge.

“As I picked my jaw up off the floor, I couldn’t believe what I just saw,” Kozuch said.

Kozuch — the father of Kate Kozuch, a sophomore magazine journalism major at Syracuse University — was at the time a firefighter for the Brooklyn Fire Department. Over the next few days, he would be at the scene of the attacks, helping to save lives and put out the fires.

Not long after the second plane hit, Kozuch rushed out of his Long Island home and made his way to the fire station in Brooklyn, where he arrived around 11 a.m. He and other first responders were held there until 7 World Trade Center fell, at which point they loaded onto a bus and moved into lower Manhattan.

Near the World Trade Center, several neighboring high rises were in flames, including the 90 West Street building. Kozuch and about 20 others spent most of the night putting out 10 floors of fire in that building.

“Normally 200 guys would do a job like that,” he said. “So I consider that really the craziest job I’ve ever done.”

Around 5 a.m. the following day, Kozuch and the other firefighters moved to ground zero. There, they tried as much as they could to put out the fire. They moved tires of rubble, hoping they could find survivors. They checked other nearby buildings, too, and searched for firemen who were unaccounted for.

Kozuch described the scene as what he imagines war is like: There were tents and barracks set up for first responders to sleep in, and the firefighters worked in rotations.

“Nobody complained, because every one of us knew people who were missing,” he said.

That cycle continued for Kozuch over most of the next 10 days. He then began alternating his shifts between Brooklyn and the World Trade Center. That continued for about two months.

At the time, his two children — Kate and her younger sister — were 4 and 1 years old, respectively. They couldn’t understand the magnitude of the situation, something that Kozuch said made his job less stressful.

Over time, though, that began to change. When Kate was in second grade, local firefighters came to her school to give a presentation about fire safety. Before they arrived, Kate’s teacher pulled her aside to ask whether she was comfortable with that, telling her that some of the other students might ask questions.

“That’s when I knew there was something else about it that perhaps I hadn’t realized,” she said.

As she grew up, Kate began learning more and more about the attacks and her dad’s role in the rescue efforts. Eventually, the day became ingrained in their relationship. Every April, the two would go to the 9/11 memorial in Brooklyn’s Coney Island for a service to remember the day.

“So it was always around me growing up,” she said.

Now, Sept. 11 has a special meaning to Kate. As soon as the clock struck midnight Sunday, it was on her mind. She said the day was emotional and spent much of it on the phone with her parents and sister.

Kate said she’s always had a strong relationship with her dad, that she’s always viewed him as a hero — things that were reaffirmed once she had a better understanding of what he had done.

“I started to appreciate him more than anything else,” she said. “He encapsulates the word, ‘hero.’”

Published on September 13, 2016 at 11:14 pm

Contact Michael: mdburk01@syr.edu