Commissioners credit Centereach firefighter's work at Ground Zero

The Centereach Board of Fire Commissioners has granted a longtime department firefighter line-of-duty leave to have surgery for cancer he said he contracted at Ground Zero after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

The board’s decision pleased the firefighter, Robert Wilson, who had made an emotional plea to the commissioners at their Tuesday night meeting, saying he had submitted the necessary documents proving he worked at Ground Zero but the department had misplaced them.

At the meeting, Centereach fire commissioners did not address Wilson's allegation that the department lost his records.  

Having line-of-duty leave means Wilson can take time off for his surgery and continue to accrue enough tenure with the department to merit lifetime membership as well as accompanying social and financial benefits.

He'll be eligible for lifetime membership in July.

“I am relieved that the board of fire commissioners saw the merit of my documentation,”  Wilson said Wednesday after he received word that the board had sided with him. He said he was also pleased other firefighters whose documentation was lost by the fire department may benefit as well should they develop illnesses related to their service.

Wilson, who also works as a full-time nurse, has been on active duty with the department for more than two decades.

“Based on the recommendations from Chief [Robert] Corley and the Chiefs Office in conjunction with the recommendation of the Board of Fire Commissioners, Mr. Wilson was granted his Line of Duty leave request at last night’s meeting,” said Fire Commissioner Thomas Doyle in an email Wednesday.

Wilson was one of at least 12 Centereach firefighters who said they answered the call in the wake of the terrorist attacks and helped New York City —  and the nation — rebuild from the rubble of the fallen World Trade Center.

Tens of thousands of first responders who worked the scene and others who lived and worked in the area were stricken with various illnesses, from respiratory ailments to fatal cancers, and some of the afflictions have taken 17 years to show up.

Wilson, who said he developed asthma because of his work on “the pile,” was diagnosed with cancer earlier this month. He sought a line-of-duty leave because he said his cancer was connected to the 45 or so days of work he did at Ground Zero. He was already registered with the federal World Trade Center Health Program, which provides medical assistance to people who developed illnesses after the attacks.

Instead, Wilson was authorized to take a personal leave, which put his acrual of time toward lifetime membership in the fire department on hold.

Wilson appealed to the five-member board of fire commissioners Tuesday night, reading a statement and providing evidence including an “exposure report” he filled out in October 2002 at his superiors’ request. That document attests to the toxins he was exposed to while at Ground Zero, he said.

Other firefighters told commissioners in public comments and in letters read aloud at the meeting that Wilson worked at Ground Zero.

In his email, Doyle said the board saw Wilson’s evidence of his work at Ground Zero for the first time at the meeting.

“After a discussion and review of the documents his leave was granted,” Doyle said.