Emergency medical technicians have been added to a bill working its way through the Legislature providing bigger pensions to first responders whose careers were cut short by illnesses that resulted from their time volunteering at the World Trade Center site after the 2001 terrorist attack.
Rob Nixon, director for government affairs for the New Jersey State PBA, said 9/11 is not history for police officers, firefighters and EMTs who continue to develop illnesses related to their efforts at the World Trade Center nearly 18 years ago. “It wasn’t a volunteer responsibility. It was their obligation to go to the pile to help try to rescue and recover what they could because that’s what we train our police and firefighters to do,” Nixon said.