Many images continue to haunt civilian 9/11 responder Timothy DeMeo. He saw close to 100 people engulfed in flames jump from the twin towers, he said — images that are still among his nightmares. And there was another that he still can’t shake, 18 years later. “We found, on top of Tower 6, a shoe with a foot in it,” he said, his voice breaking. “There was such a horrific loss of life there.”
DeMeo, 50, is an engineer from Glen Head who works for the state Department of Environmental Conservation. After two jets struck the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, he was ordered to go to the site because he is an emergency spill responder and an advanced hazardous materials technician. Before Sept. 11, his job mostly involved cleaning up hazardous spills from overturned tankers, underground leaks and the occasional plane crash.