Crime & Safety

9/11 Profiles in Courage: Jeff Gdovin

A member of KVFD, Gdovin was at Ground Zero searching for a fallen colleague.

Jeff Gdovin, a member of the Kensington Volunteer Fire Department, works some crazy hours as a member of the Bridgeport Fire Department. None were crazier than those that came after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center.

"We had a member of our department who had just gotten hired by NYFD," Gdovin said. "They were asking for manpower so we got all the guys we could get together and took the train into the city.

"We got there the morning of Sept. 12 and walked through the concourse at Grand Central Station. There were probably more than 1,000 people there who stopped, cleared a path and clapped for us as we walked by.

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"We had to hoof it to the WTC. It was like 40-something blocks in our full gear. It was tough just to get there but then when you got there it was worse than you could even imagine. There was just nothing left. There were 15 or 20 police cars and fire trucks crushed. They were stacking cars that had been crushed and had a truck just for body bags.

"Our job was just to dig. There were no tools for the job so you dug with your hands through the ashes and rubble and looked for whatever you could find.

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"If you found a piece of human remains, they treated it with so much respect and took care of it. We filled buckets with ash, they would get emptied and we'd be back it it again."

Dana Hannon was the firefighter from the Bridgeport FD who got a job at NYFD. He was one of the 343 firefighters who lost their lives on Sept. 11, 2001.

"They found Dana's camera later driving to the towers," Gdovin said. "He was sitting in the back of the truck and snapping photos as the truck got closer and closer to the towers. We have a few of them hanging in the station in Bridgeport."

On July 24, 2010, two Bridgeport firefighters were killed while checking for hot spots at a fire. Gdovin said it brought back memories of his emotions from 9/11.

"We lost two great men and two great firefighters from Bridgeport that day," Gdovin said. "It took us right back to 9/11 and all the things we were feeling. We lost two men, two brothers. NYFD lost 343 that day. I can't imagine what they went through but I know we went through a very stressful time."

Since his work at Ground Zero in 2001, Gdovin said he and his family -- wife Sharon, son Jarrett, 12, and daughter Sara, 8 -- usually go away and camp.

"It's a tough day, it's a quiet day for us," he said. "This being the 10th anniversary, I'm not sure what we will do. I might attend the ceremony we are having at the Kensington Fire Dept. I don't have definite plans right now.

"I can tell you this, I won't be going back down to New York City. I don't want to go back down. I don't want to be selfish by going down there on the anniversary. That time should be for the firemen and policemen and the families who lost loves ones. More than 5,000 people were killed that day. I'll leave this anniversary for them." 


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