Asbury Park Fire Captain Runs In 9/11 Tunnel to Tower Race
By TOM SHORTELL
Asbury Park Fire Captain Frank DiLello ran in a five kilometer run/fund-raiser over the weekend that follows the steps a New York firefighter took in rescue efforts on 9/11.
Over 20,000 people participated in the seventh annual Tunnel to Tower Run, DiLello said.
“It was really a moving experience,” he said.
Though it was pouring rain, he said he was too caught up in the moment to care.
“It was almost like the rain wasn’t even there,” he said.
The Tunnel to Tower Web site listed his time as 19:15.
Asbury Park’s firefighter union, Local 384, will make a donation to the Stephen Siller, FDNY Let Us Do Good Children’s Foundation, DiLello said. The foundation raises money for children who have lost a parent, according to its Web site.
The run goes from the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel to the site of the World Trade Center, the path of Brooklyn firefighter Stephen Siller. Siller, who was off duty when the attacks occurred, drove to his fire house, suited up and started to drive toward the towers when he got word of the attack in order to meet up with his unit. When he was unable to drive through the tunnel into Manhattan, he got out of his vehicle and ran to Ground Zero. Siller was one of 343 firefighters who died that day.
For DiLello, it was the first time he returned to the World Trade Center site or New York City since he aided in the recovery efforts of the terrorist attacks.
DiLello and other Asbury Park firefighters went to New York City soon after the attacks as support, where they were stationed at a hospital to help with the expected surge of wounded survivors. By the next day, it was clear no such surge was coming, so he and others went to the site of the towers, where they sifted through debris. He returned home Sept. 13, when the New York City Fire Department had reorganized itself sufficiently to take over the recovery efforts, he said.
“Personally, it was time for me to head back and see what was going on,” he said.
While DiLello was the only Asbury Park fire fighter in the run, firefighters from around the world joined him. He ran next to fire fighters from London, Montreal and Chicago, he said. “To participate was just a treat. It was exciting; it was moving,” he said.
DiLello, who signed up for the run last week on the spur of the moment, said he will do the run next year, and other Asbury Park fire fighters have expressed interest in going as well.
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