Kaminsky Helps 9/11 First Responder from Oceanside

Seventeen years after the attacks on the World Trade Center, former New York City police officer Darren Brennan still vividly remembers not only the overwhelming smell of a lethal cocktail of still-burning jet fuel, plane fuselage, computers, steel and asbestos, but also the “eerie” silence.

“It was the strangest smell — it’s hard to describe,” said Brennan, now a member of the Long Beach Police Department, who was 22 when he rushed to “the pile” that day. “It was the most distinct smell ever — it wasn’t disgusting, but it just stayed on you. You still had the smell, but also the awkward silence — there was no heavy machinery yet. It looked like it was snowing, and in the beginning there were no masks.”

In those first few days, Brennan said, the silence at what became known as ground zero was pierced only by the sound of buckling steel and the persistent alarms from breathing apparatus worn by firefighters, signaling that there was no movement as they were trapped beneath the rubble.

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