The response comes a day after Mayor Zohran Mamdani ordered the release of more than 170,000 pages of long-withheld documents related to air quality in Lower Manhattan following the collapse of the World Trade Center.
According to the mayor, the records indicate government leaders were aware of the dangers posed by burning toxins at Ground Zero and expressed concerns about potential lawsuits tied to chemical exposure.
The city's fire unions call it a shocking betrayal that their members, office workers and Lower Manhattan residents were repeatedly told the air was safe to breathe when officials knew it was not.
FDNY Uniformed Firefighters Association President Robert Eustace and Uniformed Fire Officers Association President James Brosi, both Ground Zero responders, joined firefighters and fire officers in Manhattan on Wednesday morning to speak about the continuing health crisis facing those who spent months working at the disaster site.
Union leaders pointed to a grim milestone: 453 FDNY members have died from World Trade Center-related illnesses, surpassing the 343 firefighters who died on Sept. 11, 2001. An FDNY World Trade Center Health Program report found that more than 12,000 FDNY members have been diagnosed with at least one illness linked to their exposure at Ground Zero.
The newly released records were stored in a city building and had not previously been made public. City officials say the documents confirm what many first responders and advocates have long suspected: that the air in Lower Manhattan contained hazardous toxins that lingered for months following the attacks.
"For all those people that said they would never forget, they went to great lengths making sure you did not know the totality of the situation and what they knew when they made the choice to sacrifice its residents and its first responders for what they believed was the greater good. And that is the atrocity that happened after 9/11," Brosi said.
Mamdani said the documents reveal a stark contrast between what officials knew and what survivors ultimately received.
"It would be one thing if government had stood alongside survivors and provided them with everything they needed at every step of the way. And yet we know that could not be further from what actually happened," the mayor said.
And indications suggest the Giuliani Administration knew the air was toxic within a month of the attack. An internal email expressed concern about lawsuits. In another internal document, a Bloomberg advisor put senior staff on notice that people might not be informed "of the real health risks."
In an op-ed Wednesday morning, Bloomberg defended the city's decision-making.
"After 9/11," he wrote, "our team in City Hall believed that Lower Manhattan's recovery depended not on rebuilding what had been lost, but on building something that had never fully existed there: a 24/7 community."
The former mayor did not address the toxic air in Lower Manhattan or the illnesses and deaths that followed and continue 25 years after 9/11.
Fire union officials say Bloomberg's priorities were clear.
"The city was making a fiduciary choice to prioritize the economic stability of Lower Manhattan over the health and safety of the firefighters, the police officers, the construction workers, and the children that went back to school down there," Brosi said.
"Truth means earlier screening. Earlier screening means earlier treatment. Earlier treatment gives people a better chance. And that chance was owed to every person who answered that call," Eustace said.
A spokesperson for Giuliani released a statement that said the EPA issued public statements declaring that air samples showed the air quality near Ground Zero was safe.
"Now would be a good time to remind Mayor Mamdani that cowardly terrorists acting in the name of Islam are 100 percent responsible for all of the death and destruction on September 11, 2001, and for all of the suffering and illness that have continued since that day," the statement said in part.
The spokesperson said the EPA later apologized for its statements and said it did the best it could with the knowledge available at the time.
"It is a shame that Mayor Mamdani is now attempting to score cheap partisan political points by seeming to blame the local officials who rushed to the scene, rather than radical Islam, for September 11," the spokesperson said.
The developments come as New York City prepares to mark the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. The NYPD is adding names to its Remembrance Wall honoring officers who responded on 9/11 or later died from related illnesses, while firefighters are scheduled to gather on Staten Island for a commemoration.
Security around the World Trade Center site is also increasing ahead of Friday's anniversary ceremonies.