9/11 responders outside N.Y. seek compensation

NEW YORK - They weren't exposed to anywhere near the same level of ash, grit, and fumes, but emergency workers who rushed to the Pentagon and the Pennsylvania countryside on 9/11 are signing up for the same compensation and health benefits being given to New Yorkers who got sick after toiling for months in the toxic ruins of the World Trade Center.

Federal officials say at least 91 people who were at those two crash sites have applied for payment from a multibillion-dollar fund for people with an illness related to the attacks. That includes 66 people who fought fires and cleaned up rubble at the Pentagon and 25 who responded to the wreckage of United Airlines Flight 93 in Shanksville, Pa.

Those numbers are minuscule compared with the more than 24,000 firefighters, police, construction workers, and others who applied for compensation in New York after developing illnesses possibly linked to long hours spent in ground zero's constant fires and drifts of pulverized concrete and glass.

But the Pentagon or Shanksville applicants are notable because, to date, no medical study or environmental survey has suggested that people who responded to either site were exposed to similar health hazards. They were on the scene for days rather than months. And there have been no reports of a strange rash of illnesses. Responders at those sites were given eligibility by Congress mostly out of a sense of fairness, without any clear indication that anyone was sick.

A separate program administered by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health expects as many as 1,500 Virginia and Pennsylvania responders to apply for free health monitoring and treatment. So far, just 19 have applied.

The trickle of people signing up for compensation includes Alexandria Fire Department Capt. Scott Quintana, who dug through feet of scorched rubble at the Pentagon to find bodies in 2001. He was diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukemia in 2010.

Research has suggested that the genetic mutation that causes his type of cancer might be triggered by environmental toxins. But even Quintana acknowledged it's unlikely his leukemia was caused solely by the few days he spent at the Pentagon.

"Could I absolutely tie it to 9/11? Absolutely not," Quintana said. "Can I tie it to my career in the fire service? Yes." He said his $8,000-per-month chemotherapy bill is covered by insurance, but he would take an award if offered.

At outreach meetings in recent weeks, NIOSH officials and health advocates suggested that responders at least enroll in the health program as a precaution, even if they are currently healthy.

24,000

Firefighters, police, construction workers and other 9/11 responders who applied for compensation in New York.

1,500

Pennsylvania and Virginia responders expected to apply for free health monitoring and treatment.

19

Pa. and Virginia responders who have applied so far.

$8,000

Monthly chemotherapy bill for Fire Department

Capt. Scott Quintana of Alexandria, Va.EndText