Hard Hat

NYPD Detective Anthony "Tony" Favara, trained in rescue and tactical operations, joined the department’s Emergency Service Unit in the late 1980s. On September 11, 2001, Favara and all members of ESU 6 responded to the World Trade Center from Brooklyn, driving toward lower Manhattan in three vehicles that became stuck in traffic along the way. When recording an oral history for the 9/11 Memorial Museum, Favara recalled seeing a low-flying airplane streak across New York Harbor, bank toward the World Trade Center, and accelerate before slamming into the South Tower.

When they finally reached the site, Favara joined another group of NYPD emergency service officers who were suiting up to enter the buildings. A Mayday transmission crackled on a radio soon thereafter, and moments later the South Tower began to collapse. Favara crouched under a planter in an effort to shield himself. Instinct suddenly compelled him to abandon this spot, and he ran toward a nearby building.

As Favara and his NYPD partners regained their bearings, he used his flashlight in the smoke-filled darkness to draw civilians toward him, sharing oxygen from his air tank. Favara worked on the rescue effort for the remainder of the day and returned to the site to support the rescue and recovery for the next nine months, always wearing his hard hat.

On his hard hat, Favara attached duct tape on which he’d written his name and squad number, along with a headlamp that enabled him to work in the dark without holding a flashlight. Favara also affixed stickers to the hard hat reflecting the agencies and individuals with whom he worked at Ground Zero, including Ironworkers Local 40 and the Port Authority Police.