Hagerman FD Receives World Trade Center Steel

The of East Patchogue on Thursday received a from the World Trade Center that was donated by the Port Authority of New York/New Jersey.

Measuring 168" x 41" x 41" the section weighs 11,870 lbs., said the department’s chief, John Tew.

Receiving the section was emotional for several members of the department, as the Hagerman Fire Department was fully deployed on September 11, 2001, and lost Lt. Andrew Desperito at Ground Zero. Tew was among those that served that day.

After the steel was loaded onto a truck at John F. Kennedy International Airport, Tew took a moment to place his hands onto the truck's bed.

“To see a piece of that history and actually have it to make a monument, there were so many things going through my head,” Tew said at a ceremony held after the pick up at the department.

The department applied for the steel in October, which was an idea of Ralph Lettieri Jr., a second lieutenant at the department.

“There was talk for what we were going to do for the 10th anniversary [of September 11th],” Lettieri said. “We did see there were a few departments receiving steel in the area, contacted a few people from the Port Authority, got the application to put a letter in, and in May we were approved for it.”

Tew and Lettieri said that the steel will be used for a memorial that the department would like to have the community involved in creating.

“The district is going to work to get a design together for a memorial and build it behind our Andrew Despirito way, we’re going to try to get the community involved as much as possible ask them for what they would like to see and have represented here,” Lettieri said.

Patchogue Patch rode along with the Hagerman Fire Department escort to pick up the steel and will be adding photos and video from the escort and ceremony.