A First Responder’s Response to 9/11

Jason Mirandi was starting his second year of high school in New York, when the events of Sept. 11, 2001 occurred.

Since graduating from Villanova in 2008, he has lived in Upper Moreland, where he works for ESPN & Major League Baseball, helping to run the organizations’ e-commerce business websites.

However, Mirandi said that the events of 9/11 have always stayed with him, as did the desire to find a positive reaction; to be able to do something that “mattered.”

He said 9/11 was the reason for his taking up a second career - a career in which he has found time-and-time again, certainly matters.

Speaking in correspondence, Mirandi shares more about his experience on that day and the years to follow:

Patch: Where were you during 9/11?

Mirandi: I was a sophomore in high school in Staten Island, New York City, where I was born and raised. I was sitting in class when the principal of the school poked his head in the room and told us to turn on the television immediately. I spent the next hour or so following the events on TV before returning home. I vividly remember standing on the corner of my block staring at the plume of smoke and watching the FDNY & NYPD vehicles blowing past me, lights and sirens, headed towards Manhattan. I could smell the burning rubble from my front steps for days.  I’ll never forget it.

Patch: What were your immediate reactions to the events that day?

Mirandi: Shock at first, without a doubt, but as the events wore on and the gravity of the situation became clearer, the shock was mixed with sadness over all those we had lost, and then anger that someone could orchestrate something so heinous.  It felt like a personal attack in my back yard.

Patch: What has been your understanding of the significance that day has played in relation to your personal life?

Mirandi: I didn’t personally lose anyone close to me, but I still feel the reverberations of 9/11 to this day. It was a wake up call that life can be fleeting and your world can be changed in an instant. It was a call to me, personally, to do something with myself that mattered.

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Today, single, and a young adult, Mirandi reflects on how the valor and commitment displayed by the first responders, especially the firefighters, inspired him to become a volunteer firefighter.

He joined the three years ago, and was promoted to Sergeant 10 in June.  

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Patch: What were the reasons/circumstances behind your decision to become a firefighter?

Mirandi: 9/11 was the catalyst that made me want to become a firefighter for multiple reasons. Watching the men of the FDNY march up the stairs of the burning towers while everyone else was so desperate to get out, left an indelible impression on me, especially when I watched the towers fall with those same heroes still inside.

9/11 also proved to me that your entire world can be turned upside down in a second, and that you need to do something with your life that actually matters  - something that helps your fellow man, betters your community, and something you can be proud of when you look back at your life. People focus too much on money and personal gain when measuring accomplishment.

Patch: As a first responder, what were your thoughts on the sacrifices made by fellow first responders?

Mirandi: It took a special kind of devotion to do what those men and women did that day. I’ve often wondered if I’d have the strength to do it – both physically and mentally. Some of those guys carried 120-plus pounds of equipment up 60-plus flights of stairs, all the while wondering if they were going to make it home that night to see their family.

That took a whole lot of special people, with a special kind of dedication to their fellow man - and that makes me proud to also call myself a first responder and firefighter.

Patch: Has the aftermath influenced you when you respond to an emergency call?

Mirandi: I try never to forget the reasons I joined. I have a 9/11 memorial pin on my helmet, which reminds me on every call why I’m there, how I have to hold myself, and what my purpose is. It’s very easy to lose sight of that when you’re going to the same building at 3 a.m. for the third fire alarm activation in the last two hours, and still have to get up for work in a few hours.

However, at every call I respond to, if I have the opportunity to lessen the impact of an emergency on someone’s life, to soften the blow and ease someone’s stress and pain – that’s what it’s all about for me.

Patch: told me that every fire department crew holds a certain amount of pride in their service to the community. Could you provide an instance or reason why this is?

Mirandi: Without a doubt. If you don’t have a certain level of pride, you won’t last. There’s a lot that’s required of us, and it can be stressful. Like I mentioned, I’m a single guy with no immediate family or kids to worry about, and it can be stressful even for me sometimes. For the guys with families and children, it’s a new level of commitment. If you’re not proud to do what you do, you’ll be hard pressed to find the strength to drop everything and run out the door every time those tones drop.

We’re proud because we work hard to be what we are, and there are few organizations you can be a part of that in a moment’s notice, when you’re called upon, you have the opportunity to change someone’s life for the better – and you may be their only chance.