It takes a long time to count the names of the firefighters on the list.

Four are confirmed dead.  One body has been found.

Ninety-seven firefighters are missing from the  Special Operations Unit in New York City.  Ten of this elite corps, including Chief Raymond Downey of Rescue Operations and three other chiefs, Charles Kasper, John Moran and John Pao lillo, responded from the Island firehouse on September 11, within minutes of the attack on the World Trade Center.

A change of duty was in progress at the Island firehouse when the attack occurred.  Men who were technically off-duty, like John Moran, did not stop to consider that.  "Guys just grabbed coats and went," said Battalion Chief Peter Stuebe, who had been assigned to the Island from the Brooklyn Navy Yard on September 18.  "They just went to help.  These were the men with the expertise to handle this operation.  With them missing, we have one hand tied behind our backs.  We may have lost our best men."

Under relatively normal circumstances, a unit comprising one officer and four men responds to a fire.  In this case, more than nine people went in each group, doubling the losses.  "We are never really off-duty," said Jack Spillane, the Battalion Chief on the Island.  "There was total recall, which means every single person from the New York Fire Department was called back.  Before that happened, our men went in, regardless of whose name was on the roster."

The operation has created a new timetable for the firemen – 24 on, 24 off.

On his desk notebook, Spillane has scribbled questions:
    Who will work on company rosters?
    Who will go to the WTC?
    Which squad companies will go next?

He says the men are devastated.  Everyone wants to go to Lower Manhattan.  "Everybody here knows 40 to 50 men who are missing.  They want to find them.  It is hard for the families, too.  There are no bodies, so there is no sense of closure.  We feel if we could not bring them back alive, we should at least get their bodies back so they can be buried."

The work is especially depressing because the firefighters lost so many friends.  "We are looking for friends in the pile,"  said Stuebe.  "You would expect a pile of rubble from the collapse of a building this high," he said, pointing towards the picture of Battery Park City with the Twin Towers standing proud and solid.  "Not there.  Everything is compacted."  Stuebe explained that when a building collapses, there are generally "voids" or gaps where people can be found.  "Nothing.  There are no voids at this site."

Morale at the firehouse is low.  Every bit of support from the community helps.  "Two ladies came in last week and cleaned our kitchen.  We did not even get their names down," said Bob Foley, a fireman.

"These are the men who put their lives on the line," said Radha Moorthy, one of the 150 Islanders who stopped by at the firehouse to offer condolences, food and clothing to the firefighters.  "We did whatever little we could do for them.  I took bagels, donuts and cupcakes."

It was Maxwell Stamatakis's second visit to the firehouse on the Island.  The first time, the four-year-old was there was in the summer when his school organized a field trip.  The second time was last week when his mother, Elva Stamatakis, took him and his brother, Ethan, 2, to give cold cuts, bread, fruit, towels, shirts and socks to the corps.  "I want to teach them compassion and show them how hard these men have worked to help others," she said.  Her name is in the book the firemen have kept on a table at the firehouse for Islanders to sign in.

Maxwell noted that there were many more fire trucks the second time around and that the men's clothes were dirty and their palms were sweaty.  He came away with a sense of awe and respect.

"We felt there was nothing we could do and then we heard that the firemen needed food.  This was our way of contributing," said Rosalind Tordesillas of Manhattan Park.  She took bananas, cereal and bagels for the grateful firefighters.

After a point, there was so much food in the firehouse that Islanders were asked to bring only blankets and socks as donations.  "We are very thankful to the people for their help," said Jack Spillane.  "We don't have the usual relationship that other firehouses have with their neighbors because we don't usually attend to the fires on the Island, but this is a friendly Island and we try to be good neighbors."

Firefighters from Astoria or Long Island rush to the Island in case of a fire unless it is a two-alarm fire that requires special equipment that the unit on the Island possesses.

"I have been feeling like I needed to do something," said Teri Sheridan, 72, who has lived on the Island for the past two years.

More than thirty posters signed by the Islanders have been put up in the windows of stores and offices all along Main Street.  Isabel Bartley volunteered to set up a table at the Good Shepherd Chapel plaza where passersby signed the sheets.  Judy Berdy sat beside Bartley and called out to everyone who walked past, saying, "Come and express your thoughts about the firemen."

Their messages are simple:
    God bless you.
    Thank you, you are our heroes.
    Be brave and strong,
    We love you.