As a New York City firefighter, Jeff Cool responded to both the 1993 bombing of The World Trade Center and the 9/11 attacks. He also survived Black Sunday, the second deadliest day for the FDNY in 2005, when 2 fires on the same day ultimately killed 4 NYC firefighters. Cool and his crew were trapped on the 5th floor of a burning tenement, jumping to escape the flames at their backs.
Because he was there in the 1993 World Trade Center attack, this Air Force vet KNEW even before the second tower was hit, that it was another terror attack. Off duty and at home in Rockland County with his wife and two young sons, Jeff was quickly on his way to his firehouse in the South Bronx, before all off-duty firefighters and NYPD’ers were called to duty.
From the Tappan Zee Bridge 35 miles away, he watched the two towers in flames. Jeff Cool lost 33 firefighter friends on 9/11. One of them was 32 year old FDNY’er Tommy Foley, one of 8 from the elite Special Operations Command at Rescue 3 to die that day. The Foleys, of Rockland County, have lost 3 immediate family member because of 9/11. Their dad, who spent days searching for Tommy at ground zero, died of a 9/11 cancer, as did Tommy’s brother, FDNY’er Danny, 42 year old father of five, and the youngest ever to join the Special Ops Command, in 2020.