For 2 9/11 Firefighters, A More-Daunting Threat

Brenda Berkman and Regina Wilson are two of the firefighters who survived the World Trade Center rescue efforts in which 343 FDNY members were killed, then spent months working at the site in the search for remains and attending countless funerals for their colleagues.

As grueling as that period was for them, both emotionally and laboring in a toxic atmosphere amid ruins that included intermittent fires, literally shaky ground and exposed metal that Mr. Berkman a decade after recalled that 9/11 firefighters frequently cut themselves on, both said in phone interviews April 21 that coping with the coronavirus has been a more-taxing ordeal mentally. Part of the reason for that—at least in the case of Ms. Berkman—is the impact that months on the pile had on her health, but both said that as horrifying as the massive loss of life due to the Trade Center attacks was, the deaths came within a single day, and they were not preoccupied in the months after by fears of additional terrorist attacks.