(DAILY MAIL) A hero firefighter who bravely served on September 11th alongside hundreds of other first responders has died of a rare lung condition, and was laid to rest yesterday.
FDNY Lt Martin Fullam contracted polymyositis in 2005, and had also suffered from pulmonary fibrosis, which left him breathless and exhausted after the simplest of tasks.
The late firefighter, 56, was one of the men carrying fatally wounded FDNY Chaplain Mychal Judge through the still-smoking rubble on 9/11.
The image of Lt Fullam and four others carrying the chaplain has remained one of the most poignant and haunting pictures from that horrific day.
Hundreds of members of New York’s bravest gathered Saturday afternoon on Staten Island to say farewell to Lt Fullam, who fought tirelessly for first responders of 9/11 and those living near ground zero.
‘Marty is an inspiration to all of us,’ FDNY Commissioner Salvatore Cassano said outside of Our Lady Star of the Sea in Huguenot.
After Lt Fullam heard of what happened at the World Trade Center on the morning of September 11, 2001, he rushed to the site, even though he wasn’t on duty that day.