The NYC Fire Riders ride for friendship and for fun. They also ride to remember 343 firefighters lost on September 11th.

What You Need To Know

  • The NYC Fire Riders is the official motorcycle club of the FDNY, with 200+ members who are active and retired NYC firefighters

  • They regularly ride to keep alive the camaraderie of the firehouse, but also to travel together to 9/11 memorials and pay their respect to the heroic firefighters lost that day

  • A recent ride included a stop at a Coney Island firehouse and a group ride to the Coney Island Wall of Remembrance nearby, where riders spoke, laid flowers and said prayers

  • The club started in the 1980s with a handful of members, but after 9/11 member Greg Fagan asked Harley-Davidson to make a firefighters' 9/11 memorial bike; they did, and many firefighters bought them, learned to ride and joined the club

Like most here, James Finnell rushed to the World Trade Center that Tuesday morning off duty when the FDNY put out the call for all to respond.

"I lost a lot of friends. Lost all of the men that were working that day in my firehouse, so it just brings back a lot of feelings, you know, hard feelings sometimes it's sad, you know, I can only have tears in my eyes right now talking about it, you know, but it's a good thing to try to remember the good things and the positives, you know, that came from meeting those people," Finnell said.

Finnell, is the president the New York City Fire Riders, the official motorcycle club of the FDNY. On this day, about 40 Fire Riders gather at Engine 318/Ladder 166 in Coney Island to ride together to the nearby Wall of Remembrance.

Most stand quietly in solidarity. Some wear the ID of fallen brethren, and many place flowers.

"I was a friend of Patty Lyons. Great guy. He was the quarterback for the play department football team. A lot of the good guys there too," said Brian Mitchell, a retired NYC firefighter.

To some, 20 years may seem like a long time, but for these active and retired firefighters, it's anything but.

William Denis retired days before 9/11 and responded anyway. He took many harrowing images with a camera that happened to be in his pocket.

Many can’t talk about it and leave it to Steve Jezycki to say a few words.

"You know, a lot of people dwell on the number of guys that we lost, and civilians that were lost in towers that day. But the focus also has to be the lives that they saved," Jezycki, who lost his sister Peggy, who was in the South Tower that day. said in a short speech.

The Fire Riders club started with a dozen or so members in 1985. But after 9/11, club member Greg Fagan asked Harley-Davidson to make a special 9/11 commemorative motorcycle for firefighters, and they did. That inspired many to buy bikes, learn how to ride, and join the club.

Today, they have more than 200 members. They ride at funeral processions for fallen firefighters. They've escorted World Trade Center steel and artifacts throughout the country as a show of respect. 

Billy Ferarra led his group of retired NYC firefighters from upstate New York through New Jersey and into Brooklyn. 

"A lot of guys, including me, we don't really talk too much about 9/11. But today is a way for us to not forget. Every guy on that wall, somehow we know every one of them, " Ferarra said.

And so they ride often to salute the heroes.