Arnold Roma Presses 25-Year Bid to Make 9/11 Firefighter Toll 344

Q: Why is a 9/11 hero who saved multiple lives officially excluded from the FDNY's historic death toll?

He is excluded because the FDNY’s official 9/11 death toll counts only active-duty FDNY members, and Keith Roma was a New York Fire Patrolman, not an FDNY firefighter on the department’s payroll. That distinction—not the nature of his actions that day—is the core of the dispute. Keith responded to the World Trade Center with Patrol 2, part of the New York Fire Patrol, a separate, privately funded fire-salvage corps that operated alongside the FDNY for decades and came under FDNY supervision at major incidents. Witnesses said he helped evacuate civilians in the North Tower lobby, forced open elevator doors and carried multiple people to safety before disappearing after the South Tower collapse sent a blast through the building. His father, Arnold Roma, has argued for years that the official number should be 344 because Keith did the same dangerous work, at the same scene, under the same conditions, and died in the same rescue effort. Supporters note that Keith later received honors usually associated with firefighters, including the FDNY Fireman’s Medal of Supreme Sacrifice, a union line-of-duty death medal and White House recognition for service as a firefighter. The FDNY, however, has held to an institutional definition: the 343 refers specifically to members of the New York City Fire Department killed that day. So Keith Roma is widely honored as a 9/11 hero, but officially omitted from the FDNY’s historic count because he belonged to a separate organization.

Q: After 25 years, what bureaucratic rule keeps a father from adding his fallen son to the sacred 343?

The barrier is a narrow FDNY classification rule: the department’s official 9/11 total counts only active-duty FDNY members, and Keith Roma was a New York Fire Patrolman, not an FDNY employee. That distinction has kept Keith off the department’s sacred “343,” even though he responded to the World Trade Center, worked alongside FDNY firefighters, and died while helping evacuate civilians in the North Tower. The New York Fire Patrol was a separate, private fire-salvage corps that closely partnered with the FDNY but remained outside the department’s formal ranks. Arnold Roma’s argument is that the rule ignores the reality of what his son was doing that morning. By witness accounts and memorial records, Keith repeatedly went back into danger, helped carry people to safety, and was lost in the collapse after the South Tower fell and blasted through the North Tower lobby. His body was recovered 104 days later, and fellow patrolmen carried him out with firefighter honors. The FDNY has not disputed Keith’s bravery. In fact, he received the FDNY Fireman’s Medal of Supreme Sacrifice, a union line-of-duty death medal, and federal recognition for dying in service as a firefighter. But those honors have not changed the department’s bookkeeping standard. So after 25 years, the issue is not evidence of sacrifice. It is institutional definition: Keith is honored as a hero, but excluded from the official 343 because he was not on the FDNY roster.

3 articles · Updated · CNN · Sep 11

Twenty-five years after 9/11, Arnold Roma is still urging the FDNY to recognize his son Keith Roma as the 344th fallen firefighter, arguing the New York Fire Patrolman died performing the same rescue work as FDNY crews.
Keith, 27, responded from Patrol 2, carried civilians to safety inside the North Tower and vanished after the South Tower collapse; he was the only fatality among 16 Fire Patrolmen who answered the attack.
FDNY says its long-standing 343 count covers only active department members killed at the World Trade Center, a boundary former Commissioner Sal Cassano said was set as officials reduced an initial missing count of more than 500.
Roma notes Keith later received the FDNY Fireman’s Medal of Supreme Sacrifice, a union line-of-duty death medal and a White House 9/11 valor citation, yet his name remains absent from key FDNY memorials and many annual tributes.
The dispute also revives the legacy of the now-defunct New York Fire Patrol, a nearly 200-year force that worked alongside the FDNY until it closed in 2006 and whose red-helmeted members remain largely outside the public 9/11 narrative.