"There's really no way to describe it; it was absolute devastation," said Assistant Chief of the Farmingdale Fire Department John Salerno of the ground zero site in Manhattan, where he and approximately one dozen other Farmingdale firefighters went last Tuesday afternoon to help in the rescue effort after the World Trade Center attacks.

After receiving a call through Firecom, approximately 22 members of the department boarded their trucks and rode to a post in Queens where they were staged before breaking up for separate duties. Several men stayed in Queens and others headed toward the disaster site, stopping their truck right by the remains of the number one World Trade Center tower.

Upon reaching the site, Captain Skip Schumeyer spoke to a chief to see what they could do to help in the efforts.

"We told him we want to work," Schumeyer said, "and when we got to the site we went right to work digging [and] trying to tunnel through the voids," he said. "We had a thermal imaging camera, [which] ended up going into these voids, searching."

Many of their lights were used in the effort later in the evening since other lights hadn't yet arrived. The firefighters stayed at the site until Wednesday, when a relief crew came in to take their places.

"When we first got there, to the ground zero site, you couldn't see your hand in front of your face," Salerno said. "That's how much smoke and dust [there was on the site].

"We assisted in the recovery of at least six," Salerno said. Those rescues were made just in the area that the men were in, not including other rescues made that day, and included both civilians and officers.

Schumeyer explained that the men worked in a line of approximately 300 people at the site. "Once they found somebody, or thought they found somebody, it just became a human chain of removing [the surrounding] debris," he said. He explained that the debris would be passed down the line to the bottom of a hill where it was later scooped up and disposed of. "Once all the debris was coming down, doctors would be asking for medical equipment; oxygen tanks, oxygen bottles, surgical equipment, and they would be saying to keep that still," he said. "All of a sudden everybody had to be very gentle with the equipment."

Salerno said that one firefighter located a roll of film on the site and had it developed, finding family photos, and is trying to get the pictures back to the family.

Schumeyer noted that at one point while working at the site, everybody present suddenly heard a jet going by overhead. "We didn't know it was a military jet," he said, explaining that they could barely see the person standing next to them with all the dust and debris. "Nobody said a word," Schumeyer said. "It was so eerie, we were all just waiting to see where it was going to attack." Luckily, one of the crew members heard that it was in fact a military jet and calmed everybody at the site.

"We had a lot of young guys that went in with us," Salerno said. "What these guys saw, being so young and impressionable; this was so devastating, [the images] will probably stick in their heads forever." Regardless, Salerno said that they never lost sight of the task at hand. "They all worked like professionals in every task that they had to do. They never lost focus."

The firefighters took their first break at 3 a.m., when they went either into or around the truck trying to take a "catnap" for approximately 20 minutes before going back to work.

Salerno added that it couldn't have been easy for the firefighters to come back to the firehouse and hear that services were to be performed the next day for Peter Ganci, Farmingdale volunteer fireman and Chief of the New York City Fire Department.

"What made it ever harder, we came back and immediately had to turn this firehouse into a funeral home," he said.

"As a chief, I don't think I've ever been so proud of the members here who came out and worked for numerous hours and took on such difficult tasks," Salerno said. "They did it with such professionalism. Nothing could make a chief more proud."

Salerno and Schumeyer added that the village clerk's office, JP's and Annabella's Restaurant in Farmingdale went above and beyond the morning the men were called in, providing them with supplies upon seeing them load up their trucks preparing the go into the city. They brought over dozens of sandwiches, juice and bottled water for the workers to bring into the site.

"The community has been absolutely outstanding throughout all of this," Salerno said. "They saw us leave and made at least 20 to 30 sandwiches, brought over juice and water, they fed everybody. "

"Throughout the whole week, I've never seen so much dedication during this time of devastation. This fire department went above and beyond. These guys have worked so hard, and they really did a great job. In 16 years, I've never been so proud," he said.