September 12, 2001 was that moment. He was there. He worked. He came home. He processed what he had experienced with the help of a therapist and the passage of time. He did not make it the defining public story of his career — he returned to acting, to directing, to the work that was his primary professional identity. But he also stayed connected to what September 11 had brought forward: the ongoing needs of the first responder community, the medical consequences of Ground Zero exposure, the mental health challenges that firefighters face in the course of their working lives and in the aftermath of disasters.
He was a firefighter who became an actor. The actor never stopped being a firefighter — not in any operational sense, but in the more fundamental sense of belonging to the community, carrying its values, and responding when the community was in crisis. That continuity, unspectacular and real, is what the story of September 12, 2001 is actually about.
Engine 55 is still on Broome Street. The five plaques are still on the wall. The company that Buscemi joined at twenty-two is still working. The city is still New York.
Sources and reporting notes:
Steve Buscemi, first-person account in TIME magazine, as told to Karl Vick. Published September 2021. Primary source for his description of Ground Zero arrival date (September 12), bucket brigade work, body bags, dust, face masks, and feeling of connection. URL: time.com/6095709/steve-buscemi-9-11-firefighter/
Yahoo News / People reporting of Buscemi September 2021 CBS interview, published September 10, 2021. Source for direct quotes including “I walked around for hours and then found my company,” “I was only there for like five days,” “I definitely” have PTSD, “It’s still with me,” and health check confirmation.