A retired New York Fire Department deputy chief who lost his firefighter son in the September 11 attacks and spent decades fighting for ailing first responders has died from a 9/11-related illness.

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James “Jim” Riches passed away on Thanksgiving Day at the age of 74, nearly 24 years after he searched tirelessly at Ground Zero for his eldest son, Firefighter James Riches Jr. His death adds to the toll of more than 400 FDNY members who have succumbed to illnesses linked to toxic exposure following the collapse of the World Trade Center, according to CNN.

A Father’s Final Search

On the morning of September 11, 2001, Riches rushed to lower Manhattan as the second tower came down. His son, known as Jimmy Jr, was assigned to Ladder 114 in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park and had responded with Engine Company 4. He was last seen carrying an injured woman from the lobby of the North Tower. Jimmy Jr was among the 343 firefighters killed that day.

In the months that followed, Riches returned daily to the smouldering ruins, combing through debris thick with toxic dust, smoke and gases that spread across lower Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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“He was there every day to find his son,” said Richard Brower, a retired FDNY lieutenant and former president of the Uniformed Fire Officers Association.

Son Found At Ground Zero

The search ended in March 2002, when Jimmy Jr’s crushed helmet, marked with the Ladder 114 number, was recovered from the North Tower site. His body was found nearby. Riches called his other sons to Ground Zero, and together they carried Jimmy Jr from the pit where the tower once stood.

More than 2,900 people were killed in the September 11 attacks. Even after recovering his son, Riches continued working at the site until recovery operations ended in May 2002. His health collapsed in 2005, when he was hospitalised with acute respiratory distress syndrome and placed in a coma for 16 days.

Health Battle After 9/11

“They told my family I’d be dead in five hours,” Riches recalled in a 2014 interview. “I had to learn how to walk and talk all over again. I’m alive, thank God.” His lung capacity never fully recovered.

Riches joined the FDNY in 1977 and retired in 2007 as a deputy chief, the highest rank achievable without a city appointment. He was laid to rest on December 1 following a funeral at St. Patrick Roman Catholic Church in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, as crowds lined the streets and bagpipes sounded a full FDNY farewell.