>>>>>"A report released this week was shocking: Nearly 70 percent of 9/11 first responders have debilitating respiratory illnesses. Many of them have been ill for years and will be for the rest of their lives."
>>>>>
>>>>>http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=2409716&page=1
>>>>
>>>>Surely you mean "911" - Freudian slip?
>>>
>>>?
>>>
>>>I don't get it.
>>
>>Well isn't the phone no "911" for emergency services, such as ambulance? I assumed this is what Evan was referring to, given "debilitating respiratory illnesses". So why did he give the Twin Towers date of infamy - "9/11"? Or so I thought. Now, looking at it again, I presume "first responders" refers to the emergency services on 9/11, who breathed in so much WTC. I thought he was saying that most 911 calls are for debilitating respiratory illnesses (if you look at the thread title, it's 911), making a comment on the air quality or something. My misunderstanding. :-)
>
>Ah, I take it then that you hadn't read the article he urled.

No, I've developed a kind of URL blindness, otherwise I might end up spending the day reading so many articles, many of which are only really of interest (or understandable) to your side of the pond. I seriously didn't see it! :-)

I have now.

Given the footage of the disaster, esp. the one of the young man who just happened to be there (filming a docu on the FDNY I think), then carried on, sheltered behind a vehicle when the cloud hit, asking a fireman for "a toke" on his BA, I'm not surprised these guys are in trouble.