Robert Evans, of Franklin Square, was a member of the city fire department's Engine 33 in Manhattan. He was killed leaving the north tower.
As a child, Evans was "extremely active, very athletic and fun," his father, Ed of Franklin Square, recalled.
The father said his son was "adventuresome" as a teen, once climbing the local water tower.
Life at the fire house suited him perfectly, where he loved the camaraderie, horsing around and the action. A practical joker, he was nicknamed "Jerry Lewis."
"He had the opportunity to go to a fire house in Queens Village," his father said. "He didn't want that; he wanted the action and where he was on Great Jones Street was very busy. He loved it."
Once, he said, Evans turned up at his father's house right after a fire. He had been to the hospital to get some salve for the back of his neck, which was severely burned when the ceiling had fallen on him. The father said he took his son's helmet to wash it off.
"He went crazy," he said. "He didn't want it washed. He was more concerned about the helmet than the burn on his neck."
"It was part of the badge of courage," he said. "The little flashlight on his helmet was melted." He wore that helmet with its burn marks "forever."
"He was into it," his father said.
While the families who have lost a loved one still feel the loss almost 10 years later, most everyone else has "slipped back into complacency," he said.
One enduring change for the father: "I don't trust as much as I used to."
New York Newsday, 2001