- April 26, 2024
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The helmet Keith Roma was wearing the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. Photo Jacque Estes
Arnie Roma looks at a photo of the marking he made on a wall near where his son was last seen. Photo Jacque Estes
Arnie Roma stands next to a photo of the Twin Tower Memorial Lights. Photo Jacque Estes
The Roma home is full of memories of their son and his heroism. Photo Jacque Estes
No words were needed. The ash covered fireman’s helmet, encased in a glass display box, spoke volumes. It was the helmet worn by Keith Roma, a fire patrol fireman who responded to the World Trade Center north tower on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001.
Arnie Roma had just completed his shift as an emergency room nurse when he received the call from his son.
”He called me, thank God I spoke to him. I could hear the fire truck and he said, ‘Dad you won’t believe this, a plane just hit the Twin Tower,’” Roma said. “I had worked until 3 a.m. in the ER. I told him, ‘Keith be careful, I’ll meet you there.”
Keith Roma responded to the North Tower, his father worked with a triage unit in the lobby of the South Tower.
“We were in the main lobby doing triage when we heard a bunch of trains coming, but it wasn’t the trains,” Arnie Roma said. “I looked up about 200 feet and see everybody running toward us. I remember flying but I don’t remember hitting the ground. Just a peaceful feeling, very submissive, no fight, no pain, I just laid there and said ‘go to sleep it’s all over.”
But it wasn’t over, Arnie Roma was transported to a nearby hospital.
“A group of 50 of us got out. Everybody running toward us, not one made it,” he said. “I knew Keith had to have seen what happened from the North Tower.”
Keith’s boss told Roma where his son was when the North Tower collapsed; he was in the mezzanine escorting people to safety.
“The women were wearing high heels and took their shoes off, but with all that glass from the revolving door…Keith was picking them up and putting them on the other side,” Roma said. “His boss made it which filled in a lot of questions.”
Keith Roma helped about six groups get out before the building collapsed. He was trying to get a group of nine out at the end.
His son had been a member of the Fire Patrol, a separate, insurance-funded group who assisted the fire department with pumping water and salvage. A job many took before advancing to the fire or police department. Keith had been with them five years and was up for a promotion. His father had also been a member of the fire patrol prior to joining the police department.
“Probably the best job I ever had, but the pay wasn’t good. When I retired from the police department I became an RN.”
As soon as Roma was released from the hospital he became part of the recovery team. “I went back every day since I knew where Keith was.”
Christmas Eve day the nine people in Keith Roma’s last group were found.
“We were finding people like crazy that day,” Roma said. “At 9:30 that night I got a call, ‘We want you to know we have found his helmet. We’re getting close.’”
Roma headed to the site.
“They said I didn’t need to come back but I wanted to and got a police escort back to the site. We found him still standing. I rode with him to the medical examiner’s office.”
Roma will tell Keith’s story at Heroes’ Park in Palm Coast at 8 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 11, but as soon as he is done he hopes to make the 8:30 a.m. mass at Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church.
“I want to leave as soon as I can so I can get to Mass,” he said. “I am glad to get Keith’s message out there,” he said. “I center around Keith and what first responders and civilians went through on that day.”
Roma said the past 14 years his family has been in survival mode, going from one day to the next. He and his wife have moved multiple times, each time only to communities where he could be involved in the local fire department. He is a volunteer fireman with the city of Palm Coast.
“I had a nice little life. I used to say ‘no one had it better than me,” Roma said. “And look what happened. My life got ripped out from under me.”
