Remembering Keith Roma: The 344th Lost Firefighter of 9/11

By CRACKYL staff

On Sept. 11, 2001, fire patrolman Keith Roma answered the call to the World Trade Center. Once on-site, he and his colleagues from Patrol House 2 of the New York Fire Patrol immediately got to work. Their task: evacuate people from the Twin Towers. 

Roma, who called Staten Island home, had been with the fire patrol for six years up to that point. He saved more than 200 people’s lives on 9/11 – including carrying one barefoot woman across broken glass – and made at least four trips up the North Tower, according to his colleague’s account. 

Roma had been standing beside Sgt. John Sheehan of Manhattan’s Fire Patrol 2 when the North Tower collapsed, according to reports. Sheehan made it out, but Roma didn’t. 

Roma is the only member of the New York Fire Patrol to have been killed on 9/11. Official statistics and the New York Fire Department place the number of firefighter casualties on 9/11 at 343. The number, including Roma, is actually 344. This discrepancy may be because Roma had not been a member of the New York Fire Department, yet he had been given a full FDNY funeral mass. Yet, he is still not counted among their number, despite a petition to have him officially recognized as a firefighter who died in the line of duty on 9/11.

Recovery efforts found the 27-year-old’s body in the rear of Tower 1 on Dec. 24, 2001. The bodies of nine other people he had been escorting to safety surrounded him. 

Keith Roma Off-Duty

In 2011, Keith’s father, Arnold Roma (himself a former patrolman who had responded to the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center), told Police 1 about his son.

Keith had been a big Yankees fan, and he loved the fire service, Arnold said. “He had been waiting to go on either the NYPD or the FDNY.” He had also been one of the most active guys in the house, Arnold added.

Keith would sometimes arrive at the firehouse the night before his shift, eat dinner with his colleagues, and sleep in the firehouse. “He just loved the job,” said Arnold.

Despite not yet being officially recognized as a firefighter who died on 9/11, people have been ensuring Roma is honored as one in other ways. Organizers of a 2015 firefighters and police officers memorial stair climb only included 343 firefighters. After people objected, they included a 344^th spot, for Keith Roma.

Just last year, Donna S. left the following message beneath Roma’s obituary: “I will never forget you. I will never stop sharing your story. #344.”