1st year of H.E.A.R.T-felt thank you from 9/11 first responders
BY SIMONE WEICHSELBAUM DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Volunteers, police and firefighters work at The Pit in 2001.

In a heart-rending flash, Fire Department Capt. John Viola 
lost 14 of his men the morning of Sept. 11, 2001.

He spent the next nine months sifting through the smoldering 
rubble, seeking out the remains of his comrades in Ladder 
15.

Viola maintained his sanity, reading cards that poured in 
from children across the country, as he toiled night after 
night inside the grim pit of Ground Zero.

"Now it is time to start giving back," said Viola, 56, 
who retired in 2002 and lives in Wantagh, L.I.

On Thursday, Viola stood with the dozens of men - most of 
them now retired police commanders, firemen and construction 
workers - who combed the ruins of the World Trade Center 
as a team.

Together again, they celebrated the first year of their 
thank you to the world.

They are part of H.E.A.R.T 9/11 (Healing Emergency Alert 
Response Team), a growing nonprofit comprised of Sept. 11 
first responders whose aim is to travel the country as an 
alliance of relief.

FEMA recently recognized the group as a disaster response 
team after they flew to Louisiana to build 17 homes for 
Hurricane Katrina victims in December.

"Anytime a family thanks you for allowing them to spend 
their first Christmas in their new house, it is a great 
feeling," said Viola during the organization's first anniversary 
party at the downtown Marriot..

H.E.A.R.T's goals are to raise $5 million, via corporate 
sponsors, to buy top-of-the line supplies to fly out to 
national disasters at a moment's notice.

For every 300 Americans, there is one first responder, a 
FEMA-based ratio that is too small for retired Port Authority 
Police Lt. William Keegan, a H.E.A.R.T co-founder.

Keegan's five-year plan is to have H.E.A.R.T alongside 
any emergency team that needs help.

"We want to take the spirit that raised New York off its 
knees and take it forward," Keegan said.

"But this cost money."

sweichelbaum@nydailynews.com