Firefighters bring more than ‘big fish’ tales to famed Texas lake

By LORI COPE | East Texas Edition

Ed Walsh (right) is one of 10 New York City firefighters who make an annual trip to Lake Fork. The trip to “get away” was first organized by Lake Fork guide Rick Loomis (left). -- Staff photo by Cope

Nov. 11, 2005 - It’s not rare that even some celebrities come to fish one of Texas’ most famed lakes – Lake Fork. Yet it is unique when a group of New York City firefighters make an annual trek to the area, mainly because of the tales they bring with them.

While most of the firefighters can boast good fishing tales, it’s the ones that surround the infamous tragedy in New York City on Sept. 11, 2001, that make the group unique.

Ed Walsh, a member of the Special Operations Command (SOC) unit that makes up Station 41, made the initial trip to Lake Fork in 2003, and has come with the group every year since.

The details of how the annual trip developed, plus Walsh’s stories about the tragedy, are interesting, if not miraculous.

Texas game wardens (pictured with the group in 2003) worked to get free fishing licenses for the New York City firefighters the first year they came to Lake Fork. The game wardens, and others, are instrumental in providing services, and fun. � Courtesy photo

After seven or eight months of clean-up and recovery efforts at the site of the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers destruction, Walsh and friends were fishing when someone mentioned they should fish at “one of the best lakes in the nation,” explained Rick Loomis, a Lake Fork guide instrumental in the firefighters’ trip to the area. Someone with Walsh knew Loomis, and a phone call later, the effort to get the firefighters on the famed East Texas lake were under way.

�That first phone call took a while,� explained Loomis in his East Texas drawl, �with Ed�s New York accent.�

Loomis hosted Walsh and nine New York City firefighters for their first visit, which began with a little more “weather” than all expected.

�I picked them up at the airport and we stopped at Bass Pro Shop,� Loomis said. �When we came out, there was two inches of ice on the windshield, and I said, �Guys, we�ve got to get out of here, and out of here fast.��

As road conditions deteriorated, Loomis said he was surprised by  the weather. “It was warmer in New York than it was in Texas” that day.

A fishing trip to Lake Fork wasn’t possible, with the icy conditions, but Loomis took the guys to the warm-watered Lake Monticello where they caught some fish. Plus, they pulled some large catfish out of Loomis’ pond at his Highway 154 retreat that’s part of his guide service business.

The Texas Game Wardens Association furnished the firefighters with their Texas fishing licenses, and numerous businesses and citizens in the area extended their Texas hospitality to the men.

�That first year, when people found out who they were, they asked for their autographs and there were lots of donations of meals, t-shirts, ... things like that,� Loomis recalled.

Walsh remembered several youngsters that had asked the firefighters for their autographs. He said it was heart-warming to be recognized. “If people admire us for that, then that’s great,” he simply said. “We didn’t really know how to take it, though, because we were just doing our job.”

During the firefighters’ first trip to Lake Fork, it had been just over a year since the 9-11 tragedy occurred. They had all put in many hours during the recovery and clean-up efforts. “Let’s just say I put in more hours without pay” than on-the-clock, Walsh said. “It was good to find anything (of a victim) so the family could get closure.”

While thousands of families were affected by the loss of life, Walsh’s Station 41 lost a lot too. “We lost them all ... all that were on duty when it happened. Six of our guys.”

The remaining 20 firefighters at Station 41 made it a priority to find their guys. “People just don’t realize how important that is,” Walsh said.

He recalled his day, on Sept. 11, began with news of the incident. “I was sleeping at the time the first tower was hit” because he had worked the night before. He listened to the developing news story on the radio while driving from his Long Island home to Station 41 in the Bronx, a New York City borough. Initially, it was thought to be “just a horrible accident ... but really we knew it was bigger than one of those two-seater planes.”

In actuality, it was hijacked jetliners carrying 127 passengers, 20 crew, and the 10 hijackers. In all, 2,749 people were killed on the ground, plus those in the jetliners. (A small number of other people were killed in the Pennsylvania and Pentagon crashes.)

�You are in rescue mode so there wasn�t time to think about how big and crazy it was,� Walsh recalled about the emergency. As the firefighters headed to the area, they were met by a huge cloud of dust and debris. �At first I wasn�t able to see anything, but when I did, I just couldn�t believe it.�

Later that day, he and others began to tally some of the losses. “We began to realize that about 80 to 90 guys we knew were dead. I mean everyone had brothers, uncles, family they lost, but I’m talking 80 firefighters we knew were just gone.”

After the first 48 hours, recovery of live victims was slim. Work turned to recovery, and the firefighters of Station 41 and Station 3, both SOC units, worked many hours. 

Walsh shared the incredible story about their efforts. Out of over 5,000 workers at the site of the destroyed towers, the Station 41 firefighters, about 20 of them, found, or accounted for, their guys. 

It was over five months from when the towers had fallen and recovery/clean-up efforts were still intense. Walsh related the firefighters knew they should be close to where their brethren had fallen because of last radio communication. Then, a worker found a tool with the welded Station 41 emblem on it. “We knew where they were, then. It was up there,” he gestured with his hands to indicate the location was in a section of rubble about one story high. “We couldn’t immediately get to the place, so we had to wait. ... It was raining, and it was about 3 a.m., ... but by 5 a.m. we had everybody.

�There was no better feeling,� he said while staring into the distance.

Walsh related another incredible story about their work. While crawling through some rubble in a building that had fallen adjacent to the towers, they found a body, or most of it. But the wallet was still intact, and inside was identification for Michael LaPoint.

After completing the process of taking the remains to a central location, Walsh and some other firefighters took a break. “Beyond the World Financial Center was an area where families put up signs with pictures” asking for anyone with information about the person to call them. “I was just drinking my coffee, and wandering around looking at the hundreds of signs, when I looked over and there it was: Michael LaPoint.”

Walsh explained that it would have taken months for the DNA to positively identify the victim and his family to be notified. “I needed to call them. I told them that I was a firefighter and it was no joke. Somehow they got my cell phone number and called me back, later, to thank me. It was heart-wrenching.”

After many months of clean-up and recovery, a fishing vacation to “one of the best lakes in the nation” was a blessing. “Rick has been fantastic. He’s a great guide. I caught the biggest fish I’ve ever caught, with him,” Walsh said. “I can’t say enough about him ... or about the many others.”

This year’s fishing trip included a hog hunt, organized by local game wardens. A 50-pound wild hog was taken, and the last night of the group’s three-day stay included a pig roast. 

�We first came to just get away,� Walsh, 38, said. �It�s still nice to get away, and we sure have a lot of fun, too.�

Walsh has made the trip every year, but the roll call sometimes varies. Only twice has the group not been all firefighters. Last year the fire captain’s 10-year-old son came along (and he caught an 11-pound bass while on the lake with Loomis), and one year they invited one of the clean-up construction company’s foremen.

Walsh also carries with him a tattoo that uniquely honors the six fallen firefighters of Station 41, plus another of Walsh’s firefighter friends that was lost.

�And I really want to recognize the people here, around Lake Fork, who have been so good to us. Rick Loomis is just one of them,� Walsh said. He also named the people at East Fork Club and Restaurant, John of Fisherman�s One Stop, the game wardens, guides Dave Parson, Curt Zimmerman, Randy Oldfield, and Tom Evans, and many others.

As travel expenses increase, it becomes harder for the firefighters to make the journey, but Walsh said he and the others really look forward to it every year.