Ground Zero hero Thomas Del Pino has died after a devastating fight with 9/11-related brain cancer — passing away just three days after he paid tribute last year to the brothers he lost.
The 66-year-old retired firefighter was one of more than 57,044 first responders diagnosed with cancer linked to Sept. 11, and among 5,892 people exposed to the toxic dust from the World Trade Center terror attacks who later died from the disease.
Del Pino had spent 18 years with the FDNY and was serving as the chauffeur for Ladder Co. 85 on Staten Island when hijacked planes hit the Twin Towers on Sept. 11, 2001.
“He was extremely grateful that he got to survive that day,” his son, NYPD Detective Daniel Del Pino, 38, told The Post ahead of the 25th anniversary of the attacks. “His big thing was he never wanted anyone to forget about 9/11.”
His rig was among the first dispatched to the burning World Trade Center because it carried the tallest ladder available — a 95-foot ladder that, even at full reach, stood no chance against flames raging roughly 1,500 feet above the ground.
“They were pulling up when the second tower came down,” the son said. “Him and another guy ended up diving under a firetruck.”
Del Pino remained on the pile for days looking for survivors and remains.
The FDNY lost 343 members that day.
“That was something that really haunted him — the survivor’s guilt,” the son said.
That was one of the reasons his dad made himself “the liaison” to another family who lost their firefighter father in the attacks.
“My dad had to be the one to tell the kids that their dad wasn’t coming home,” Del Pino recalled. “His remains were never found. My dad carried that with him.”
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Del Pino had thought about following in his father’s footsteps since he was a little kid, but he had blue blood in him as well, he said. His dad’s father was an NYPD officer for 22 years.
His dad suggested he take all the city’s civil services tests and the NYPD called in 2010.
“These guys were all heroes,” he said. “When everyone else was running away, cops and firemen were running into danger.”
His dad was proud he followed in his grandfather’s footsteps.
“He bought a (police) scanner,” Del Pino recalled. “When I was assigned to the 77th precinct (in Crown Heights, Brooklyn), he would listen to the radio to see if I was going on any calls.”
The father was over the moon again when his son was promoted to detective last year. Unfortunately, the son said, it was the same year his dad received his cancer diagnosis.
The elder Del Pino had a biopsy on July 1, 2025, and was diagnosed with diffuse midbrain glioblastoma – a rare aggressive malignant brain tumor more commonly detected in children.
He received radiation for five days a week for six weeks, but his liver began failing about a month later as a result, the son said.
“His rally was on Sept. 11,” his son said, recalling that his dad put on his uniform and attended two Sept. 11 memorials near his home in Millford, Pa., in a wheelchair. “He felt like he owed it to the guys who died to pay tribute to them one more time.”
He slipped into a coma two days later and died on Sept. 14.
“He knew it was coming,” his son said. “It wasn’t if it was going to get him, but when.”