Some knew the Trade Center dust could be deadly....

http://www.uscg.mil/hq/g-cp/history/WEBORALHISTORY/911_CWO2_P_Johnston.html

Q: Looking back on it now, are there things that you would, both as a Reservist in particular and as somebody on the Strike Team in general . . . what do you think worked? What do you think didn't work? What would you do differently if you had the chance? What would you've liked to have had there that you didn't have or might want to have?

CWO2 Johnston: The one thing that I think is going to be an issue down the line is the PPE Air Masks. We were using them from the get-go when we were doing air monitorings and we knew there was some bad stuff in the air. We tried to get everybody else online with us, and they were just focused on getting into that pile.

Q: Was there a time when you went across to Ground Zero and did air monitoring over there or were you doing it at MOT-B as well?

CWO2 Johnston: No, we weren't doing it at MOT-B. We were doing it at Ground Zero. A lot of firemen on the pile were without their masks, and a lot of policemen.

Q: I was told yesterday that you had to essentially decontaminate people without telling them that you were decontaminating them.

CWO2 Johnston: Well they're always worried about hysterics and people getting upset. You start talking about decontamination and people start thinking the worst. All we were trying to do was contain Ground Zero; a lot of concrete dust.

Q: Yes. Well I've got the list here of some of the things you guys had to deal with, or at least I thought they were dealing with; asbestos, PCBs , Freon batteries, water treatment chemicals, compressed gas, photo chemicals, fuel oil, gasoline, medical waste, a blood bank and airborne blood pathogens from victims.

CWO2 Johnston: And this is just compressed into this dusty massive pile of garbage and it was getting spread around so.

Q: Spread all over the place, yeah. Was your awareness of how dangerous this was from situations you've already been in before, or did you intuitively know this, that when something like this comes down it can only be bad?

CWO2 Johnston: Generally when the Strike Team goes onto a job they assume the worst and they dress for the worst. Then we taper down to fit the case. We went into Ground Zero with full air masks and we recommended that, and we'll have to see how all this plays out at the end. I hope nobody gets sick from it all.

Q: Yeah. It would be interesting to find out and to have tests run on you guys and tests run on the folks who weren't wearing masks.

CWO2 Johnston: That thing was burning for days and people were just in it. After a while you kind of get used to being around it and you're not thinking.

Q: Right. You're just thinking about rescue instead of safety.

CWO2 Johnston: Right. That was on everybody's mind.

why didn't THEY (FEMA< EPA)take better care of them ?

He was giving them every few hours or so after the towers went down. One journalist asked him if the air was checked and was it safe. He said that there were no problems. I looked at the tv and called him a lying sack of shit. He was and he still is.