Hillsborough County Fire Rescue Battalion Chief Brian Muldowney lost his brother and cousin on Sept. 11, 2001. He said their memory still motivates his work as a firefighter serving Apollo Beach and Ruskin.

Muldowney's brother Richard and cousin Kenny Watson were both New York City firefighters who responded to the World Trade Center that morning. Neither came home. Muldowney told WFLA he drove to New York the day after the attacks to search for them at Ground Zero.

"He died doing what he loved, and he would be ticked off if he wasn't there that day," Muldowney said of his brother. "That's the kind of fireman he was."

Searching Ground Zero for answers

Muldowney described arriving at Ground Zero to find acres of pulverized debris. Despite the Twin Towers' combined 220 floors of office space, he told WFLA, not a single chair, desk or telephone was visible. Everything had been reduced to dust.

Hillsborough County Fire Rescue retired Capt. Joshua Tichenor, who traveled to Ground Zero with Muldowney, described the scene to WFLA as one he hoped no one would ever have to witness again.

Family pieced together confirmation of deaths

Muldowney told WFLA the family isn't sure they ever received a formal notification of the deaths. They pieced it together on their own. Watson's partial remains were recovered in December 2001. A DNA match confirmed Richard's remains four years later.

Muldowney remembered his brother as tough, protective and fun-loving.

According to the Fire Department of New York, 343 FDNY members died responding to the World Trade Center. It was the largest single loss of emergency responders in U.S. history, Spectrum News reported.

Honoring victims through Tunnel to Towers

Muldowney now runs a nonprofit that raises funds for Tunnel to Towers, honoring his brother and cousin. The Tunnel to Towers Foundation, a national organization created to memorialize FDNY firefighter Stephen Siller, supports first responders, military members and their families. Siller ran through the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel in full gear to reach the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, and died there.

Hillsborough County Fire Rescue serves the unincorporated areas of the county, including Apollo Beach, and answers more than 140,000 calls for service each year from 47 fire stations.

Steel beam tour marks 25th anniversary

For the 25th anniversary, the Tunnel to Towers Foundation organized a Steel Across America tour carrying a 21-foot steel beam recovered from the South Tower to 40 cities. The tour concludes Saturday, Sept. 12, in New York City with a procession through the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel.