DAMASCUS, PA — Twenty-five years after they responded to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, retired New York City Police Department detectives Joe Costa, John Tucci and Barry Anfang still carry reminders of that day.

All three Damascus residents have pulmonary nodules that doctors continue to monitor. Tucci and Anfang have developed skin cancer. Costa, who has multiple nodules and scarring in one lung, endures recurring bouts of bronchitis that have worsened over time.

Their experiences on Sept. 11 carried them to different parts of the response. Tucci narrowly escaped the collapse of the South Tower and searched for survivors. Anfang helped identify vehicles and recover evidence from World Trade Center debris at the former Fresh Kills Landfill. Costa searched for victims near City Hall, worked inside a temporary morgue and later collected DNA from their families.

Together, their stories trace the attack from the first frantic hours through a recovery effort that lasted months, and into a health crisis that continues a quarter-century later.

Tucci, 74, was assigned to the NYPD’s Technical Assistance Response Unit, known as TARU. He was having breakfast when news of the first attack appeared on television. He reached Lower Manhattan about 10 minutes after the second plane struck.

Tucci and other officers began establishing a temporary headquarters near West and Liberty streets. As he walked toward the South Tower, he saw a body fall between himself and a firefighter. A supervisor called him back moments later.

Then he heard a growing roar.

“It sounded like a jet engine,” Tucci recalled. “It wasn’t a jet engine, but it was getting louder. We looked up, and the South Tower was falling.”

Tucci and approximately 20 others ran toward the World Financial Center but became trapped near an entrance. Tucci was at the bottom of the pile. A lieutenant fired his handgun into a plate-glass window, shattering it and creating a way into the building.

Inside, ceiling tiles hung overhead and electrical sparks flashed around them. The group moved toward the Hudson River, but Tucci realized one of his partners was missing.

He joined a firefighter who was also searching for someone and returned toward the ruins.

“It was surreal,” Tucci said. “There was nothing there.”

He found his partner walking in a daze and pulled him toward the river. They placed him aboard an NYPD launch that carried him to a hospital in New Jersey.

TARU later used electronic and amplification equipment to search for cellular signals from people who might have been trapped beneath the rubble. Tucci said the unit continued searching even after officials believed there was little hope of finding survivors.

He also catalogued vehicles, cleared paths and helped move debris. In the early weeks, he helped obtain approximately 40 rental vehicles for police and outside agencies arriving to assist. Tucci said Enterprise supplied the vehicles without charging the department.

What stayed with him was not only the devastation, but what was missing.

The towers had contained offices, banks, desks, chairs and telephones. Yet Tucci said nearly everything had been pulverized. During days of searching, one of the few objects he saw was the numbered keypad from an office telephone.

“That was the only recognizable thing,” he said. “You didn’t see any furniture.”

Anfang, 70, was driving to his assignment with Staten Island Auto Crime when he heard on the radio that an aircraft had struck the first tower. He initially assumed it was a small plane and an accident and was astounded that such an accident could happen on such a sunny day.

His office on Bay Street faced Lower Manhattan. When he arrived, his sergeant was photographing the scene with surveillance equipment. The Chief of Detectives’ office called and ordered the officers into uniform.

Then the second plane struck.

Anfang helped clear routes to the Staten Island Ferry and Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge so emergency vehicles could reach Manhattan. Near the ferry, he assisted people arriving from the city covered in dust and debris.

With officers unsure whether further attacks were coming, Anfang went home and retrieved two rifles. He feared attackers might attempt to come ashore elsewhere in the city.

“We didn’t know anything except they attacked us,” he said. “It could come from any direction at any time.”

Anfang was later assigned to the former Fresh Kills Landfill on Staten Island, which was temporarily reopened to receive material from the World Trade Center site. Investigators spent approximately 1.7 million hours examining about 1.5 million tons of debris for human remains, personal possessions and evidence.

Anfang helped identify more than 900 vehicles crushed at or near the World Trade Center. Investigators compared the vehicles with the names of people who remained missing, hoping to provide answers to their families.

Some vehicles contained human remains. Officers also recovered firearms, handcuffs, police placards and personal effects. Evidence was turned over to the Joint Terrorism Task Force.

Anfang remembered several nuns who walked through the recovery site each day and blessed those working there. Although he is Jewish, he called their presence one of the most profound religious experiences of his life.

“We were on sacred ground at that dump,” he said, referring to the many lost souls whose vehicles and remains were recovered there.

This is Part 1 of this story. Look for Part 2 in Friday’s paper.