Fifteen firefighters who worked in or around Ground Zero will be the first to receive awards from the new Sept. 11 victim-compensation fund, for total amounts ranging from $10,000 to $1.5 million, officials said Tuesday.
The $2.8 billion fund was created by Congress to pay those who developed health problems after working around the disaster site after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, as well as the other affected sites at the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field.
Sheila Birnbaum, a New York lawyer appointed as special master of the fund, said recipients will get only 10% of their total award at first because she doesn’t know yet how many people will ultimately apply or how severe their illnesses will be.
“I think we have good news for people. We’ve been working very hard to get the process up and running,” Ms. Birnbaum said in an interview.
So far, more than 16,000 people have registered with the fund, but a much smaller fraction of those have actually completed the necessary paperwork, officials said.
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