The bike sat in the corner of the firehouse at 44 Great Jones Street, home of FDNY Engine Company 33 and Ladder Company 9 in the East Village, where the young firefighter, Gerard Baptiste, had worked. It might have remained in obscurity were it not for Jeff Kurtzman, who spotted the idle broken-down bike and was inspired to write “Of Missing Riders,” which appeared in the November 2001 issue of Backroads magazine.

The article generated an outpouring of interest and brought a host of people together to restore the bike. Michael Wernick and other surviving members of Ladder Company 9, with the aid of corporations and motorcycle enthusiasts, poured their grief, love, and honor into the project, which they completed within 15 months. The result was the transformation of a broken-down 1979 Honda motorcycle into the FDNY Dream Bike. For them, it was cathartic—the first step on the long road to healing.

The FDNY Dream Bike embodies not only a restoration of life but of hope as well, and that is what the FASNY Museum of Firefighting in Hudson will be highlighting when the FDNY Dream Bike is exhibited here as a tribute to the fallen firefighters of 9-11.

“I met Nuri and Michael Wernick when they visited the museum,” said Jamie Smith, Director of the FASNY Museum of Firefighting on Harry Howard Avenue. Wernick was one of the first fourteen members of FDNY Engine Company 33 and Ladder Company 9 to arrive at the scene of the World Trade Center on the morning of September 11. He, along with other members of his fire company, began to climb Tower One but only made it to the 27th floor when the building began to shake violently from the collapse of nearby Tower Two. When the firefighters were told to exit the building, Wernick was one of only four of his company to make it out alive. Baptiste and nine others from Engine Company 33 and Ladder Company 9 were killed in the collapse. For Wernick, the restoration of his fallen brother’s bike was imperative, for it honored those who had died and also symbolized hope and the continuation of life.

“Michael Wernick told me about the Dream Bike, that the restoration of that bike was about honor, dreams and healing. That really touched me,” said Smith. “If it helped him heal, it could also help other people heal.”
The FDNY Dream Bike, which also inspired the Orange County Choppers to build their own bike as a tribute to the fallen of 9-11, will be exhibited at the museum beginning September 14. There will also be a showing of the 2004 John Allison and Tim O’Grady documentary, The FDNY Dream Bike - In Honor Of Gerard Baptiste, which explores the life of Firefighter Baptiste and the intimate journey of grief felt by Baptiste’s brother firefighters of Ladder Company 9. It also details how the members of the company used the restoration of the bike as a balm for their grief and a tribute to the memory of Baptiste.

In addition to Ladder Company 9’s FDNY Dream Bike, the museum has a “firm loan commitment” for other objects related to 9-11 that are currently housed in the New York State Museum in Albany. It is the goal of the museum to use these items of historic significance to honor all firefighters who responded to the devastation of the World Trade Center and to ”help many visitors come to terms with their feelings and express them in a healthy way.”

The museum offers tours to schools and community groups. The museum is open daily from 10-5. Admission is always free.

To contact the museum, call (518) 822.1874 or toll-free at 1.877.347.3687. You can also visit their website www.fasnyfiremuseum.com.

The FASNY Museum of Firefighting is located at 117 Harry Howard Ave. in Hudson, New York.