MONTOUR COUNTY, Pa. — She was the first officer to call in the attack on the World Trade Center, and hours later, the only female NYPD officer to die trying to save people from it. Twenty-five years after Sept. 11, Moira Smith’s cousin is still telling her story.
On the morning of Sept. 11, New York City Police Officer Moira Smith saw the first plane hit the north tower of the World Trade Center at 8:46 a.m. She called it in and grabbed a police van to rush to the scene to help people.

“People were coming down the steps, and they were coming outside and seeing the carnage that was happening, and they froze,” said Trevor Finn, Smith’s cousin who is now a county commissioner and volunteer firefighter in Pennsylvania. “They were backing people up the stairs, so people couldn’t get out, and she just took her flashlight, took it and waved it in their eyes and said, ‘Come on, don’t look up, just keep going, keep going, don’t look up.”

Smith would tragically lose her life that day in the south tower when it collapsed. She was the only female New York City police officer to die on Sept. 11.
Moments before that, she put out her last radio transmission saying, “I don’t have much air. Help me, please.”
Finn says his cousin saved hundreds of lives that fateful day, but he’s not surprised because that’s who she was. She was always trying to help people and make her community better.
Smith left behind her husband, Jim, also an NYPD officer, and a daughter, Patricia, who was just 2 at the time.

Credit: WNEP
Moira Smith left behind her husband, Jim, also an NYPD officer, and a daughter, Patricia, who was just 2 at the time.
Smith’s body was not recovered from Ground Zero until March of 2002.
Finn was at her funeral and remembers the procession stopping at Ground Zero before going to St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
“All of the people of New York, as we were coming through, just stood, and they placed their hands over their hearts,” Finn said. “They saluted us, and it was an incredible feeling of unity with millions of strangers.”
Finn said it felt like everyone was in agreement that Smith was, is, and remains a hero and that she deserved to have a hero’s salute.
Although Smith’s life was tragically cut short, her memory continues to live on through her family and countless memorials dedicated to her.
Finn says her widower, Jim, created some artwork depicting when rescue crews recovered her body from Ground Zero that he contributed to the New York City Fire Museum.

“There’s police officer Moira Smith Way, which is the street that she lived on in Brooklyn, and there’s a children’s park named after her, and we were there for the christening of the Moira Smith, which is a New York City ferry,” said Finn.
Although the 9/11 attacks happened 25 years ago, Moira Smith’s legacy continues to live on. Finn said one of the reasons he decided to become a volunteer firefighter was because of his cousin. He said his volunteerism also increased after her passing.
“I think Moira continues to be a beacon of light and hope for people that selfless deeds need to be done to protect our way of life, and if we emulate someone like Moira that lived life to the fullest, that helped other people, we’ll be a better world,” said Finn.
Finn said Smith was fun, loving, and everyone who came in touch with her knew her contagious smile and personality.