Meet Mike Byrne

“2 a.m. on the night of 9/11, I drove through the Lincoln Tunnel and an eerie loneliness to see the wound to the city’s soul. It was a surreal experience, and I will never forget it.”

On the morning of September 11, 2001, I stayed home in anticipation of long overdue dentist appointment when my wife’s Aunt Maureen called from Ireland. She told me she had seen a plane crash into the World Trade Center on the news. She wanted to know if I was OK. Turning on the television after her call, I watched the second plane crash into the South Tower of the World Trade Center.

Immediately, my mind flashed back to February 26, 1993, when I led Ladder Company 12 to the base of this same tower after terrorists exploded a bomb in the parking garage. One after another, flashbacks came to me – my crew rescuing three men trapped in pitch-black elevators, flashlights slicing total darkness, up and down 110 flights of stairs four or five times, once carrying a woman in premature labor down 44 floors.

Brought back to my current duty with a shake of my head, I immediately l got on the phone with FEMA HQ to start mobilization to support rescue and recovery operations. After my wife quickly packed a bag for me, I rushed to the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s continuity operations center across the Hudson River in New Jersey.

The crisis management concept of the tip of the spear first struck me in a casual conversation with leader and mentor from my previous job, 1st Deputy Fire Commissioner Bill Feehan. In FDNY headquarters, he asked me --

Mike, why do you think we’re here in FDNY headquarters? As a newbie to a position in HQ, I replied -- To make sure firefighters do their jobs and are as safe as possible doing it? No, said Bill, that’s not it. In an awkward silence, I waited for the FDNY’s second in command to respond.

Somewhere in the city right now, Mike, he started, there’s a fellow firefighter facing a fire. The only reason we are here is to make sure water gets to the nozzle of his hose to put out that fire. If we're not focused on the tip of the spear, then we're not doing our job the right way. That was a gamechanger for me.

At 3 a.m., walking toward the command center near the World Trade Center, I wondered – What’s this dust? In the surreal sound of metal twisting in jaws of city backhoes and incessant sirens, white dust fell like snow. It was everywhere – buildings, clothes, fire escapes, and street signs you could no longer read. I’m walking ankle deep in it sometimes mid-thigh. But what was it?

When it hit me – the dust is what remained of the Twin Towers – I stopped in my tracks. I knew there was no name for this kind of horror.

So many lives had been lost – many people I loved and respected. I knew I had to pull out all the stops to empower and care for the ones charged with the responsibility of serving.

Leaving FDNY in 1999 for my job at FEMA had been difficult. Difficult because firefighting was in my blood. Three of my uncles were firefighters. I started serving at 23 and loved every minute of service to a city whose heroes are, hands down, first responders.

I knew I wouldn’t just be leaving a job, but a band of brothers and sisters, a bond that grows greater and stronger in danger. Even though you are scared out of your wits, hot, crawling, and can’t see your hand through the smoke, you know you are never alone. That quality of comradery is not something you easily walk away from. At the same time, I was intrigued when I read about the job opening at FEMA. On a whim, I decided to apply. If I didn’t get the job, I loved the one I already had.

Turned out, I was precisely the guy they were looking for – a voice for first responders with all the attributes of a lifetime Jesuit education --decent writer, compassionate servant, and, most importantly, creator of cogent arguments. The job offer was enough for the totality of my experience and singular curiosity to drive me to say, yes.

As the senior FEMA officer in charge, I arrived at the mayor’s command center late into the night of 9/11. Following warm greetings and disaster summaries, I learned that FDNY First Deputy Commissioner Bill Feehan had died in service.

When the South Tower collapsed at 9:59 a.m., just less than an hour after being struck, Bill was buried in the falling debris of a skyscraper weighing more than 250,000 tons. When I heard he died while directing the rescue of firefighters trapped in the rubble of the first tower’s collapse, I thought of the 3 Cs on the card he gave me – commitment, compassion, courage. Bill died the way he lived.

On the wall of the many offices I have worked in since 9/11, I make room for the photo from Bill. It reminds me there is nothing routine about firefighting or crisis management.

The picture was taken during a call to one of the 600 water breaks that occur every year in the city, water pouring from a break in a 60-inch pipe flooded, eroding the ground under a gas line, which ruptured under stress. The escaping gas found a spark and exploded to form a fireball in the photo’s backdrop.

Once again, as is my habit, I was driven by my restless curiosity. I was looking for other things to do and I shared Deloitte’s ongoing commitment and investment into improving crisis management, love of collaboration, and care of the environment.

I have the privilege to bring together next generation innovators and the best resources—people, technology, and strategies—to help combat the rising threat of catastrophes our planet faces.

It is important to me to continue supporting the crisis field making a difference for people when they need help the most. In my role at Deloitte, I am able to stay on the cutting edge of developments in the field. One of the projects I am most passionate about began in 2022 and is focused on expanding government and commercial access to climate science, data analytics, and applied research to help public sector clients deploy innovative solutions.

The growing challenge of wildfires both domestically and internationally is evident to all and I am excited to work on this project where we are developing and bringing new solutions and approaches to this challenge. Offering my experience in drought resilience, wildfire prediction and response, regenerative agriculture, renewable energy, and sustainable finance - this work is right there supporting the tip of the spear.