Exactly one week after the airing of the finale, the show's overall winner, Ángel Juarbe Jr., being a seven-year veteran of the FDNY, was a part of one of the first units to the World Trade Center emergency. He was caught in the collapse of the first tower. (According to Richard Hoeg, Ángel Juarbe Jr. was not caught in the collapse of the first tower. Rather he was caught in the collapse of the adjoining Marriott Hotel while he and a lieutenant from Ladder 12 (the same company as Juarbe) was attempting a rescue of another firefighter.) On November 28, 2001, his body was found and identified in the Marriott hotel rubble next to the World Trade Center towers. He was laid to rest on December 1, 2001. The show's primary icon, the fisherman statue, now serves as memorial to Juarbe.