Editor's note: This is a third-party editorial that does not necessarily reflect the viewpoint of EMS1.com.

Newsday
Copyright 2008 Newsday, Inc.

WASHINGTON — Washington should step up and fairly compensate the people who braved toxic fumes to help with the recovery effort at Ground Zero in the harrowing months after 9/11.

About 40,000 of those first responders have since developed chronic health problems. When the nation needed them, they answered, rushing to Manhattan from every state in the union, including thousands from Long Island. Now that they're paying an unforeseen price, they need a hand.

Washington hasn't been miserly. It pumped $20 billion into New York to help the city and state clean up and recover from the devastating World Trade Center attack. And through the Victims' Compensation Fund, it has paid $7.1 billion to 5,560 victims of the attack and their families. But the fund expired in 2003, and that's the rub.

Many of the first responders' health problems were slow to develop. Now they're sick - with respiratory problems, sarcoidosis, lymphoma and rare blood cancers. Some are unable to work and are saddled with medical bills insurance won't cover. Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-Manhattan) has sponsored legislation to reopen the Victims' Compensation Fund to remunerate the newly needy for their financial losses.

Reopening the federal fund to include delayed illnesses will, no doubt, attract some false claims. But that's not an insurmountable problem, nor is it a good reason to leave deserving sick people out in the cold. And in the absence of a federal response, New York City could find itself on the hook. More than 10,000 first responders have already sued the city, and more are likely to follow.

The attack on the World Trade Center was an attack on the United States. First responders answered the nation's call. The nation should return the favor.