A foundation created after the 9/11 terrorist attacks announced Thursday that it paid off the mortgage on the home of Brackenridge police Chief Justin McIntire, who was killed in the line of duty early this year.
The mortgage on the Brackenridge home McIntire shared with his wife, Ashley, and their children was among more than 30 the Tunnel to Towers Foundation says it paid off for Independence Day for families of fallen first responders and military members.
Based in Staten Island, the foundation was created in 2001 in honor of New York City firefighter Stephen Gerard Siller. Its name came from how Siller, who was off-duty, ran through the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel to the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers, where he died while saving others.
McIntire, 46, died on Jan. 2, four years to the day after he was named police chief of his hometown. He was ambushed by a fugitive police had been pursuing near Third Avenue and Morgan Street.
In April, Brackenridge Council approved renaming Third Avenue, where McIntire grew up, as McIntire Way.
Tunnel to Towers began paying off home mortgages for fallen first responders in 2014, spokesman Trevor Tamsen said. It has set a goal of paying off 200 mortgages this year.
Ashley McIntire did not respond Thursday to a request for comment. She expressed her appreciation in a statement provided by the foundation.
“Knowing my home has been paid off is such a sense of relief after everything I have been through since Jan. 2. Knowing that my kids don’t have to be moved and uprooted from school or their home, where all our memories are, is such a sense of relief,” she said.
“I have no idea how to begin to even thank anyone for this, but I would love for you all to know I am beyond grateful and will never have the right words to show you all or tell you all how appreciative I truly am for this.”
Tamsen said the foundation reached out to McIntire’s family offering its support shortly after his death.
The payoffs are supported through a program in which donors pledge $11 per month to the foundation.
“Many hands make light work. It really helps us to quickly come in and help these families in a time of need,” Tamsen said. “No grieving family should also be worried about staying in their home. Nothing will replace the tremendous loss of a husband or father. If we can lift this one financial burden, and it takes just $11 a month, we can step in and help a lot of these families.”
McIntire had four children including two sons, a daughter and a stepson.
Justin and Ashley McIntire were married for nine years. They bought their home in 2014.
