THE SON of arguably the most high-profile victim of the World Trade Centre attacks has collected a £32,000 cheque to support a fund set up in his father's honour.

David Higgerson spoke to Chris Ganci about the fund, his father and why his trip to Lancashire is so poignant

SIX days after two aeroplanes hit the World Trade Centre towers, Chris Ganci stood in front of the smouldering remains -- 60 acres of devastation made up of rubble, dust and twisted metal.

It was amid such horror that Chris made one solitary vow that his father would never be forgotten -- and nor would the 300 firemen who perished in America's worst post-war disaster.

Chris's father was Peter Ganci, the New York fire chief who lived to the rule that he would never send his crews into a building he would not enter. It was to be a motto which cost Peter, 54, his life on September 11.

Peter was buried in the first tower and escaped, only to be killed in the second one.

Chris said: "I don't know whether it was good or bad for me to go there but it made up my mind that I had to do something. Each of the firemen was incredibly brave. They were working in what can only have been absolute hell. Bodies were falling from the sky, buildings were falling down. After the first tower collapsed, they rushed into the second tower to help other people. They never came out.

"To me, the scene I saw represented both the best of humanity and the worst.

"I went down after they found my father's body. I can still remember where it was, in between the two towers on what was West Street."

Chris knows the story of his father's bravery off by heart.

He said: "My dad would never send a person into a building he wasn't willing to go into himself. He was in the first tower when it collapsed. He was buried.

"The Mayor Rudolph Guiliani, of New York City was down there too. Thirty minutes later, my dad came digging out, mad as anything. He assumed command and started getting everybody out of there. He told the mayor and the other officials to go two blocks north and set up a new command post.

"They thought my dad was coming with them but he headed south to help more people. The Mayor turned around and said: 'Pete, God bless you.' My dad said back to him: 'God bless you.'

Out of that determination came the Peter J Ganci Memorial, which Chris, who still holds down a job at a pharmaceutical firm, has been working on since the tragedy.

Some £62,000 has been raised for American firefighters by people in Lancashire since September 11. Around £32,000 was handed over to the memorial fund at a ceremony at Preston Fire Station, Blackpool Road, on Tuesday -- a place where Peter Ganci had visited many times during his life.

He was a friend of assistant chief fire officer John Williamson for around 15 years after the pair met at a conference. Peter visited Lancashire on many occasions and played a part in developing the county's new arson reduction policies.

Chris said: "I am amazed by the amount of money which has been raised but it shows how people can pull together in the face of tragedy."