Former FDNY firefighter carries on 9/11 remembrance through Hawaiʻi coffee shop
By Kimber Collins
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KAILUA, Hawaii (KITV) — On Sept. 11, 2001, Brian Burik rushed to the World Trade Center after the towers collapsed.
At the time, he was on shift at a Harlem firehouse with the New York City Fire Department. He spent weeks at Ground Zero, surrounded by devastation he says will never leave him.
“I do remember the audio specifically, the plane, the sound and then the silence on the radio,” Burik recalled. “It was just a different level of devastation, it was almost surreal.”
Burik served more than two decades with the FDNY before retiring as a lieutenant. Now, he’s building a new life in Hawaii with Tradition Coffee Roasters, a Kailua business he founded to keep alive a firehouse ritual that meant so much to him and his crew.
“It was like bees to honey,” Burik said about the daily coffee table routine. “It would bring us to that kitchen table and we would start talking. You’d have some good days, some bad days, and some really bad days.”
Inside his Honolulu shop, reminders of his past line the walls. His retired helmet hangs with the number 343 painted across it, honoring the 343 firefighters who never made it home on 9/11, along with those who have died since. Nearby, a cross forged from World Trade Center steel is another solemn reminder of sacrifice.
Even the company’s logo ties together his past and present. “We call it our fire flower,” Burik explained. “It’s fire from my past, it’s a flower for Hawaii and it’s a coffee bean etched in the middle.”
Burik said roasting beans and teaching customers about coffee has become his new passion. But for him, the shop is also about honoring memory. Each cup is another chance to live with gratitude and to keep his fallen brothers and sisters close.
“If you are thinking about someone, call them,” Burik said. “If you have a relative or a friend, pick up the phone. Don’t miss the opportunity to tell someone you care about them, tell somebody you love them.”
For Burik, Sept. 11 is a reminder not only of loss, but of the importance of connection. And while life moves forward, he believes the promise to never forget must remain.
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