Charles Sidney Hirsch (March 30, 1937 – April 8, 2016) was an American forensic pathologist who served as the Chief Medical Examiner of New York City from 1989 until 2013.
[2] As head of the New York City Medical Examiners Office, Hirsch and six aides went to establish a temporary morgue for the victims of the September 11, 2001, attacks at the World Trade Center.
[3][4] Emptying the pulverized concrete from his pockets that day, Hirsch realized that many of the victims would have suffered a similar fate and been "rendered into dust".
[9] A third opinion obtained by Zadroga's family later that month from Dr. Michael Baden, chief forensic pathologist of the New York State Police (and former New York City Medical Examiner), backed the original claim of WTC dust responsibility, citing the presence of glass fibers in Zadroga's lungs that could not be related to injecting drugs.
[10] As part of a March 2007 filing by families of 9/11 victims who want to conduct additional searches for remains, a letter from Hirsch signed in 2003 was included stating that cremated human remains, resulting from the initial fires when the towers were hit and the continuing flames in the pit, were included in the debris taken to the Fresh Kills Landfill, and that he believed it was "virtually certain that at least some human tissue is mixed with the dirt at the Staten Island landfill.