this community was hit horribly tonight. the people here are amazing people, people with a lot of pride to them. and they're keeping it, and people i've spoken to tonight said they're going to rebuild and somehow they'll get through this. >> reporter: it will be a long time before anyone in this neighborhood we walked through will be able to call breezy point home. more than 100 homes burned to the ground. dreams of retirement cottages now reduced to piles of ash. >> i haven't seen anything like this in my career. the only thing that came close to this was 9/11. >> reporter: this community, home to so many firefighters and first responders, has seen more than its share of tragedy. 29 of their own killed on 9/11. this is senator charles schumer's home district. he came today as well. have you ever seen anything like this? >> never. and i asked 20 firefighters who have had probably 1,000 years, 500 years of experience, asked