9/11 ABC News report: 557kB WMV download
"This is as close as we can get to the base of the World Trade Center. You can see the firemen assembled here, the police officers, FBI agents, and you can see the two towers... a huge explosion now raining debris on all of us."
"We gotta get out of the way!"
[no transcript] refers to members mentioned without a transcript in the project. (Not correlated yet with lists of the dead and missing.)
Abed, Faisel E.M.T. Battalion 8 (E.M.S.)10/12/01
long screed on being a Muslim, hung out in several stores, worked a triage at South Street Seaport
Abril, Roberto E.M.T. Battalion 49 (E.M.S.) 1/17/02
A very significant account and the roll model of what a proper account should be, from the specificity of the route driven, to the honesty and completeness of who and what was encountered. Abril's partner Carlos Lillo died on 9-11, a death which is referenced mysteriously in many accounts. Several strange references to a partial collapse, which preceded the destruction of Towers 1 & 2. This may mean that the south tower gave prematurely and all the video from there on would have been faked to disguise this fact.
"We were stopped at West Broadway and Vesey..."
"The initial collapse, not the actual collapse, but the top part of the building collapsed on top of these firemen and cops on West Broadway and Vesey as I was walking towards the building. I was unable to make it any more, because there was a lot of dust. We witnessed a lot of stuff. We witnessed people falling off the buildings. We witnessed a lot of firemen dying from the initial collapse."
"Like I said, there was 3 collapses. The first one that the top of the building collapsed. I see here is the northeast plaza building. That building collapsed first.
Q. That was the south tower?
A. Yes, that would make it the south tower, yes. So the top of that building collapsed. Like I
said, I witnessed 5 people got killed there. Then it was too much dust."
"When the initial collapse happened, all my masks ran out."
"That was about it. When I turned around and I tried to help these people before the north tower collapsed, the first big collapse, we were helping-- we were at, I think the American Express building."
"Q. Is there anything else that you would like to add or that you can think of?
A. About the whole thing?
Q. Yes. Personal stuff.
A. At that point, what I didn't understand was why is it that we were triaging people on the first
floor of this building that has a plane on top. I couldn't understand that. When I had a chance to walk in to see what was going on, there were actually close to 5 DOAs on the street. Some of them had no legs, some of them that had no arms. There was a torso with one leg, with an EMS jacket on top. I guess somebody wanted to just cover it. There was a fireman that had been hit by a body. I really didn't understand why is it that we were triaging people on the first floor
instead of going somewhere else."
The specifics of the collapse account are self contradicting. When he says, "northeast plaza building. That building collapsed first, and the interrogator qualifies, "That was the south tower?" Abril answers nonsensically, "Yes, that would make it the south tower, yes." This may be attributed to the narrowness of his perception on Washington Street, behind Vesey and Building 7 .
Adams, Paul E.M.T. Battalion 45 11/1/01
"I dropped these patients off at St. Vincent's and then I went back in. In the process of going back in, No. 2 came down and by the time I got there they had already completely, totally--you know, it was collapsed."
"I didn't take no names or nothing, except for the original, first one, the burn patient. There was just no time to be filling out paper work."
Weird compound sentence starting off with Carlos Lillo was HIS partner,
"I went back in again afterwards looking for my partner, looking for Carlos Lillo, and he's gone now. I found my partner about four or five hours later and went over to where they had another triage area on West Side Highway, and I believe it was Vesey by the pedestrian bridge."
Perhaps because Lillo was in 49 VICTOR, the "medics" who "both followed each other all the way through from Elmhurst Queens."
Interviewer asks for a name and the answer is blacked out:
"There was a Captain over there, there was Bruce Medjuck, he was there, he's a nice guy, goo people.
Q: Do you remember the Captain's name?
Answer blacked out.
Q:Okay
A: ...Her first words out of her mouth..."
Albuerme, Eloy Lieutenant (E.M.S.) EMG Battalion 8 10/23/01
absolutely nothing
Altini, Steven Firefighter Engine Company 24 (F.D.N.Y.) 12/7/01
absolutely nothing
Amato, John Firefighter Engine 68 (F.D.N.Y.) 1/2/02
Made it down to within one block of Vesey and the first collapse happens. makes it north and then stays at a staging area all day because they didn't want anybody "involved" with the collapse going back in. Interviewer sounds very surprised
Asaeda, Glen Civilian (E.M.S.) Doctor Medical Affairs 10/11/01
An important 36-minute interview. Was at the West Street command post when "Mayor Giuliani and his entourage" pass by.
"Dr. Cherson came back to me and said that they were going to move the command post into the lobby of 1 World Trade Center. So at that time he said to me he was going to go in there with Paramedic Delgado, Manny Delgado, and he wanted me to take the EMS fellow who was with us and go to 7 World Trade, where they had set up one of the first treatment areas."
"I heard what I thought was a jet engine plane. In retrospect, it turns out that it was the first tower coming down." Extensive blackout.
"and the next thing I noticed, that jet engine sound and then a loud crash and then pitch black."
"We walked into the loading dock [of Building 7] where Captain Abdo [no transcript] of the Fire Department, EMS, had already established a treatment area."
Planting the seeds before 10:03am: "As I went to another patient, I remember a Secret Service or security from 7 World Trade Center person saying to me, did you hear that the Pentagon just got hit by another plane?"
"At this point, also, I saw people from OEM. Eddie Gabriel, who is one of our EMS chiefs, was over there coming in with -- I think he had somebody on his arm. We saw police officers. There were some firefighters now in gear but not recognizable because of the dust."
Ashby, Phillip Paramedic (E.M.S.) Division 1
SO I THOUGHT SOMEBODY LAUNCHED A MISSILE FROM THE EAST RIVER OR OVER THE HUDSON TO KNOCK IT DOWN. I MEAN THAT'S WHAT I'M THINKING. IF THEY ARE, IF THEY ARE STILL OUT THERE TO LAUNCH ANOTHER MISSILE I GOT TO GET THE HELL OUT OF THERE BECAUSE WE WERE IN WAR ZONE RIGHT EXACTLY I DIDN'T THINK, I DIDN'T GO AND TRY TO FIGURE OUT MY HIGH SCHOOL PHYSICS OR MY COLLEGE CHEMISTRY TO FIGURE OUT YOU KNOW THE FIRE AND THE BRICK AND THE MELTING AND THE BOILING POINT
Attanasio, Christopher EMTD (E.M.S.) Battalion 20
"I am a Persian Gulf War veteran and I have never seen anything like this before in my life, and I still to this day can't believe it. I just can't believe it, that it happened."
Badillo, Benjamin Battalion 17 E.M.T. (E.M.S.) 1/24/02
Partnered with Eddie Martinez "The next thing I know I heard was a loud slam and a girl screaming. When I looked back, it was a girl from one of the private ambulance companies jumping out the back door of her ambulance. ambulance...So this girl pulls me and an officer and she says, oh please, come check on my partner. He is sitting in the front. I don't know what happened to him but he is laying on the side. We went to go check up on him and he was just really badly burned . It was obvious that he was dead. Nothing we could do so we kept on walking."
"...we [Chief Mark Steffens, and an unnamed Lieutenant] went around the whole Trade Center. This little square. You could see---I don't know which tower was it. I think it was the north tower, we saw the north tower, just like what was left of it, just burning and a lot of fire."
"We came out on Rector Street. We saw one of the landing gears from the airplane."
"I was asking anyone if they have seen my partner. I remember Karen Lamanna from Battalion 14 she said that she had saw him with another medic." [extensive blackout]
AFTER
Bailey, Stuart Engine 224 Firefighter (F.D.N.Y.)12/6/01
not on duty, not dressed out
Banaciski, Richard Ladder 22Firefighter (F.D.N.Y.)12/6/01
"...we reported in to the command post, which was in front of -- I think it was the Merrill Lynch building. There was a parking garage. There were two ramps that went in that parking garage.
Q. On West Street?
A. On West Street. We reported in to there and I remember they had the command post set up. They were telling the engines to the one side, all the trucks to the other side, put your cylinders in the middle. We were there. They were getting the command structure going. I just remember we were -- initially we were out by the street and they started having jumpers, so they all kind of moved back towards the parking garage, towards the building, so nothing would come down on us. We were there I don't know, maybe 10, 15 minutes and then I just remember there was just an explosion. It seemed like on television they blow up these buildings. It seemed like it was going all the way around like a belt, all these explosions. Everybody just said run and we all turned around and we ran into the parking garage because that's basically where we were. Running forward would be running towards it. Not thinking that this building is coming down." We just thought there was going to be a big
Barrett, Kevin Battalion 49 E.M.T. (E.M.S.) 1/17/02
"Approximately 9:50 we heard this loud noise. I looked up and it sounded like another airplane was coming in. That's what it sounded. Like a large engine, like you're sitting on the wing of the plane, that's the best way I can describe what it sounded like."
[extensive blackout when he meets up again with his partner in a deli]
Barry, Albert Engine 65 Firefighter (F.D.N.Y.) 1/9/02
"Nobody that we came down with was injured in any way just some civilian was hyperventilating. There was, I recall, an older woman that was being carried down by some civilians in a chair. We told the civilians to put her down and we immediately took command of her, checked her vitals, and she was all right. I helped carry her down a little bit. Then we passed her along to some other civilians who carried her down some more. It was a quicker pace because people were making room for her to come down."
"Q. Did they give you a specific task? In other words, when you came in, did they tell you to go to the 30th floor or the 50th floor?
A. Yes, there was a chief, I guess it was at the staging area. There was basically just one chief standing there saying, "All right, you guys make your way up to the north tower." I don't know-
Q. He didn't tell you to go to the 30th floor or the 50th floor?
A. No. He just said make your way up to the north tower. That was it. We got our rollups and gear and everything else and that's it. That's about it, then."
Bartolomey, Anthony Battalion 4 E.M.T. (E.M.S.) 10/9/01
"Q. At approximately what time did you arrive?
A. At about 8: 58."
"Q. When you arrived there, did any civilians report anything to you?
A. Yes. Numerous civilians were telling me that a plane had hit the building. There were discrepancies as to the type of plane. Some were saying it was a Cessna or Leer jet type, a small jet plane. Some said it was a large passenger plane. One person actually said that it was like a military style plane that actually shot missiles into the building."
"A. Then as we were starting to treat some more patients, we heard rumbling. We thought maybe it was debris falling from the tower. You look up and you see the flame of the plane hitting the second building. When you see the footage on TV, you see it fly in one side and the fireball shot out through the other side. We actually saw the fireball shot out from the north side of that building."
"That's where I started finding patients and apparently somebody was there with -- I guess he must have been treated and the crew that was there ran and he got left behind because he had a cervical collar and he had a triage tag around his neck."
"I forget exactly what time. It was right before the towers fell, which that was about between 9:55 and 10:00, approximately. Because we had gotten back upstairs with the last patient and there was nobody around. There were police officers there saying the tower was in danger of collapse and so they were evacuating the immediate area."
Basile, James Division Commander (E.M.S.) EMS CHIEF EMG Division 2
"I was able to bring out 200-300 civilians in 12, 15 minutes."
Basile was in the lobby of #1 when #2 came down, makes it out by going up the escalator to the concourse plaza, then out via the #7 bridge and lobby, after helping 300 people do likewise.
"We were operating in the lobby, and all of a sudden we heard the roar of a jet engine, is what it sounded like."
"Not two seconds later debris and dust started to come in, and essentially we were just shut down. Everything was dark, pitch-black."
"Q. You stay in the lobby?
A. I just stayed in the lobby at that point. We heard the roar of the jet -- what I thought was a jet coming in, and I believe the others did, and we went into the escalator area for shelter. Everybody got down on the ground. There was some debris that fell. There was a lot of soot and dust. It was pitch-black. The only light that we had was the handheld lanterns, and there was a photographer, a video crew that was following one of the battalion chiefs, that he provided some light."
"I saw people starting to come out from the building on the concourse. I met with Fire Battalion Chief Turner [no transcript] and a few other firemen -- I don't know their names -- and assisted in moving patients, civilians, out."
"As I was approaching the corner of West and Vesey, I heard over the radio that the building was leaning. As I was crossing West Street, that's when I heard that jet sound again. I knew that the building was coming down."
Battista, Richard Engine 76 Firefighter (F.D.N.Y.) 12/6/01
"Once they started falling, we got a report of a firefighter being injured, from someone maybe falling, so we decided to move back further away from the tower. I remember specifically the command post, which may have been, I don't know, maybe 40 feet in front of us, something in that nature. When I saw that, Lieutenant Farrington told us to move back so we were sort of underneath a garage area when we first heard reports or guys yelling that one of the towers
was coming down. I was able to stick my head out and look up a bit and once I saw that I just immediately turned around and ran into the building. down in the parking garage and then just aimless up west street."
Beck, Paul Engine 224 Firefighter (F.D.N.Y.) 12/12/01
"We were just rummaging around and soon we heard this noise. It sounded like a train. I thought it was another jet coming overhead. I thought it was a fighter jet now patrolling or another plane coming"
Becker, Brian Engine 28 Lieutenant (F.D.N.Y.) 10/9/01
"So we teamed up with Engine 4 . I knew the officer, Joe Farrelly..."
"A couple of firemen said, "Did you feel that rush of air?" and things like that, and how it was going on. It really felt like our building was coming down, and then the chief, who was out of sight for a few minutes, then came running up the stairs, and that's my impression, and he was saying -- "All right--" everybody was very adamant and loud, and he said, "Everybody, we are -- all Fire Department personnel are out of the building. We are getting out. Leave all your equipment," he was yelling, "Leave your equipment, and just get up and go, go, go," like that."
"Q. Did you have an idea what time you guys started to descend down?
A. I would say it was like one minute after the first building collapsed, the first collapse of the other building.
Q. So five after ten then?
A. Right. It took us a long time t o get up there.
Q. There were firefighters above you?
A. Not that I know of, no. I mean, we didn't see anybody going up ahead of us. We just saw civilians coming down, and by the time we were heading down, there were really no civilians any more, and we had a clear track to the--and to the lobby."
"It was devastation, but we were in the northwest corner of the building, so we were diagonally separated a hundred percent from the first collapsed building. We were on the opposite corner -- we were the most sheltered part. We got to the lobby, and we saw things. We saw an arrest being made of some Arab-looking type guy. I think he had a blue uniform type World Trade Center type maintenance type person. It was my impression. It didn't seem important to me. It seemed like he was being arrested by a Port Authority type policeman. That's my impression. I remember them putting cuffs on him, and I remember one of the firemen saying, "Look, they're arresting the guy," and I said, "Never mind that. Never mind that." You know, it was not our concern. There was chaos in the lobby. It was random people running around. There was no structure. There were no crowds. There was no -- no operation of any kind going on, nothing. There was no evacuation. It was just people running around, a few Port Authority police, and I think Engine 4 made it down."
"So we just ran as a unit to the overpass again, and we took a look up, and it was like one -- it was like, holy shit. It was like -- because it was like -- I guess the building was kind of -- I don't
remember specifically, but I remember it was, like, we got to get out of here. So I think that the building was really kind of starting to melt. We were -- like, the melt down was beginning. The collapse hadn't begun, but it was not a fire any more up there. It was like -- it was like that -- like smoke explosion on a tremendous scale going on up there."
"Q. So what members of the Company 28 were with you that day? Do you recall?
A. With me?
Q. Yes.
A. Chelsen, Ippolito, Campagna -- he's an eight-week guy -- and Kehoe. He's the famous photographed firefighter of Engine 28 on the steps."
Beehler, Michael Firefighter Ladder company 110 (F.D.N.Y.) 12/17/01
nothing much up in # 1. Funny interruptions in the interview.
"...we got to Liberty Street and made the right off of Broadway on to Liberty and we were on Liberty between Broadway and I believe Church and we had gotten off the rig with Battalion 31. We were speaking to them on where we should go because we were assigned to the north tower. I remember just hearing an explosion that basically I can't describe the sound of. It was actually the second plane crashing in. We were on the side, we were on the south side of the south tower when it came down -- I mean when the plane crashed in. I just basically said to myself something is not right here. It didn't feel right to me. I told my boss, just I said to him this doesn't feel right. We don't belong here. He said yes, I know, come on. As we looked up though, when it happened, alls we saw was a big ball of flames and the flames went away. We saw a lot of smoke and debris was heading everywhere."
"We were only there [lobby of the north tower] for maybe about 2 minutes when Lieutenant Mera came over. He said come on, we are going up to the 21 floor. There are reports of people trapped there."
"He said he thought there was a bank of elevators that were working. So we went up to the mezzanine, I believe it was. We went up the escalator to the mezzanine. There was a bank of elevators there that were still in service, so we took that up to, I believe the 15 or 16th floor. We got up and then we walked up to the 23 floor from there in the B staircase, I believe it was."
"I was by I guess the outer part of the building and I just remember feeling the building starting to shake and this tremendous tremendous like roar and I just-- I kind of didn't even notice it, but like out of the corner of my eye, I saw out of the building, I saw a shadow coming down. At that point I thought it was the upper part of the north tower that had just basically like toppled over, fell off. I didn't actually see the building part go by me, because I think I was on the opposite side. But I just remember feeling this tremendous tremendous shake and hearing this, like, noise. Again I can't describe."
"Again we just searched there, there was no structural damage at that point on the 21 floor. We made our way out and as we were making our way back down to the hallway where the officer was, I heard on the radio, a Chief come over the radio. I don't know his name. He said this is Chief so and so. I personally am ordering everybody out of the building now. Anybody in the north tower get out now. Lieutenant Mera said to all of us, he said come on, we got to get out. He said make sure to stay together. We are all going to get out, we are all going to go down together. We are all going to get out together. Once we get out, we will decide where we are going to go. Once we get downstairs we will decide where we are going to go. With that we went downstairs. There was another truck company ahead of us. What we did was we basically piggy backed towards where --
BATTALION CHIEF KING: Time is 1626 hours. I'm stopping the interview. The time is 1702 hours. We are restarting the interview, continuing the interview with Firefighter Beehler. Okay, Mike.
A. At the time when I heard the loud noise and felt the building shake, we all ended up back in the staircase after re-searching the one area. We had gotten the order to evacuate the building. Lieutenant Mera told us all to stay together and as we started making our way down, we, like I said, we piggy backed floors with another truck company, forcing each door on the way down. Like they took the odd floors, we took the even floors, to make sure there was nobody on that
floor and make sure that everybody heard the evacuation order. We got down to the 9th floor and from there down it was very congested. It felt like we waited on each landing for about 30 seconds to a minute, because the staircases were packed with members of the Fire Department that were evacuating. So you did get to 9, then you got down to 8-1/2. Felt like you waited
another 30 seconds to a minute. Got down to 8 and continued to go down. When we got down to the lobby I just remember seeing all the windows in the north tower on the lobby floor blown out and there was like dust and debris everywhere. I actually remember picking up a helmet,
thinking it was a Chief's helmet, and I said to Lieutenant Mera, I said, wow, some Chief dropped his helmet here and as I picked it up, my fingers smudged a little piece of it off. I saw it was a fireman's helmet. The Chief came other over, took the helmet. As we were walking out, we walked out the same place where we came in, and I remember seeing the board there by itself with nobody there. There was a guy actually standing outside the building telling us if it was safe or not to come out because he said there were jumpers coming down at that time. He said come on, come on, go. We went out and we stopped right outside the building. We actually sat on 3 truck's bumper I remember just because a few friends of mine were in the company. I remember stopping and we all sat down and Pauly Hyland, who had the OV, said if this building comes down run up against this garage. We were under the foot bridge. He said
run up against this garage, we might have a chance to live. With that Lieutenant Mera turned to us and said come on, why don't we go down a little further. We all got up. We started walking. We were walking west on West Street, continued to go and as we kept on walking we stopped at a rig. I got some water.
BATTALION CHIEF KING: Time is 1705 hours. I'm stopping this interview. The time is 1706 hours. We are restarting the interview again.
A. We continued to walk west on West Street and we finally had stopped, I believe it was at engine 224's rig and we weren't there for more than 30 seconds when Paul Hyland, again, the OV said something to the effect of oh, my god, it's coming down, run for your lives. Turned around to see the north tower coming down. At this time I had just taken my mask off and I
just laid it down. I went to grab my mask and as I went to grab it, 10 guys just caught me and just swept me up with them and I just started running, figuring maybe I could out run it.
I remember turning back around and seeing it right behind me and basically said this is it. I
figured I was going to die right then and there. I put my head down and as I put my head down, I just started walking, I saw there was a mask laying in the middle of the street. I looked around, there was nobody around it. I just remember, I said, all right, I'm going to pick it up. I picked it up. As I was putting it on my back, I got covered in the dust cloud. I went to put the mask on, I had turned the cylinder on. Couldn't see anything. I wasn't able to breathe. I just remember trying to put the mask on. The regulator face piece came apart and tried -- I was able to get the regulator and the face piece together. Took a hit -- took a hit breath of air. At that point I was looking for a place to go because there was debris, nothing big coming down,
because we were about a block, block and a half away but just to get someplace where it was safe because I didn't know what else was going to happen. I ended up finding an ambulance. I jumped into the ambulance. They brought me in. I stayed there until the dust cleared. Tried to get Lieutenant Mera on the radio, but there was a lot of radio traffic. Guys giving Maydays and everything like that. I just started walking up West Street because I knew they were ahead of me. I finally saw them by Stuyvesant High School. We got together and there were 4 guys there. I was the fifth. Mike Brodbeck, who was detailed from the 210, he was the sixth guy. Lieutenant Mera knew he was all right. He was being treated by EMS because he hurt his shoulder, running
into an ambulance or something. We just basically hung out there for a little while and as the day went on, we basically just sat around, waiting to get some more orders. I remember seeing a lot of guys coming in. At that point guys grabbed, they took some of our radios and they took some of the tools that we had left. They went up and they tried to, I guess do some searching and whatever they could do. I think it was around like 6:00 later on that night, we all decided, all the guys from the house had come in and we found-- we had known at that point that 207 was unaccounted for so, basically we just said let's see if we can find them, find a rig, find something, find our rig, because we didn't know anything that was going on. This is including -- this was after 7 World Trade Center had collapsed also. We went searching. We searched for about an hour and a half. We ended up finding our rig about a few blocks away from where we parked it. We had no luck finding 207 or 207's rig. Basically we just came back here and that was it. We went to the chart that we were on, 24 on, 24 off. We just went on with that.
BATTALION CHIEF KING: All right, Mike. It's 1710 hours. This interview is concluded."
Bell, Jody E.M.T. Fire Department, (E.M.S.) 12/15/01
"I figure about a half hour later after we arrived we had a good 20 to 30 people on that corner we were trying to treat. We were just trying to treat them. We then hear this explosion. We hear this explosion, and our first reaction is the plane was lodged in the building and it exploded or parts of it were still in the building and that exploded. Then people were screaming that another plane hit. I'm like, no way, there's no way. From where I was, I couldn't see the other tower. I saw the one tower. I couldn't see the other tower. They said another plane hit. So I'm like, there's no way. More people were starting to say it. Then it came over the radio. That's when I knew it was deliberate. I knew it was deliberate. At first I was thinking maybe it was an accident, human error of the worst kind. But the second plane, I knew it was deliberate. I knew this was an attack. I wasn't even concentrating on that at the moment. I was just trying to gather the people. Then the scene became even more hectic. It became even more hectic. We were just trying to do what we can. Now there were news people on the scene, more units, more hands. It was becoming a more hectic scene. I'm not sure how much time passed after that. I lost track of time. You start to hear this rumble. You hear this rumble. Everything is shaking. Now I'm like, what the hell could that be. I'm thinking we're going to get bombed. This is an air raid. You hear this thunder, this rumbling. Then you see the building start to come down. Everybody's like, "Run for your lives! The building is coming down!" At that moment when that building was coming down, I was strapping a patient onto a stair chair. The thing about it was the patient was stable, but she was in a bit of hysteria. I couldn't blame her. It was a female. She was very nervous. So I had her sit in the chair and I put some oxygen on her, because she wasn't breathing right, she was hyperventilating. I was just trying to calm her down. I was strapping her onto the stair chair, and that's when the building comes down. So I strapped her on. As I this tidal wave, it's like a tidal wave of soot and ash coming in my direction, my life flashed before my eyes. I made a U turn, and I started to run -- I took about ten steps, and the lady started screaming, "Don't leave me! Don't leave me!" That's when I gathered myself. I got a hold of myself, wait, what the hell am I doing? I turned back around. I got her out of the chair. I said, "Ma'am, can you run?" She said, "Yes." She took off. I immediately made a U turn, and I've never moved so fast in my life. I don't think my feet were touching the ground. My feet weren't touching the ground. Then shortly after that -- the building came down. It's like snow fall. The cars are covered. The streets are covered. I'm covered and breathing in mouthfuls. You couldn't see. The scene was totally blacked out. You're just running in the direction that you think is away. I knew I was running -- this would be westbound. I was running westbound down Vesey. I ran about a block to North End Avenue. That's when the building -- you could hear the sound. The building came down. The building finished collapsing. So I immediately made a U turn and just ran back, because I got separated from my partner. My partner Mike, who I rode with, I had bumped into him -- between all of that I bumped into him somewhere. When other units started arriving, he had finally arrived. So I immediately made a U turn. I ran back. Now everybody's running back: firemen, policemen, EMTs, paramedics. Everybody's running back because we've got men in there, we had equipment in there, and the people. We were just running back. That was everybody's first -- not even hesitating, just made a U turn and started heading back. That's when over the radio you hear, "Stand fast. The north tower is leaning." I'm like, how is the north tower leaning? See, once I heard the second plane hit, I was thinking the second plane hit one building, both planes hit that one building, and that building had kind of come straight down. So all I saw was smoke coming at me and everything else, and I just ran. I still got bombarded with all of that stuff. When I came back this time, not only was it snowing but I could see the tower, and the tower was starting to break off. It was kind of looking like it was going to tip, and there was a piece of the building coming down right on top of me and Mike. We were holding each other's hands and we were like, "Whoa, look at that." We sat there like for a split second and we just watched it in amazement that this building was coming down, the second building was coming down. The building was hitting other buildings. It was hitting buildings over here. It was crazy. Then we made another U turn, and everything started rumbling again. Another tidal wave blacked out the whole scene. This time it was worse. We were just running. This time we ran all the way back as far as we could to the railing. I was damn near ready to jump in the river. I swear to God, I was holding the railing, looking back, as this thing's coming towards us. I was ready to jump in the water. We were all gathered there. The debris went well into the Hudson. It almost went to Jersey. There was debris almost to Jersey. It was over our heads. It was just blowing. There were papers -- the amount of paper, it was like a ticker tape parade. There were like a billion times more paper. We were swatting paper out of our face, on top of the soot and the ash and everything else. So then we stayed there. More people were coming. I started cutting up sheets. I had sheets. There was a stretcher like to the side. I started cutting up sheets and started making masks for everybody, because everybody's coughing, breathing in mouthfuls of shit. We were all covered from head to toe. I just started cutting up sheets and whatever. Then we stayed in that one area. I think there was a fire chief in the area. He said to stand fast until further notice. We stood there. A boat was in the Hudson, and they called that boat in. It had beverages and reinforcements on the boat, water and everything. They pulled that boat in and docked it, and we unloaded it. As people were coming down Vesey, coming down to the scene, we were just handing out water, tagging them, treating them. Everybody wants to go back, but we're told we can't go back. Now we smell fumes. You smell gas in the air. You can damn near see fire. You could see fires blazing. That's when they say -- I don't know how much time passed since then. Now they're like, "Gather anything you can, anything you can retrieve, and head north to Chelsea Piers. That's where the staging is going to be." So I grabbed the stretcher, and I ran back about halfway between West and North End on Vesey, and I was trying to gather my equipment. All of my equipment was right there on that corner. I didn't have anything. All I had on me was my helmet I was wearing and my turnout coat. My tech bag, all of my equipment was at that corner. I think the unit was at that corner, or my partner had got out -- the guy I was with, Garfield Grey, he was out of there. I was going to go back for the ambulance, but I was told not to, because there were ambulances on fire. There were fire trucks crushed. So I went about halfway. There was nothing there to gather. Then I came back up to North End. Inside the lobby of this building here -- I guess that's just an apartment building -- they had a lot of equipment in there. So we just gathered all of that equipment and loaded up the stretcher about a good six feet high and just walked that thing all the way up to Chelsea Piers. I walked behind along River Terrace back onto West Street and then up to Chelsea. We stayed up there a good -- I'd say a good five hours. By that time me and Mike had hooked back up. Now we were in unit 240. The unit was totally stripped. We unloaded the unit. Now it was totally stripped. We were sitting up there waiting for the word, just waiting for the word when we could go back down. Now it's afternoon. Now it's like there's thousands of units. You see units rolling in from Baltimore, Philly, Jersey. Everybody was out there, just lining up along West Street on both sides of the street. I'm talking from about Chambers -- yeah, I would say from Chambers all the way up to like 28th Street you could see units lined up with no space in between, bumper to bumper, all the way up West Street. That's as far as I could see. I was about at -- that's like 23rd. I was at about 20th, 20th and West Street. We noticed around like, I guess, 4:00, 4 or 5:00 that we were running low on fuel, so we asked for permission to refuel at Battalion 8, at Bellevue Hospital. So we were given permission. We went that way -- Oh, wait, another major thing. When that second building came down, as we were running, you hear this thunder in the air. This was a scary part. We hear thunder. That's when I'm like, oh, no, now they're going to bomb us. You hear this thunder. You know it's in the air, but you don't see anything. You just hear this loud sound. It's just getting bigger and bigger. Then you see our fighters in the air, F-14s, whatever they were, F-18s. Everybody just got a new sense of hope. We were all just cheering, like "USA" and "shoot those mother fuckers down." We knew we were at war. We knew we were at war. When the Feds arrived, like the Secret Service agent was near me, a couple Secret Service agents, and they were just telling us about the Pentagon. That's when we found out about the Pentagon and some of the other things transpired down there. Now that I think about it, there's a lot I forget. Basically we waited up there for the word to go back down. Once we got to Bellevue, the National Guard was already mobilized. They had check points along 23rd Street."
"I finally went home, and the first thing I did was turn the television on. I was exhausted. I turned the TV, and I saw things happen -- I saw the replay of the planes hitting, and I couldn't believe what I was seeing. It did not register. It didn't look real. It looked like toy planes. I'm like, that's what happened out there? That's what happened out there?"
Beltrami, Dean Firefighter Engine Company 260, 12/17/01
(15 or 20 minutes before the first collapse)
"So then we proceeded down West Street and when I heard Handie Talkie report of Firefighter Kevin Shea. I knew Kevin Shea from another company that I worked at. Kevin Shea is missing I immediately after, I heard Kevin Shea is safe. He's in an ambulance."
Bendick, Thomas Division 1 E.M.T. (E.M.S.) 10/15/01
"At that point, some place on the west side, on the West Side Highway, a cop had opened a fire hydrant and he had the hydrant going and everybody was like washing their face off, so then I went over there to wash off. I was letting the water go through my mouth and the cop is saying the water is dirty, what are you doing opening your mouth. I said at this point it doesn't really make a difference clearing what's in my mouth."
"At the same point, a plain clothes, which I assume was a police officer, fired three rounds of his
revolver into the door of the Manhattan Community College, the glass doors, which caused a panic. Everybody was screaming shots fired, get down. I actually visually saw the guy fire the 3
shots. He wasn't in a uniform. He was in plain clothes. I was actually screaming, no, calm down, he is shooting the door out because like I say, he just caused a huge panic, because now, obviously everybody knows it's a terrorist attack, and this guy is shooting his gun off. So he blew the doors out to the college, because they were glass doors. He climbed in, called people, try to get to safety.
Berntsen, Eric Firefighter Fire Department, (F.D.N.Y.) 12/4/01
was with the fat man outside of #5 when #1 came down and they abandoned him. mentions a Lieutenant Glenn Wilkinson [no transcript].
Bessler, Paul Firefighter Engine, 1 (F.D.N.Y.) 1/21/02
up to the 22nd floor in #1 encounters the lady Josephine, makes it out ahead of the cloud, his chief dies
"Just at that point, my radio came clear as day, "Imminent collapse. This was a terrorist attack. Evacuate." That's exactly what I heard. I think that was Chief Picciotto that was giving the order. We relayed that again, hoping that the brothers would hear it above us,"
"Just as we got towards the walkway, I looked back because I heard what I thought was another jet, and it was the building on its way down already. My guys had just came out. They were on the apron and they were just going to cross the barricade and stuff was -- the debris was on its way down and we just ran."
Billy, Richard Firefighter Engine Company 24
Makes it up to the 29th floor, helps a fat man, but then hands him off to a Captain William Burke of Engine 21 [no transcript]. Makes it down to the plaza under an overhand of Building 6
Blacksberg, David EMT Battalion 31
"We approached the building, [north tower] and we heard some loud noise. We felt some rumbling, so we looked up, and there was another plane coming in. Went behind, I guess it banked around another building, so at that time we didn't really see it hit the building, but we heard it, and we felt it, and we saw it approaching." Partnered with EMT Rios, Juan
Blaich, Charles R. Deputy Chief Fire Department
volunteered from Staten Island
"...the Harvey was sold a while ago, but he said it was here, had no equipment and an hour's worth of fuel, so OEM attempted to get fuel but apparently the fire boat flagged down a passing oiler and got fuel."
"Chief Mosier from Staten Island, 8th Division, arrived on the scene. This is how we established the sectors at that point. I looked as far north as I could see and called that the Liberty Street sector. I believe Chief Visconti was somewhere on the other end, on the north side of that pile in the middle between West -- on West between Liberty and up to where that bridge had collapsed up further and we said, all right, you will be the Vesey Street command. At some point Chief Haring came on the radio and he designated himself as Church Street command."
"Chief Mosier's building now, the twenty story, number 90 West was becoming fully involved. He had approximately 40 firemen without any equipment. I believe Marine One eventually supplied water to him and that's what he operated. That was a sector, sort of an adjunct sector to the Liberty command post."
Boeri, Richard Firefighter Engine 44
Matt Shannon [no transcript]
Bobby Reeg [no transcript]
"In there [on Albany Street, in a garage at Hudson View West, in the Hudson Tower] they had a guy on the back board, Kevin Shea, who I guess he was hurt before the collapse because there was something -- they had him on a back board and everything."
"He had a dislocated hip or something."
Bohack, Robert Lieutenant Engine 5
Kevin Donnelly, Ladder 3 [no transcript]
Manny Delvalle, [no transcript]
"WE REPORTED TO I BELIEVE CHIEF PFEIFER AND I BELIEVE CHIEF HAYDEN WAS THERE TOO AS WELL AS COMMISSIONER VON ESSEN. WE WERE TOLD TO
TEAM UP WITH ENGINE 10 WITH OUR ROLLUPS AND ALL OUR MASKS AND EXTRA BOTTLES AND PROCEED TO THE 79TH FLOOR AND OPERATE."
Went up to 33rd floor, one of his men was having chest pains so they started back down. First tower goes down
"WE HOOKED UP TO THE GRAVITY TANK OF ONE OF THESE BUILDINGS HERE. WE WERE GETTING LIKE 80 TO 100 POUNDS INTAKE SO WE STRETCHED LINE AS FAR AS THE TOWER LADDER HERE. WE STARTED GETTING WATER ON THE FIRE ON THIS FUCKING BUILDING
Q: WAS THAT SEVEN
A: NO SEVEN WAS HERE
Q: OKAY
A: INAUDIBLE THAT WASN'T ON FIRE
Q: RIGHT YEAH
A: THIS WAS ON FIRE THIS ONE WE WERE WORRIED ABOUT THIS. WE STARTED KNOCKING THIS DOWN." Transcript truncated. Ends with an (Inaudible)
Borrillo, Nicholas Firefighter Ladder 1
Steve Olsen [no transcript]
Was with Pfiefer and Naudet at gas odor call.
"We all jumped on the rig. It was Ladder 1, Engine 7, Battalion 1, Ladder 8, Engine 55, if I'm not mistaken."
"Maybe on the second floor I thought I heard a little bit of an explosion or something. Later on we found out that there was a -- there was a Port Authority guy on the staircase in our vicinity. He confirmed that another plane had hit the other tower."
"We climbed up to the 23rd floor. We were waiting for a couple of our guys to come up. They finally hooked up with us, and we took a break."
"Then we heard a rumble. We heard it and we felt the whole building shake."
"A couple minutes later, not that I heard on my radio. I didn't hear the evacuation order over
my radio, but there was a chief from the 11th Division, I believe, Picciotto.
Q. From the 11th Battalion.
A. The 11th Battalion. He was probably coming down from like 30 or something like that. He was telling everybody directly to leave the building. So we got our stuff, we started going down."
Brady Gregg EMT Battalion 4
"We were standing underneath and Captain Stone was speaking again. We heard -- I heard 3 loud explosions. I look up and the north tower is coming down now, 1 World Trade Center."
Breen, John Firefighter Engine 74
Joe Collins from 25 Truck [no transcript]
2) Jeff Johnson [no transcript]
3)Pat Carey [no transcript]
4) Ruben Correa [no transcript]
5) Lieutenant Nichols [no transcript]
6) Chauffeur Mike Shagi [no transcript]
7) Mike Mullan [no transcript]
"The whole battalion was called to go. us, 25 Truck, 47 Engine, 76 and 22 and 35 and 40 I believe were the companies that I heard over the voice alarm to respond."
"We did see part of -- I didn't see it, but Jeff Johnson told me later on he did see part of the landing gear actually fell right through the roof and it was in one of the Jacuzzis in another room."
"...the companies that we did meet up with was 11 Truck, 54 Engine and I'm pretty sure it was 23 Engine."
Brodbeck, Michael Firefighter Engine Company 210
"WE WENT WITH I BELIEVE IT WAS CHIEF PICCIOTTO. WE WENT UP TO THE MEZZANINE AND WE TOOK AN ELEVATOR. THE CHIEF SAID THAT THESE ELEVATORS WERE ALL RIGHT. WE TOOK THE ELEVATOR, WHICH I BELIEVE GOES UP TO EIGHT. WE GOT OFF AT EIGHT AND PROCEEDED TO WALK UP TO 23 WE STOPPED ON 23 AND THEN WE WENT UP TO 25. THEN WE MADE OUR WAY BACK. SO WE WERE EITHER ON 23 OR 21, I DON'T KNOW, I DON'T REMEMBER THAT, I THINK IT WAS 23. THE LIEUTENANT GAVE US INSTRUCTIONS TO MAKE THOROUGH SEARCH POP ALL THE DOORS MAKE SURE EVERYBODY IS OUT OF THE BUILDING""WHAT I HEARD OVER THE RADIO WAS THAT IT WAS COLLAPSE FROM THE 68TH THROUGH 70TH FLOORS."
Broderick, Richard EMT Battalion 10
1) Santiago, "a Spanish kid"from Queens General [no transcript]
2) Lieutenant Remz [no transcript]
3) Lieutenant Maria Santaromita [no transcript]
4) Lieutenant Dave Restuccio [no transcript]
"WHEN WE WERE THERE SOME KIDS---WE DIDN'T KNOW THEY WERE KIDS AT THE TIME---STARTED THROWING SOMETHING FROM THE ROOF OF THE BUILDING OFF OF AND IT WAS HITTING THE GROUND HARD EVERYBODY STARTED RUNNING STARTED PANICKING THE POLICE WENT RUNNING IN WITH THEIR GUNS OUT. THE NEXT THING YOU KNOW THEY HAD TONS I'M EXAGGERATING BUT WE HAD LIKE DOZEN COPS IN RIOT GEAR STANDING IN FRONT OF US."
"I REMEMBER PASSING THE FEDERAL RESERVE BANK.
Q: MAIDEN LANE IS THE FEDERAL RESERVE.
A: BECAUSE I HAPPENED TO SEE THE MARSHALS AND EVERYBODY OUT WITH THE SHOT GUNS AND MACHINE GUNS."
Brogan, Derek Firefighter Engine 5
On the 23rd floor: "So the Port Authority ESU cops came up. They gave us some oxygen. There was an FBI guy I think on that floor or one of the floors just below it as we were walking up. He told us the Pentagon got hit and the other tower got hit. He misinformed us by telling us that NYU Hospital got hit. I remember him saying that to me. And he said, "We still have four planes in the air, and we don't know where they are."
"They gave me my -- well, first on 19th Street they decontaminated me with a garden hose,
stripped all my clothes off in the middle of 19th Street. After they did the EKG, they just gave
my clothes back and sent me back to the firehouse."
Brosnan, Neil Lieutenant Engine 212
"I ENCOUNTERED A JET ENGINE SOMEWHERE ON CHURCH STREET"
"AND THEN WE SAID THAT WALKING UP 50 FLOORS IS GOING TO TAKE US AN HOUR THAT'S WHAT WE SAID
Q: IT WOULD HAVE TAKEN YOU LONGER
A: TWO HOURS."
Extensive blackout of an addendum.
Brown, Peter Firefighter Engine 239
1) Steve Siller from Squad 1 [no transcript]
Brown, Sean Firefighter Engine 16
"At that point, we were met by Ray Downey, Chief Ganci, Commissioner Feehan, and Father Judge and Tommy Von Essen, the commissioner. We were then teamed up with Engine 1, asked to proceed up to the 23rd Floor in order to set up communications."
"set up communications, and then proceed up to the 70th Floor."
"We were on the 23rd Floor, set up communications, when we heard a rumble. I would say we
were on the 23rd for about five to ten minutes."
"I turned to him and I said, "What do we do?" And some chief appeared. Don't know who the chief was. Chief from the department appeared, said, "Start making your way out of the building. The south tower just collapsed. A third plane is coming towards the north tower."
At that point, we gathered up all our gear and were ordered to leave the roll-ups and start
proceeding downward."
"We proceeded downward, ran into 110 truck. That was the first company from Brooklyn we ran into, told them what we heard, and then we heard a transmission over the radio. The Maydays started coming in to vacate the north tower. So as we started going down, we started
running into Brooklyn companies and telling them to -- that we were told to vacate the building."
Brown, Timothy Firefighter Office of Emergency Management "detailed out of Rescue 3"
1) Mike Lee, watch command, supervisor, [no transcript]
2) Mike Berkowitz, Supervisor OEM EOC [no transcript]
3) Mike Lynch from Ladder 4, [no transcript]
4) Carl Asaro [no transcript]
5) Calvin Drayton [no transcript]
6) John Odermatt [no transcript]
"OEM's offices are in Seven World Trade Center, so we were there when the first plane hit. I was on the third floor. I was eating breakfast. The electricity went out in the building for about three to four seconds, and then it rerouted and came back on. I knew something major had happened, although I did not feel any vibration or hear any crash from where I was sitting."
"The people I remember seeing [in lobby of tower 1] were Terry Hatton from Rescue 1 and Chris Blackwell from Rescue 3. I gave them both hugs. Terry said to me, "I love you, brother. It might be the last time I see you." Then he went in the stairwell. Then Chris Blackwell looked at me and said, "This isn't good, Tim." That was the last I saw him also."
"We finally set up -- prior to this I believe it was the west side of the core of the building there were elevators. Someone had come to me and said that there were people trapped in one of those elevators. So I ran around the corner, and the hoist way doors were open, but the elevator car was only showing about two feet at the top of the door. You could see all the legs of the people that were in the elevator. I would guess there were about eight people in the elevator.
The elevator pit was on fire with the jet fuel. People were screaming in the elevator. They were getting smoked and cooked. There weren't a lot of firemen there at the time. I grabbed some of the Port Authority employees and asked them where the fire extinguishers were and told them to get as many fire extinguishers as they could so we could try and fight this fire. As they were doing that, firemen started showing up, and I started asking them to get big cans, let's try to put this fire out. I turned around, and I came face-to-face with Mike Lynch from Ladder 4, who I
knew. I worked for Ladder 4 for a year. He was one of the young guys there then. I knew Mike
was a very competent guy. I said to Mike, "You've got this?" He said, "I'll take care of it." I left the elevator knowing that he would take care of it."
"So being comfortable with that, I went to the command board which they were setting up right next to the doors on the Liberty Street side, the south side of Two World Trade, inside the lobby. At that command board were Chief Burns, Chief Jack Fanning, and I remember seeing
Carl Asaro also there. So at this point I just stayed in the background, because things were crazy. Someone, a fireman, came in through the lobby, through the doors on the Liberty Street
side, and told us that there was already a fireman who was killed on the Liberty Street side by a jumper, a guy from 216. Although we knew it was serious, we knew that disaster was beginning
to happen."
"I ran to continue my mission to find EMS. I found EMS staging underneath the pedestrian bridge at West and Liberty. I saw my friend Charlie Wells. I got under the pedestrian bridge where they were standing so we were protected, and I said to Charlie, "We need you guys in the lobby of number two." He looked at me like I was crazy. He said, "All right. Just give me a minute to get helmets on people, and we're going to go in with you." So I waited I'm thinking around two minutes there. He got two paramedics, himself and me. I said, "Okay. Follow me." We ran to the south side of the hotel to stay close to the building, trying not to get hit. We ran along the edge of the hotel. When we ran by the southwest corner of the hotel, I noticed that the doors to the Tall Ships restaurant were wide open and there were people inside there. As we ran towards the rear, which is the three side of the hotel, and rounded the corner to go into Two World Trade Center, in the doors, we heard the roar above us. I know I never looked up. I don't think anybody ever looked up. But there was no question what it was. It was a very tremendous sound, which I think we hear on the tapes. So we just turned and ran for our lives. Now it was the flight/fright thing, because everybody knew we were all going to die. We ran back along -- I knew right from the start that I was going to go into the lobby of the hotel to try and get protected. As I ran by the medics, I yelled at them to follow me. Charlie and one of the medics, who I don't know their names, followed me into the lobby of the hotel. The other guy ran back toward the pedestrian bridge. Charlie tells me everybody lived of that group. We ran into the lobby. No sooner did we get into the lobby of the hotel, which was crystal-clear when we went in, then it went completely black in an instant with the dust. The roar was just getting louder. The dust started blowing in our faces. I'm guessing around 30, 35 miles an hour the wind was.
Everything started blowing toward us that wasn't nailed down. You could not any longer run into the wind because you were getting pummeled by stuff. You couldn't see anybody to communicate. You couldn't hear anything. It was becoming our grave. So I turned around and started running back toward the door where I came in. Intellectually I knew we couldn't go outside, because we would get killed by the steel."
"I went by Chief Feehan, who I know for a long time, shook his hand. He said "Be careful, be careful," to me. I kept running. I remember him being on West, north of the American Express building. He was alone at the time."
"I went up to Vesey Street and made a left going west on Vesey Street toward the river. I found Calvin at four World Financial Center. A fireman had already rescued him and pulled him out. He was with EMS. Then my other boss, car 2, John Odermatt, grabbed me and said, "Timmy, we have to go and try to reestablish city government. You've got to come with me. Calvin is okay." So we left Calvin in the hands of EMS and went back north on West Street."
"Then we wound up just up at 24 and 5 with the Mayor and other folks up there. I saw Terry's wife up there. I had an unhappy encounter with her."
Brown, Robert Deputy Chief Division 4
"and I came up on West Street out of the tunnel from the east side, and there was an officer standing blocking my way, and he was -- he was trying to direct me over out of the way because there was bodies scattered along West Street all the way back as far as the tunnel at that location, and I was in amazement. I couldn't believe it."
"I can remember turning around and looking up at the building and seeing a very, very large section of the building just coming -- coming straight down at us with a sound like I have never heard before in my entire life, that it -- I had thought for a moment that another plane had come, that had hit the building. That's how loud the sound was."
"and the next thing I know, the north tower collapsed, and again, that horrible sound, and we all just ran."
"The financial center was there. A large window on the ground floor had been blown out from the first collapse. I was able to jump through that window with Jason and Chief Wells...I found a bakery that was there...I ran into the bakery, and when I got into the bakery, there was a back room. I ran behind the counter and went to the back room, and there were two large freezers in there, and I went in there and I knelt -- I knelt in the corner facing the freezer as the debris was hitting the building, and the windows blew out in the place, and all that -- all over again. Relived the whole thing over again, with all that black, thick, choking smoke, unable to see, the fear
that -- whether or not that building was going to hold up, and, again, I don't know how long I was in there, but I was in there with -- there were three other gentlemen in the room with me when it started to clear. One guy was a photographer for the Daily News. The other guy was a transit worker or something, and I think the other guy was just a regular Joe, just a civilian who followed us, you know."
Brynes, Adam EMG Lieutenant EMG Battalion 57
zip
Buonocore, Vincent Firefighter Engine 278
zip
Burbano, George Paramedic Battalion 22
zip
Burgos, Freddy EMT Battalion 14
mentions an EMT Patterson [no transcript]
Burke, Timothy Firefighter Engine 202
"THERE WAS CALLING FOR WATER. THEY HAD NO WATER. THEY HAD NO WATER. I THOUGHT IT WAS COMING FROM ENGINE 10. I'M NOT SURE THEN THERE WAS CALL OUT, THAT ONE ENGINE WAS ON THE 19 FLOOR, AND THAT IF THEY EXPECT THEM TO GET TO 34, IT'S GOING TO BE AT LEAST AN HOUR. I FORGET THE NUMBER OF THAT ENGINE."
"THEN THE BUILDING POPPED LOWER THAN THE FIRE WHICH I LEARNED WAS I GUESS THE AVIATION FUEL FELL INTO THE PIT AND WHATEVER FLOOR IT FELL ON HEATED UP REALLY BAD AND THAT'S WHY IT POPPED AT THAT FLOOR. THAT'S THE RUMOR I HEARD, BUT IT SEEMED LIKE I WAS GOING OH MY GOD THERE IS SECONDARY DEVICE BECAUSE THE WAY THE BUILDING POPPED I THOUGHT IT WAS AN EXPLOSION."
Butler, Michael Assistant Chief Bureau of Fire Prevention
Fireman Robert Emans [no transcript]
"I was in communications with members of Engine 6. They were on the 27th floor, proceeding upward. I heard communications from a squad company that informed them that it was an
hour's climb to 30."
Butler, John Firefighter Engine 6
self dispatched from Long Island Expressway. was on vacation
Byrne, Robert Firefighter Engine Company 24
"We went into the tower, we were in the lobby a couple minutes. There was only one chief there. We really had no direction what to do. Captain Burke decided we would either go up on our own or wait for someone. We went up, started our way up. We went to the bank of elevators. We pulled a lady out of the bank, one of the banks. We used a rabbit tool. Most of the banks were blown off. The doors were charred and dismembered, some of them."
"We decided to take an elevator up. 13 Truck took us up. I'm assuming it was a low riser. It was one of the only elevators that were clear, and it looked like it was working. 13 took us up to -- first they took a couple guys from my company up. Then I went up with another guy, came back down and got us, went up to the 24th floor. The whole company was there. We walked up three more flights to the 27th floor. I don't know the time we were up there for, but however long we were up there, that's when the other building came down. We didn't know it at the time. The whole building shook. We hit the floor. Guys were saying, "Pop the door. Pop the door. Pop the door." It stopped. No smoke, no nothing. We thought something was coming down the hallway, maybe. Again, I don't know the time frame from that time that elapsed. We got a report maybe
69th floor, 64th floor, partial collapse. After that -- there was one chief, I believe, up there.
I'm not sure. He told us to start our way down, make your way down, everybody out. Since I didn't hear that on the radio. I just heard it from -- start your way down. We were there with Captain Billy Burke, who we lost."
"Q. You can't remember anybody else whose name that you saw in the building that's missing;
right?
A. Rob Parro. They found his body. He was with Freddie Ill. Three guys in the lobby, Denis Germain, Dennis Mulligan and George Dipasquale, all from 2 Truck. I saw them in the lobby. One of our guys, as we were walking down the stairs, went back to get the captain again, and he started helping a guy from 13 Truck, the only guy from 13 Truck that made it out. They carried a civilian down. Those guys from 13 took us up. I remember seeing 44 Engine in the lobby. I guess they came together. It could have been 22. I saw -- I forget his name, Lieutenant --
Q. Have they found his body?
A. No, I'm trying to think of it. I'm sorry.
Q. That's okay.
A. He's on the wall there too. Kenny Phelan. That's the lieutenant. I saw him in the lobby. He was covering for a day. He just got made.
Byrne, Michael Firefighter Engine 21
"We were still on a rest period. We started going back. We were supposed to meet up
with another unit; I don't remember who it was. We made it as far as, I believe it was the 37th
floor, and I believe it was a chief from the 11th Battalion that popped up on the staircase. His
exact words were "Drop everything and get out." We looked to Lieutenant Hanson, and he said,
"Drop everything and get out." That's when we basically evacuated."
"Before that I remember running into another guy in my probationary class, Jimmy Brown. He was with 10-10. He was saying he doesn't know where everybody is. To make a long story short with Jimmy Brown, he ended up living but he got buried up to his shoulders. They had to dig him out before he suffocated."
Byrnes, Robert Supervisor Fire Marshall Bureau of Fire Investigations
"I looked out the window. I could see the smoke blowing off the World Trade Center. Several
moments later I noticed a second plane and I commented to myself, look at this nitwit, he's so close, and before I realized it, he had crashed into the side of the south tower."
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