D Names Firemen's Oral Histories

D'amato, Frank EMS Captain Bureau of Communications
nondescript bureaucratic type

D'angelo, Michael EMT Division 1
Says he saw the second plane hit from the BQE

"I made my way down towards the water, where they were -- where those New York Waterway ferries were bringing over water and such. I was leaning over and bringing that up. Again I kept cleaning eyes out. Something I noticed from when I was standing in front of the Embassy Suites at the time, I saw that the US Secret Service were bringing somebody, an Arab man in a suit, covered in soot, walking away in handcuffs. I remember that distinctly, because the guy looked right in my eyes."

"I remember too, the cars started to explode inside the parking lot. I mean, the cars started cooking off, they started going off, boom, boom, boom, boom. I remember that."

Darnowski, Kevin Paramedic Battalion 20
"My fiancee works in the north tower on the 98th floor."

David, Roy Lieutenant Battalion 8
Captain Race [no transcript]
A member from my command by the name of Carpenter was on one of the units I believe like an 8 Mary or something [no transcript]

"A: While I was in the process of releasing those units and working it out with Captain Race who was left in charge of the medical operation, I was approached by a clergyman from the Federal Bureau of Investigation who informed me that Fire Department chaplain Father Mychal Judge had expired and was in the Church and was in need of transport.
Q: Can you just give me a little more detail when you approached about Father Judge?
A: I was approached by, again, an unknown priest from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, since that was the jacket he was wearing, and he stated to me that Father Judge had expired approximately two hours ago. When I went into the Church, in fact he had been pronounced by Dr. Kelly sometime earlier. At this point they just wanted to remove him up to his parish so that I guess he could be prepared for the next step. He appeared to have an injury, a heavy bleeding injury to the left side of the rear of his head, and it was obvious that he was also covered in debris, as his face and the rest of his body was covered with just I guess crushed mortar and brick matter.
Q: So you picked him up from what church?
A: I don't know the name of the Church. It's on -- I'd have to refer to the map.
Q: I'm not sure if that map covers everything.
A: Yeah, let me just see. Let me orient myself here. It was St. Paul -- no. St. Peter's Church, which was on Barclay Street between Church and Broadway.
Q: So you assigned a unit there to --
A: Well, there were several units there that were operating supporting the medical unit for transport. As they were being released, this is the time that I was approached by this priest and asked for help. A member from my command by the name of Carpenter was on one of the units I believe like an 8 Mary or something, perhaps an extra unit that had been running for the day. He was on that unit, and he was the one that did the removal. I can't recall who his partner was at the time.
Q: And then they removed Father Judge to where?
A: They removed Father Judge to his parish, which is located on 31st Street. It's just opposite a fire station, I believe.
Q: Engine Company 1?
A: Yes.
Q: That's where they left his body?
A: Yes. They took him there, and I believe."

Davila, Rene Lieutenant Battalion 4
A: Basically all we to do is go around the building, came around. But it took longer than usual because you're walking in like this shit. Like you move and it's this soot like heavy dust. While we're walking I realize that we only have two people. I see my vehicle. The seats are covered. I've still got my bag. I hold it like a trophy. Like people collect basketballs. I haven't touched -- whatever the force was, it was so strong that it went inside of the bag. But we were there. Vehicle 219 was destroyed.
Q: Was it on fire?
A: What?
Q: Was it on fire?
A: Fire? We saw the sucker blow up. We heard "Boom!" We were walking up Fulton Street. I don't know how far we made it up when someone says, "The building's coming down." By the time I realized, it's a repeat."

50-page transcript with whole pages blacked out. A Puerto Rican with lots of attitude.

Davis, Edward Firefighter Battalion 32
3 pages of nothing

Davis, Kenneth Paramedic Battalion 22
11 pages non-descript

Delendick, Father John Priest Fire Department
"We heard a rumbling noise, and it appeared that that first tower, the south tower, had exploded, the top of it. That's what I saw, what a lot of us saw."

"I remember asking Ray Downey was it the jet fuel that blew up. He said at that point he thought there were bombs up there because it was too even. As we've since learned, it was the jet fuel that was dropping down that caused all this. But he said it was too even.
Q: Symmetrical?
A: So his original thought was that he thought it was a bomb up there as well."

"A: Also I ran into a bunch of guys from the Secret Service, about 25 or 30 of them, all in their suits. I don't know the name of the street that's behind the World Financial Center.
Q: It might be North End or --
A: It must be North Avenue. They were walking along North, crossing Vesey, and they were going down further. I stopped one of them and I said where are you going? He said one of our members is in the building and we have to go find him. I remember saying to him I don't think it's a good idea going down there right now. He said no, we've got to find him. I said fine, go right ahead, do what you have to do."

Delgado, Manuel Paramedic Office of Medical Affairs
"As soon as we arrived, 84, a massive explosion goes off, and at this point we didn't know what it was. We thought it was a secondary explosion. We didn't know that it was a second plane. In fact, I didn't know there was a second plane until much later in the evening."

"An explosion goes off. I immediately tell everyone to get out of the car and hide somewhere, go underneath something. It's interesting because, as we were there, there was a police car, I guess, on Vesey, on the corner there, and some debris comes down from whatever this explosion was, at the time we really didn't know, and it just crushes it, I mean, crushes the top front of the police car, which really scared me at that point."

"So building 7 came down, the OEM building, and then they moved back forward and the command post was set up and we started hearing of the casualties. That was sad. That was sad because a lot of my friends are dead. A lot of them. On both sides. And that's a shame. That's a shame. But basically that was it."

"I came back to work the next day, still not understanding, still not really -- which was interesting because, when I got home that night, I got to see the incident. I lived it, but I had never seen it, because I had never seen the planes hit or anything. We thought they were bombs going off. We didn't know. We were being told later on that the Sears Tower was hit and the Pentagon, and you hear all this shit, but you don't know. Actually, when I got home that night, that's when I got to see the actual footage of the plane hitting. It was horrendous. More so when this thing collapsed. That noise? I can never forget it. And the people jumping, the people hitting. I mean, 18 years I've been a medic in this city. I've been through two plane crashes. I have never seen the destruction. Another thing I've got to tell you is, when we first got there, when we were walking down Vesey towards West, there was a ton of -- or I could say a lot of body parts and like baggage, clothes and stuff, along Vesey.
Q: From one of the airplanes.
A: Yes, from one of the airplanes. I don't know if it was the first or the second because this was after the second one had hit. So it could have been from either one. But I remember walking-"

"Luckily and unluckily, I guess, the building pancaked. But if that building toppled, there ain't no way. It took less than ten seconds for that blast of air to knock me down because I remember saying to myself, I got ten seconds to hide, thinking that I may have that long. I don't know why it came into my mind, ten seconds, but I figured I got ten seconds, and I could only maybe have run 50, 60 yards in that time period, and it just knocked me over.
Q: Just the force of the air?"

DeMaio, Anthony Assistant Deputy Director Fleet Services
Tom Curty, Fleet Services [no transcript]
Andy Diamond, Fleet Services [no transcript]
Lou Morbelli, Fleet Services [no transcript]

Demarco, Diane EMT Fire Department
Thomas Lopez, her EMT partner [no transcript]
Long blacked out section

Derubbio,Dominick Battalion Chief Division 8
Chief Cross, Command Center [no transcript]

"I remember seeing Commissioner Von Essen. He was in front of Seven World Trade Center. They were looking at the fire in the tower. I noticed a lot of airplane parts in the street, a lot of gears and stuff like that.
Q. Excuse me. What was the location that you saw the airplane parts?
A. Going down Vesey, sort of in front of Seven World Trade Center. I knew they were airplane parts. You could see gears and pieces of airplane."

"There was a group of people there. There were people waiting for assignments. I remember someone saying they wanted to know if they could land helicopters on the roof. I think Chief Cassano said it can't be done."

"It was weird how it started to come down. It looked like it was a timed explosion, but I guess it was just the floors starting to pancake one on top of the other."

Desena, Lisa Paramedic Division 4
Christopher Lefkidakas, Paramedic [no transcript]
Lieutenant Soto. EMS [no transcript]

"Because I was with Chris, I was able to sign out narcotics with the ALS equipment."

Deshore, Karin Captain Battalion 46

One of the absolute best, most moving accounts of all.

Keller, Mister EMT [no transcript]
Al Touro Paramedic [no transcript]
Kemp EMS Battalion 20 [no transcript]
Orlando Rivera EMS [no transcript]
Mr. Prue EMS [no transcript]

"I HAD NO CLUE WHAT WAS GOING ON. I NEVER TURNED AROUND BECAUSE A SOUND CAME FROM SOMEWHERE THAT I NEVER HEARD BEFORE. SOME PEOPLE COMPARED IT WITH AN AIRPLANE. IT WAS THE WORST SOUND OF ROLLING SOUND, NOT THUNDER. I CAN'T EXPLAIN IT, WHAT IT WAS. ALL I KNOW IS---AND A FORCE STARTED TO COME HIT ME IN MY BACK. I CANT EXPLAIN IT. YOU HAD TO BE THERE. ALL I KNOW IS I HAD TO RUN BECAUSE I THOUGHT THERE WAS AN EXPLOSION."

"SOMEWHERE AROUND THE MIDDLE OF THE WORLD TRADE CENTER, THERE WAS THIS ORANGE AND RED FLASH COMING OUT. INITIALLY IT WAS JUST ONE FLASH. THEN THIS FLASH JUST KEPT POPPING ALL THE WAY AROUND THE BUILDING AND THAT BUILDING HAD STARTED TO EXPLODE. THE POPPING SOUND, AND WITH EACH POPPING SOUND, IT WAS INITIALLY AN ORANGE AND THEN RED FLASH CAME OUT OF THE BUILDING AND THEN IT WOULD JUST GO ALL AROUND THE BUILDING ON BOTH SIDES AS FAR AS I COULD SEE. THESE POPPING SOUNDS AND THE EXPLOSIONS WERE GETTING BIGGER GOING BOTH UP AND DOWN AND THEN ALL AROUND THE BUILDING."

"I WENT INSIDE AND I TOLD EVERYBODY THAT THE OTHER BUILDING OR THERE WAS AN EXPLOSION OCCURRING UP THERE AND I SAID I THINK WE HAVE ANOTHER MAJOR EXPLOSION. I DON'T KNOW IF WE ARE ALL GOING TO BE SAFE HERE. I TOLD THEM I CANT FORCE YOU BUT I DONT KNOW IF WE ARE GOING TO BE SAFE HERE. I'M GOING TO TRY TO GET AS FAR AWAY FROM THIS BUILDING AS POSSIBLE."

"SO HERE THESE EXPLOSIONS ARE GETTING BIGGER, AND LOUDER AND BIGGER AND LOUDER AND I TOLD EVERYBODY IF THIS BUILDING TOTALLY EXPLODES, STILL UNAWARE THAT THE OTHER BUILDING HAD COLLAPSED"

"AGAIN I DIDN'T SEE WHAT WAS HAPPENING BEHIND ME, BUT KNOWING OF ALL THE EXPLOSIONS I THOUGHT HERE WAS ANOTHER EXPLOSION COMING AND THIS SOUND AGAIN AND THIS WAVE OF THIS FORCE AGAIN. I JUST JUMPED ON THE BOAT, CLOSED THE DOOR WITH MY LEFT HAND AND JUST SANK DOWN TO MY KNEES. HERE WHATEVER IT WAS JUST CAME RIGHT AT US AGAIN. THE SERGEANT IS YELLING AT THE ONE OFFICER. THE SECOND OFFICER WAS IN THE BACK WITH SOME OF THE PEOPLE THAT HAD BEEN IN THE BACK OF THE BOAT. I HAD NO CLUE WHAT WAS GOING ON BACK THERE. THE SERGEANT IS YELLING AT THE SECOND OFFICER, GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE, GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE. I'M SORRY FOR USING THAT WORD REPEATEDLY. THE POOR GUY BEHIND THE STEERING WHEEL IS SAYING I CANT GO ANY PLACE WE ARE TIED ON.

THAT IS ABOUT WHAT SAVED OUR LIVES, BECAUSE THIS FORCE CAME AT US AND HIT US WITH EVERYTHING. THE BOAT WAS ATTEMPTING TO OVERTURN AND IT KEPT HITTING IN THE BACK AGAINST THE PIER. AGAIN, I WAS JUST---BY THEN I WAS RESIGNED TO DIE. I DIDN'T MIND DYING BECAUSE I WAS WITH OTHER PEOPLE, YOU KNOW, AND THE GUY BEHIND THE STEERING WHEEL JUST SANK TO HIS KNEE AND THE SERGEANT JUST STOOD AT THE OTHER DOOR. I HAVE NO CLUE HOW LONG THAT LASTED. I WAS---MY BACK WAS TOWARDS IT AND AS I'M SITTING IN THIS CORNER THERE WAS JUST RESIGNED, THIS IS IT, IT CANT HAPPEN TO ME A SECOND TIME .WE WERE---THIS TIME WAS A DIFFERENCE. WE WERE CAPABLE OF BREATHING AND I WAS WITH SOMEBODY."


Desimone, George J. Lieutenant Engine Company 224
"The next thing I know, we heard a little bit of a rumbling, and then white powder came from the first collapsed building. I thought it was an explosion initially. We got hit with the powder. We tried to run. We got hit with the powder. It took a few minutes to clear."

"Right after that, in my mind, I heard a rumbling, and it was almost as if it was the roller coaster at Coney Island. It seemed like a metal clanging on metal sound. Then we saw a black cloud come out, and I told everybody to run. We ran as fast as we could as far north as we could. At that point we had gotten separated. We couldn't outrun a cloud. As for me, I got knocked down. I thought it was the day I was going to die. I got knocked down and I put my mask on and it was full of debris in my face piece. When I started inhaling, I took a lot of stuff in from whatever was caught in my mask. I thought I was going to have a heart attack initially. I heard my heart pumping, and when you're encapsulated with the helmet and the mask and the face piece on, it was kind of horrible."


Diaz, Moussa EMT Battalion 49
"All of a sudden we heard a big boom and I looked up and the tower started to collapse..."

"When we heard the big boom, I looked up and I just saw the building collapsing."


Diaz, Jr., Roland EMT Fire Department
zip

Dinh, Trinh EMT Battalion 44
was interviewed on TV,

Dipaolo, Paul Firefighter Engine 205
Recalled [but self-dispatched?] went with Paul Beck and
Eddie Green [no transcript]
Richie Murray [no transcript]
Rick Fowler [no transcript]
John Urso [no transcript], met up with
Tom Boccarossa, [no transcript] chauffeur of Engine 205, and
Lieutenant Hayes [no transcript]

Dixon, Brian Battalion Chief Fire Department
apparently a press attache who self-dispatches without proper gear

"I grabbed the car. Mine was in the shop, so I borrowed one of our spare vehicles and just responded out. I grabbed a vehicle and went downstairs and responded out to it, figuring it was a press event, obviously, of magnitude."

"I just pulled up to the street there, just put the car in gear, in park, and hear this horrendous boom. It shook the car. I figured somebody in the north tower exploded. Then like a Godzilla movie, everybody that had been standing in that little park there across from One Liberty Plaza and had been just looking up and watching the north tower burn just started running eastbound like they were being chased by someone. I jumped out of the car. I looked up and the south tower -- that must have been the time that the plane had just struck the south tower. Now I see the south tower also."

"I asked him if he had any gear. He said no. I started halfway down, and he caught me and yelled back he did have some extra gear in the car. So I grabbed a coat and a helmet."

"Ganci was at the command post. I'm pretty sure Feehan was at the command post with us. I was there when the Mayor came over with his people, his security people. He stood out front and was watching. There were other companies too kind of staged there. The Mayor came over, and we were trying to find Von Essen for him. I'm guessing now at that point that, I think we heard someone say they thought he was in the tower, he was in one. Somebody went to get him so he could hook up with the Mayor. Ganci briefed the Mayor, I believe, because Ganci was at the command post. So he went over and briefed the Mayor. Then the Mayor and his group walked away. There was a reporter there from ABC, I know, and a guy with a camera. I was somewhat concerned, but then I figured there's not much you can do to stop the guy in the street. Where are you going to push him to? He was back just photographing. It wasn't too bad. But then at some point we're standing there and then we started to see a number of people jumping. There had to be a dozen at least, jumping and just thumping. There were a couple companies standing there."

"I was watching the fire, watching the people jump and hearing a noise and looking up and seeing -- it actually looked -- the lowest floor of fire in the south tower actually looked like someone had planted explosives around it because the whole bottom I could see -- I could see two sides of it and the other side -- it just looked like that floor blew out. I looked up and you could actually see everything blew out on the one floor. I thought, geez, this looks like an explosion up there, it blew out. Then I guess in some sense of time we looked at it and realized, no, actually it just collapsed. That's what blew out the windows, not that there was an explosion there but that windows blew out."

"But I went back up and peered out. I'm expecting to look up and see that the top of the building fell into the street. I look and what I see is about 20 stories left of a building and jagged edges on the south side. It was like 20 stories, maybe, or so and on the north side of that tower down to about maybe 10 or 15 stories on the south side of it."

"I see Turi, Al Turi, coming down. He said we're going to move the command post north to Chambers Street, we're moving north to Chambers Street, let's get everybody north. So, whoever was standing around, all right, we're going north. He walked down a little more and he had a bullhorn and told people move down, we're moving the command post, we're moving the command post. He moved folks north -- it was very quiet."

"I was asking myself why was I walking around. I was stunned. I can't remember rigs or -- I don't remember companies that were standing at the command post. I don't know the names. It's like I was standing there, and they were walking by but I'm not really -- I'm not too familiar really with the lower Manhattan companies to begin with. It's not like any of the officers came up there that I knew. The field com. van was there. Other than the field com., a spare motor vehicle was nearby, by the lamppost. They were there. Hayden, Ganci. As far as the companies, as I say, there were a couple companies there, people, but nobody -- I can't remember who they were that were standing there, waiting for assignments."[And this man is a press officer?]


Donato, Thomas Firefighter Ladder 85
"They said the chief said they were commandeering some radios, so I had to give up my radio. They were taking them from truck companies that had multiple radios. So we were left with I think two or three radios after that." "Prior to seven coming down, this is the first chance that we -- we were starting to get hungry, so one of the members that I was with, he said we heard there was a box of fruit or bananas down the block, so we started walking down the block. As we were walking, we had to actually get a little closer to seven. So we turned and looked at seven, and that's when all the marble siding started popping off the side because it was starting to go down. I think we ran down I think"

"We worked our way putting out the car fires, which I don't know if there was ammunition, because there was a lot of cop cars, but there was explosions. Tires were exploding. There had to be about 15 or 20 car fires. We put them out as we worked our way down. out as we worked our way down. So then we were able to get 85 to the base of seven where seven had just collapsed. We set up 85 and started dumping water. It had to be around 7 or 8:00, and we stayed there until 7 in the morning the next morning, alternating the members in between the bucket and just dumping the water on the base of seven from the north side."


Donovan, Michael Captain Engine Company 290
Captain Jimmy McMahon [no transcript]
Jimmy Boyle [no transcript]
Mike Hampton from 290, whose son was lost,
Jimmy Richards [no transcript]
Timmy Stackpole. dead in Marriott
Chief Cross dead in Marriott

"We started to walk down Church Street in the direction of Liberty. We were at the corner of Liberty and Church just below Four World Trade Center when the second plane hit.
Q. So you saw the second plane coming in?
A. We heard the second plane. We couldn't see it because it was blocked by the buildings. We were actually still on Church Street. We heard the plane briefly, the earth shook, the buildings shook, a tremendous fireball overhead. I thought there was a bomb or an explosion. A tremendous fireball, flaming debris, pieces of the airplane, fuselage, landing gear, pieces of the building."

"Anyway, with that I was listening, and there was an incredibly loud rumbling. I never got to look up. People started running for the entrances to the parking garages. They started running for the entrances. I started running without ever looking up. The roar became tremendous. I fell on the way to the parking garages. Debris was starting to fall all around me. I got up, I got into the parking garages, was knocked down by the percussion. I thought there had been an explosion or a bomb that they had blown up there."

"I went back to where the command post was to find a deserted stage and all the debris. I could see that the parking garage entrances hadn't been completely sealed. It was just that the dust was so thick. We could have walked out the way we walked in. It was so dark that you thought you couldn't go out that way. I got back. Nobody was there. It was in complete disarray. There was no command board. There was really nothing there. Shortly thereafter Steve Mosiello, who was Chief Ganci's executive assistant, came to me and said they couldn't find Pete. They couldn't find Chief Ganci, and they had to go back in the parking garage to look for him. So I started back in the parking garage to look for Chief Ganci. He was on his way out as I was coming in. Chief Ganci was on his way out. He was very disoriented. I brought him over to Steve Mosiello. Chief Ganci made a remark that we had to move the command post north and we're in a bad place because that was the south tower that came down. After the north tower came down, we were almost directly under it."

"Chief Cruthers told me that they had formed another command post up on Chambers Street. At this point there were a couple of floors burning on Seven World Trade Center. Chief McNally wanted to try and put that fire out, and he was trying to coordinate with the command post up on Chambers Street. This is after searching for a while. He had me running back and forth trying to get companies to go into Seven World Trade Center. His radio didn't seem to be working right either because he had me relaying information back and forth and Chief Cruthers had me --
Q. So everything was face-to-face? Nothing was by radio?
A. Yeah, and it was really in disarray. It really was in complete disarray. We never really got an operation going at Seven World Trade Center."

"Then later on I had a chief ask me --they found Pete Ganci's body, and they had me go out in the ambulance with his body. They didn't want any photographers. Chief McCann, who might be good to talk to too, he and I guarded the ambulance so that none of these photographers would take a picture of the chief of department's body in the ambulance. We did that for a long time because they weren't going to take him to the morgue until they had gotten Commissioner Feehan's body out. So we guarded the ambulance for a long time."


Dorritie, Robert Lieutenant Engine 53
Captain Supek, [no transcript]
Mike Catalano [no transcript]

"We came back again to the command post. At that time we received our orders to go into the south tower. They said start making your way up on the south tower, tower number two. I turned around, looked for my men, and they were in front of who I believe was a Franciscan priest. He was giving them absolution, and they were accepting absolution from him. I said, "Okay, guys, we've got to get going." I don't know if it was Father Judge or not; it could have been. He went towards the north tower at that time and started walking across the street. I kind of cut him off at the pass and said, "What about me, Father?" He said, "It includes everybody. Absolution includes everybody here."


Drumm, John Firefighter Ladder 16
Captain Freddie Ill [no transcript]
Firefighter Bob Bacon [no transcript]
Firefighter Jeff Coniglio [no transcript]
Firefighter James Efthimiades, [no transcript]
Drumm hooks up with the chauffeur of 39, Arthur Meyers, who does give testimony.

"We made our way into the lobby of the north tower, where we saw a command post being assembled and a battalion chief or a battalion aide had seen us coming in, and he instructed us, 39 Engine, to team up with 65 Engine, which we did. He also instructed us to use the B stairwell to ascend. We were instructed just keep climbing until you get upstairs to where you can help other companies set up your lines, stretch and go into operation." [But according to Pfiefer, there was no firefighting going on?]

"When we got to the 31st floor, Lieutenant McGlynn, who was the officer of Engine 39 that day, had instructed us to stand by on the 31st floor where he was going to wait for further instruction or try to hook up with a nearby chief."

"But as I found out later, it was not just the skin of the building coming down; it was the south tower. After the noise had stopped, there was a transmission on the radio that I had. I was in a position on 39 control that day, so I had a radio so I could hear it myself on my radio. There was a transmission that I'm guessing was repeated about five times: "Imminent collapse, imminent collapse of the north tower. Immediate evacuation." At least five times I heard that.
Q: A lot of guys didn't get that. That's good that you got it.
A: Yeah. Now I don't know how everything happened with -- how the radios were with the members on the upper floors, but on the 31st floor I was able to hear that they wanted the north tower to be evacuated. "

"On the way down we also ran into -- most firemen that we saw were heading down the staircase at this time, but approximately the 20th floor I remember running into Captain [Freddy] Ill of Ladder 2 and Officer McGlynn, my officer for the day, talked to him a little bit, asking him if he had heard the transmission. Being right next to Lieutenant McGlynn, I was able to hear that conversation. Captain Ill said yes, he did hear it, and he was just making sure that everybody was out before he was heading down. With McGlynn knowing that he heard the transmission, we continued to climb down. As we got down to the lower floors, we walked a little bit slower. It was very congested with firemen down at the bottom of the staircase making our way out. But eventually we got down to the lobby. Lieutenant McGlynn was leading. I followed him. We walked back in the same direction out of the stairwell B, which is between the elevator bank, back to West Street. So we were heading to the exact spot where we came into the building, which was the northwest corner of the building. Lieutenant McGlynn came to a stop, I'm assuming this was to check that all his members were out of the stairwell. I looked at Lieutenant McGlynn on my way past him, thought I made eye contact with him. He actually didn't see me. All the firemen in front of me were still walking, so I followed them out the northwest corner of the building, which wasn't even a doorway, just all the glass on the lobby floor had been blown out. So it was a clear passage through there, the exact same corner of the building we came in."

Supposedly, McGlynn didn't see that Drumm had made it out, so McGlynn sent other members of Engine 39 back into the building and back up the stairs to look for him. They all survived---apparently part of the team inside a staircase which weathered the collapse. None of them gave testimony for the project. It all sounds like they were looting and AWOL from where they were supposed to be.


Drury, James Assistant Commissioner Bureau of Investigations and Trials
"My plan was merely to drop my things off in my office and then head over there, but there were two EMS individuals in the lobby when I opened the door of the garage lobby and they were literally begging me to give them a ride over to the World Trade Center. They were Captain Abdo Narmod [spelled 'Nahmod' in the Oral Histories] and EMT Richard Zarillo."

"I noticed police officers with First Deputy Commissioner Joseph Dunne of the NYPD [no transcript] in the intersection of Vesey and Church."

"I also saw Deputy Commissioner Gribbon in there [West Street Command post]
along with Assistant Commissioner Tom McDonald"

"I saw a cop I knew from from the ESU unit, Officer Sullivan,"

"I should say that people in the street and myself included thought that the roar was so loud that the explosive - bombs were going off inside the building. Obviously we were later proved wrong."

"I then proceeded over the Brooklyn Bridge very slowly, because the car was still covered with dust, dirt and debris. There were hundreds of people walking over the Brooklyn Bridge. At that point in time I was the only car on it. I made it back to headquarters, parked my car, went upstairs and reported up to the 8th floor, where I learned for the first time that Commissioner Feehan and Chief of Department Ganci had been found dead at the site. I then teamed up with some of the eighth floor aides and wound up driving with them up to the new OEM command post up at the Police Academy. There we tried to follow the events that were going on and watched on TV the press conference the Mayor and the Commissioner gave. From there I left and went back down to Ground Zero with a couple of Fire Department aides, where again I saw Commissioner Von Essen. I ran into Chief Nigro, who I saw at a field communications unit there and I went over to chat with him. As I remember he was quite upset, quite distraught, but in a quiet way. I must have lingered there. There were hundreds of firefighters waiting to -- they were waiting for 7 World Trade Center to come down as it was on fire. It was too dangerous to go in and fight the fire."

"I guess I didn't get back to headquarters for the first time until, guesstimating, maybe two or three in the afternoon."

[He learns of the deaths of Ganci and Feehan around 3 in the afternoon.]

"The sight of the jumpers was horrible and the turning around and seeing that first tower come down was unbelievable. The sound it made. As I said I thought the terrorists planted explosives somewhere in the building. That's how loud it was, crackling explosive, a wall. That's about it."

"Q: Any other feelings or thoughts that you might want to have included in this?
A: No, it was just unbelievable. Seeing how close Commissioner Von Essen and the Mayor were to that location was also quite startling. That's about it."


Duffy, James Firefighter Ladder 24
Stackpole [no transcript]
Frank Ocello "from my company" [no transcript]

"We were in quarters when the first plane hit. People came out to the firehouse and told us that a plane had crashed into the twin towers."

"The engine went down on the third alarm. We were still in quarters. After the engine went down, Captain Brethel [no transcript] and Father Mike -- Father Mike came across the street, got into his car, and Captain Brethel drove Father Mychal Judge down to the Trade Center."

"A. We were told to report to the south tower, but the only way to get to the south tower -- you couldn't walk down Liberty Street to get into the main entrance because of the jumpers and the falling debris, so we had to go in through the corner entrance of the Marriott, which is on West and Liberty. We went in there."

"We were waiting around. 122 Truck was over there right next to us. 22 Truck was in the lobby also."

"We saw different companies, my old company, 204. I saw 101 Truck. I saw Stackpole [no transcript] there. He was at the command post that day."

"I wound up hooking up with another guy from my company, Frank Ocello." [no transcript]

"Q: Do you know, the four other companies that you were in the lobby with, did they all get out?
A: No, no, 4 and 22 Truck got out that was Frank...no, no.
Q: Jerry Riley?
A: Jerry Riley. And 122 got out all right because I stopped by that night. I stopped by to see these guys 'cause they were right next to us. So they got out. I think 25 Truck was with those guys, and they didn't get out."

"Q: You said a lot of people were running out of the south tower. Any civilians?
A: Yeah, oh, yeah.
Q: Any firemen or all civilians?
A: I just remember people. It's really hard to say at this point. I know there were civilians. I thought I remember mostly civilians. There could have been some firemen. I don't know."

Duggan, Kevin Firefighter Engine 210 "assigned to Engine 1, was on rotation with Engine 210 on September 11."

"So we went around and passed the bridge and were heading towards the tunnel when the fellow sitting on the other side of the rig saw the south tower explode. He saw an explosion. He told us the building just exploded. We looked over and we saw the south tower, a lot of orange and a lot of smoke."

"I saw Joe Falco from Engine 1 working with the chauffeur from 65 engine..." [no transcript]

"At that point, I saw Captain Brethel from 24 truck, who was just a little to the north of the command post. The driveway ramps down. He would have been -- he was above where the driveway ramps down. He was on the street level. He was calling all the off-duty members together so he was trying to -- I found out later that he was off duty. He had driven Father Mike down. So he was calling the off-duty members together so I guess he was trying to get a company of guys together, and that was just to the north of that driveway where the rest of the command post was, where the other chiefs were. So we were standing fast."

"ran into Chief Collins from the 31 battalion, which was our battalion," [no transcript]

"The next day I found out about Mike Weinberg who was off duty, that he didn't make it, and Steve Belson as well, and Orio Palmer, the chief of the 7th battalion,"


Dunne, Craig Firefighter Engine 1
"Lieutenant Desperito was with us." [no transcript]

"Q: Do you know what happened to Lieutenant Desperito?
A: He was outside the building, supposedly. I don't know the whole story. He was outside the building, and I believe he got hit in the head with a piece of I beam, possibly. He got hit. He was outside the building.
Q: He made it out?
A: He made it out. He made it out of the building. He was almost there. Two of the firemen, I think one -- he's a lieutenant now. He said him and another fireman -- because he had his helmet on. They saw the Engine 1 headpiece. His helmet shield was still next to him or next to his helmet. He recognized that on the radio it said Engine 1. So they got him right away, they said."