Monday, November 30, 2009

P Names Firemen's Oral Histories

Palmieri, Vincent Engine Company 6 Firefighter (F.D.N.Y.) 12/6/01
Off-duty Former Union President Lou Boyle, [no transcript]
Captain Sakowich, "of my company" [no transcript]
Firefighter Jeff Straub, "of my company" [no transcript]
Firefighter Bob Emans, [no transcripts]
Firefighter Al Sicignano, "from my company" [no transcript]
Firefighter Butchie Barone, Engine 6, [no transcript]

"AS I'M GETTING BACK INTO VESEY STREET, A SUBURBAN COMES DOWN VESEY STREET, A FIRE DEPARTMENT SUBURBAN COMES DOWN VESEY STREET. A BUNCH OF GUYS JUMP OUT, I GO UP TO THE OFFICER WHO WAS IN THE PASSENGER SIDE. I SAID WHERE ARE YOU GUYS FROM? THEY SAID THEY ARE FROM THE ROCK, RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, IF I BELIEVE CORRECTLY. I TOLD THEM OKAY."

"THERE WAS ALSO AN ENGINE PARKED ON THE CORNER, WHICH WOULD BE THE SOUTHEAST CORNER OF VESEY AND CHURCH. HE WAS HOOKED UP TO A HYDRANT AND HE HAD THE SPICKET GOING AND THE WATER FLOWING. I WENT OVER I TOLD THE GUYS WAIT UP A MINUTE. I WASHED OFF, GOT THE STUFF OUT OF MY EYES, CLEARED MY MOUTH AS BEST AS I COULD AND TOOK DRINK."

"THIS LIEUTENANT AND IT WAS ACTUALLY AN OFF DUTY FORMER UNION PRESIDENT [ LOU] BOYLE. [no transcript] WE MET UP WITH HIM HE WAS LOOKING FOR HIS SON WHO WAS IN 33 ENGINE THAT DAY."

"I NOTICED AN ENGINE HOOKED UP WITH COUPLE OF LINES COMING OFF OF IT. I
NOTICED HE HAD A HYDRANT, HE HAD A GOOD HYDRANT, HE HAD GOOD PRESSURE, IT LOOKED LIKE. HE WAS RIGHT ON THE CORNER OF BARCLAY AND WEST."

"WHILE WE WERE ON THE OUTSIDE NEAR THE MARINA, WALKING NEAR THE MARINA, BECAUSE WE WERE GOING TO TRY TO COME AROUND UP LIBERTY TO SEE IF WE COULD GAIN ACCESS FROM WEST STREET THERE, WE ENCOUNTERED ANOTHER GROUP OF FIREMEN THAT WERE CARRYING A FIREMAN ON A STOKES BASKET. I DON'T KNOW WHAT COMPANY THEY WERE FROM, BUT I DO HAVE PICTURES OF THAT. A PHOTOGRAPHER TOOK PICTURES OF US DOING THE CARRY SO I COULD GIVE YOU HIS NAME IF YOU NEED IT, IN A PINCH, PROBABLY THE ROAD. THERE WAS ONLY MAYBE FOUR OR FIVE FIREMEN HELPING TO CARRY THIS GUY SO WE HELPED TO CARRY HIM. THEY NEEDED HELP. WE CARRIED HIM TO BOAT THAT WAS WAITING. IT WAS MARINE COMPANY BOAT. I DON'T KNOW WHAT MARINE COMPANY. THEY GOT HIM ON THE BOAT. I BELIEVE THEY WERE TAKING HIM TO JERSEY HOSPITAL."

"AS THE DAY DRAGGED ON I AGAIN GOT SEPARATED FROM JEFF AND CAPTAIN SAKOWICH. I KIND OF WAS OPERATING ON MY OWN FOR WHILE WITH A LOT OF OTHER GUYS. I DON'T KNOW EVEN KNOW WHO THEY WERE. [Looter]

Palone, Michael Engine Company 24 Firefighter (F.D.N.Y.) 12/12/01
Firefighter Darren Lebow 5 Truck [no transcript]
Firefighter Kevin Anderson "outside 5" [no transcript]
Firefighter Jeff Anstead, [no transcript]
Firefighter Bobby Beddia [no transcript]
Battalion Chief Prunty [no transcript]

"On September 11th after the two planes hit the World Trade Center, I heard about the recall over the phone and headed into the city. When I arrived at the firehouse, a bunch of guys were getting into Captain Variale's pickup truck. I grabbed my stuff, jumped in the back of the pickup truck and went down Seventh Avenue down to the site."

"We went into World Trade Seven to try and get their standpipe system to possibly use their water off their tank on the roof."

"Anyway, I hooked up with a couple of guys and went into the basement of five, got right next to the collapse, searched for people, searched through the cars in the bottom of five, couldn't find anybody."[Looter]

"We went back down and hooked up with Craig Monahan, I believe, Jeff Anstead, myself, Bobby Beddia and went from where we were on West Street under the walkway bridge. That would put us in between the two walkway bridges and across the pile of rubble into I believe it was the B stairway, where they were searching for Ladder 6. We hooked up with a guy from rescue who was lowering down a civilian and tied the rope off from him. A guy from rescue in the top of the staircase lowered the civilian down and then slid down himself and then went down those stairs. They were getting the woman Sylvia out, basically helped carry her out on the stretcher. 6 came out somewhere there when we were there. 6 Truck came out. We were there for a while trying to get Battalion Chief Prunty, who was trapped under the steel in the bottom of the staircase."

"A. Right. When we went down into the bottom of five, we got right next to the bottom of the collapse, and we were in there pretty close. Kevin Anderson was with us. It was me, Lebow, Kevin Anderson. We basically grabbed any tools we could out of a Port Authority suburban that was down there. Anything that we thought we could use we grabbed and tried to do whatever we could.
Q. But it was just the three of you at that point?
A. It was the three of us at that point. Then when we came back up, we hooked up -- I think 5 Truck was there with the captain of 5 and the rest of 5 Truck and then hooked up with
Monahan and Beddia and Anstead and then actually went over to that B stairway."

Parris, Sidney Engine 21 Firefighter (F.D.N.Y.) 12/14/01
Firefighter Jimmy Foley, Engine 21 Backup [no transcript]
Firefighter Mike Burn, [Byrne? otherwise, no transcript] Engine 21?

[This guy is a big time looter.]

"Came down West, and I made a left onto Vesey Street, and I was -- I parked the rig by a fire hydrant in front of the post office, and supplied the World Trade Center across the street right near West and Vesey."

"After that, FBI agent came down the block. He identified some landing gear that was in front of our rig, asked me to make sure no pedestrians came down the block to interfere with any type of metals and debris that were there, because they were trying to identify to put the pieces back together for the plane. I was detailed to 7 truck, I had just come down, because 7 truck left before he got to their quarters. He took my Scott bottle out of the cab at one of the compartments, and from there I left West and Vesey, the actual corner, I left there by the parking garage, to close the compartment that he left open and to put my shoes on the rig. At that particular time, I saw another FBI agent come by, who was starting to log some of the things. He was on his transmission, talking to whoever. They told me that another plane was in the area, and we thought that -- the chauffeurs -- some of the guys that were out in the street thought it was a third plane. At that particular time, I walked to the corner of Church, because I heard the plane, but I couldn't see anything. Afraid it was going to hit the same part of the twin tower and make it topple and start a domino effect. As I got to the corner of Church and Vesey, that's when the building, the south tower, came down right on the corner, and from that point on, it was like mayhem for me."

"The responding companies that were coming in, we started breaking windows or trimming windows to see if the buildings had a system that was already fed where we can get a line off of it, get some kind of pressure to get closer to the scene. We had to get past these cars." [Looters]

Pascale, Fran Division Commander (E.M.S.) 10/17/01 of Division 6, EMS operations. [female]
Dr. Neal Richmond [no transcript]

"From there I remember a woman coming out of the cloud, and that's the best way of saying. She was coming, up it would have been off Vesey Street. Actually my first initial response was I told her, "What are you doing here? You have to get out of here." I remember her reply, and only then did I realize she had a camera. She turned around and she said, "You don't understand," and she disappeared, just disappeared. I would not even be able to find out
who she was, what she looked like. I know it was a woman. My reaction to her comment was that she must have been media and she wanted to take as much film as she could, because it was a large-size camera, movie camera, that she had. So it wasn't just somebody just walking around with this. She just disappeared."
"I think it was Chief Gombo on the air. Somebody had directed me toward the building where there was going to be a triage area. When I walked in the building, I remember seeing Carrasquillo. There was Gombo there. Who else was there? Lieutenant Cahill was there. I remember seeing Steve Pilla, who is my ALS coordinator,"
"So I went into the area, and I saw Chief Kowalczyk, I saw Chief Gombo. I asked about Chief McCracken. Nobody had an answer."
"They had said they saw Chief Basile around. I wasn't sure who else was down there. I know Chief Goldfarb was down there. I didn't even know that Chief Villani was down there."
"He had asked me to take somebody with me, preferably a supervisor. I remember asking
for Captain Pinkus. He was there, so the first person I saw. He had asked me if there was a way if he could possibly grab some type of vehicle or whatever and get up to Chelsea."
"As we were traveling, there was a group of people who actually flagged us down. They said that we had a pedestrian struck...Pinkus and I jumped out of the vehicle. The male was actually laying on his stomach. I rolled him over. We opened up his airway. We were able to get a pulse. It turned out that he wasn't actually a pedestrian struck. It was medical-related. Later on I understand that it was cardiac-related...There was a couple of us who were able to lift him up, and we were able to put the man on a stretcher. We told the crew take him to the hospital. This was a situation we certainly didn't expect."
"With that I remember Dr. Asada showing up and Dr. Neal Richmond."
"We had actually asked the police, because we were trying to stop the units from all the areas, as well as our own, just bypassing and heading down to West Street, because everybody wanted to be there. It's understandable, but it wasn't something that really should be. If we needed them, then they go down there. There was accountability of the people."
"I remember finally seeing Chief Villani," I remember Chief Fellini, I remember another supervisor of mine, which was Lieutenant Haugh,"
"Chief Butler and Haugh jumped in the back of the vehicle , and myself and Chief Fellini was in the front."
"I could not believe Deputy Commissioner Feehan, I could not. And the Father, I think he was -- Father Judge. My response is how could these people have been in that building at the time."

Pastor, Frank Battalion 31 E.M.T.-D. (E.M.S.) 10/23/01
A: Okay. September 11, that Monday morning, I reported to work.
A: We were working 32 boy in Red Hook. We had the view of the city, and she yells out, "Frank, that plane just hit the building."
Q: Who is she?
A: My partner is Mala, Mala Harilal,
and I remember my partner, Mala, saying again to me, "That other plane is low." I don't know how much time, 10, 15 minutes, and we seen the other plane hit.
Q: You're still in Brooklyn?
A: We were still in Brooklyn.
As soon as I get on the other side of the west side -- I'm the driver. I come out of the tunnel,
and I just see -- I told my partner, "I just saw somebody's torso on the floor," and my partner said, "No, you're kidding." I says, "It's not a dog." I thought it was a dog, but I saw a torso with no arms and no legs, just split open on the driver's side.
"I see on the floor stumbling Chief Grant. He's got a non-rebreather on, no O-2, no nothing."

Patriciello, Joseph Engine 44 Lieutenant (F.D.N.Y.) 12/20/01
"At that time [prior to either collapse] there were maybe two or three car fires going in the vicinity of the pedestrian bridge."
"As my men went to obtain some extinguishers, I happened to be looking up and saw the explosion or the building fail with the ensuing fireball and cloud."
"I had eye abrasions that were looked at at the Ear, Eye and Throat Hospital."

Penn, Lonnie Battalion 20 E.M.T. (E.M.S.) 11/9/01 Shield 1296.
"After that, I helped one lady out of the front of the Marriott entrance, I recall. I was on my
way back. I had actually brought her to the Hatzolah ambulance, because they were carrying her, and a few other people and I assisted with her."
"I saw two other co-workers from station 22."
I saw Captain DeShore
Q. Okay. Who was your partner that day?
A. A rookie gentleman by the name of Joseph Henderson or Henderson Joseph [sic]. Basically, we got out and we passed a lot of body parts."

Q. You were pretty much in front of like 2 World Financial Center?
A. Yes, that's as far as I got.
Q. Right. Then --
A. I actually saw a police officer shoot the window out to get through.
Q. To get through 2 World Financial Center?"
A. Yes. Because he was ahead of me. I could see him. He shot the glass out and jumped through and I had later saw him in the hospital in Jersey.
Q. When you reached the yacht harbor behind 2 Financial, you said Captain DeShore was there and two other people from --
A. Two other EMTs from Boston Road.
Q. Do you know who they were?
A. My friend Conzo and Billy -- I can't pronounce Billy's last name. Truoccolo,

A. Like I said as soon as I stepped off the ambulance I mean I was just -- I felt like I was in
Beirut. All I saw was debris and body parts. I recall a little girl's foot. It was like a pink sneaker. It was tiny, around the age of seven, eight or so, because I have a daughter that size. I mean I just saw so many body parts, it was unbelievable. Then I look up and see people jumping."
"and there was two other medics from Boston that showed up. Joe Jefferson and I forgot his
partner,"
"Sat there [New Jersey side of the harbor] for about two hours in shock till a
guy came over to me and he don't know me, didn't -- you know, just gave me a hug. It was really a touching moment. He gave me a hug. I didn't expect. Just a lot of support on that side. Then we saw the F 16s coming and fly overhead and stuff like that."

Perez, Emilio Battalion 14 E.M.T. (E.M.S.) 10/31/01 shield number 3132
"We realized that -- I realized there wasn't going to be enough water to help the firefighters for cleaning the soot and debris from them. What I did was I approached one of the fire Lieutenants and started screaming to him, I need a wrench, I need a wrench. The men were going right back in. So he stopped them and like two of them just dropped. Got me the wrench. I started opening up as many hydrants as I could in that area. I opened up like a good, a good 11 hydrants. Then I was directing all the firefighters to go on into the areas where I was telling them to go douse down, this and that, but they were concerned for
the firefighters, so I says to them, listen, all your friends are all over there. All your men are right there by the hydrant. Just go over there. You will find them. Just by me directing them in that direction and being -- using the tone of voice that I did, it helped them because they approached -- but they didn't find the men they were looking for, they were being taken care of.
The FBI was there. The CIA was there. Guys with suits there.
I spoke to Lieutenant Nevins
I told my partner, Maximo,
"You know, when the supervisor -- I'm not insubordinate, but when the supervisor told me -- asked me where was the triage area, I mentioned to him. I says Rector and Vesey. You have to go there. I said no, I can't. I got to set up right here."
"There is no -- there was somebody standing back there with cameras and things, walking back and forth. There was one guy who followed me throughout the whole incident, snapping pictures, videotaping, back pedaling. Every time I looked he was right there."
"So as I was helping the next fireman, this guy was snapping pictures, so I think for every
firefighter that I think that I was helping, this guy must have had many photos of me and that's the only thing that I keep recollecting, that if I can only get this guy to get me a copy of this picture to see myself going through this whole deal, because I (inaudible). I see the photos of the chaplain when he was being carried out and it was similar. When I look at
that photograph, I did that for a lot of firefighters."
"After the third day, then I went down there and I returned back to Ground Zero to an area called the hole."
Q. Do you remember when you first got there seeing any EMS officers around that --
A. The only officer that -- I was happy to see him, was Lieutenant Albuerme. He is from Harlem.
A. My partner that day was Delgado.
Q. Do you know your vehicle number?
A. Vehicle number was 138.

Perez, Jose E.M.T. (E.M.S.) 10/23/01 Battalion 8.
Joe Valdivia [no transcript]

I was with my partner, Joe Valdivia,
A. No, just like I said, I think it was very unreal at the time. It seemed like it was a movie and it wasn't really happening. After a few hours, you know it's real.

Perrugia, John Headquarters Chief (E.M.S.) EMS Division Chief, in charge of planning for
the Chief of Department's office.
Battalion Chief Mike Maggio, 1rst Battalion, [no transcript]
Phil Parr, Battalion Chief, [no transcript]
Nick Cagliuso, former Fire Department employee, [no transcript]
Joe Farrell, from the New York State Health Department, EMS Bureau, [no transcript]
J.P. Martin, EMS Chief officer, [no transcript]
John McFarland, found Ganci and Feehan's bodies, [no transcript]


"I received a telephone call from one of my staff people, EMT Richard Zarrillo, on the Department cell phone. He indicated to me that a plane had just crashed into the World Trade Center."
"I called EMT Zarrillo back on his cell phone. I directed him to round up the rest of the staff, which consisted of a Captain and two Lieutenants, Captain Abdo Nahmod, Lieutenant John Nevins and Lieutenant Brad Mann and tell them to start making their way over to the World Trade Center."
"Moments later I got a notification on my Department pager to call the fire operations center. I immediately called them. They advised me that the Office of Emergency Management had been activated. I am the person in operations who is responsible for
staffing OEM or the Police Department's command and control center."
"I passed over some pieces of what appeared to be aircraft wreckage, fuselage, whatever, some body parts and bodies in various states, either people from the building or the airplanes. You couldn't tell. They weren't intact."

At that point I made contact with Captain James Yakimovich. He's a fire Captain who was detailed to headquarters with us for a little while. He was on a special assignment. He was in personnel on Washington Street. He was writing the fire Lieutenant's exam or whatever. He was in civilian clothes. He came out to the site when he heard what happened. He has experience at staffing OEM. I have used him on a number of occasions. I said Jimmy, you don't have gear with you. Why don't you come with me to OEM and if the First Division rep has gear we will release them.

So both of us were preparing then to leave the command post and make our way northbound on West Street to Vesey and then we would go to OEM. At that point Chief Ganci placed his hand on my shoulder and told me that I should be careful walking over there because there was stuff falling off the building. I told him not to worry about it. I was a big boy.

I reached 7 World Trade Center. We walked into the lobby and we were going up the escalators to the main level. I checked in at the security desk. As we reached the top of the escalators, there were lots of people running down the escalator on the promenade.
I spoke to one of the Deputy Directors and as I was speaking with him, I believe it was Deputy Director Rotanz, who is a Fire Department Captain on detail over there, Captain Nahmod and EMT Zarrillo approached as well. They had indicated that the building was being evacuated.

I questioned as to what the nature of the evacuation was. I was told that it was not because of what was occurring across the street. No one feared that the building was in any danger as a result of two airplane attacks and subsequent fires, but that there were reports of a third plane that had been hijacked. It was unidentified, the location, and they thought it may be coming in for an additional strike. Therefore, they were evacuating the building.

We proceeded down to the lobby where the various agency representatives were present. We
collectively started to set up in the lobby and try to think of strategies to where we could move the inter-agency cooperation effort. At that point, I also had a face to face discussion with Battalion Chief Mike Maggio from the First Battalion. He was the person who was sent up to be the rep at OEM. Mike is someone who assists us on lots of our event planning. He was detailed there. He didn't have any gear with him. He was a light duty Chief on administrative assignment there. So I told Captain Yakimovich that we are not going to send a Chief back. At that point he indicated that he was going to run over to 10 and 10 and secure gear and then report back to the command post and assist the Chief there. I told him that would be fine. I didn't need a lot of people inside. They needed more help outside.

As we were having discussions in the lobby as to what to do with OEM, a number of people came in the lobby as patients. Captain Nahmod and EMT Zarrillo started to look at them, put them off to the side and talk to them. At that point I stepped outside. I was going to request some EMS resources and I had face to face contact with Captain Mark Stone of the EMS 8 Battalion.

Q. Where was the EMS command post?
A. I don't know where the EMS command post was at that time. Again I didn't hear much. There was lots of stuff going on the radio. My mission at that time was not that of an EMS Chief responding to the operation. My mission was, as the Chief of Planning for the Fire Department, to respond in to handle the agency liaison stuff.

At that point I continued to liaison with my counterparts over at OEM. A short while later, just maybe a few moments, Dr. Asaeda, Office of Medical Affairs, and the EMT or paramedic that was with him, showed up. I told him we were seeing a number of people. In other words, more than 3 at that point in time, but again I wasn't directly involved, so I couldn't tell you the number. He said fine. He said he would stay over at our location and work with us there. We were in close proximity to the building. If you are familiar, I'll mark it with number 3 on the map, in front of 7 World Trade Center. Directly across the street there are some escalators that come down from the promenade. There is also an overhead pedestrian walkway that connects the World Trade Center plaza to the lobby of number 7. There was people coming down both exits. So it was a good position for us to find people who may require medical attention and get them into a secured area of the lobby. I didn't have any EMS people working out on Vesey Street proper, because it was not a safe location. There was people jumping out of the windows of the World Trade Center. We were witnessing that.
There was debris falling down from the north tower and making its way on to the street and promenade where we were located.

A few moments after Dr. Asaeda arrived andstarted talking to Captain Nahmod about the patients, a gentleman from the building identified himself as a security person or a security director. He asked me if there is anything that we needed or he could provide me with regard to the EMS. We questioned him as to the ability to open up the loading bays which are associated to number 7 World Trade Center. The entrances are located directly under the pedestrian foot bridge. I figured it was protected there, so debris wouldn't fall down. He said he would do that.I directed Captain Nahmod to move the patients into that area. Again, the lobby of number 7 is all glass facade. I was concerned that if something should come off the building, go through the glass or hit the glass, we would have an extraordinary amount of
patients in addition to what was already being seen. Further we took everyone from OEM and moved them to what would be the most southeasterly corner inside that first floor entrance of the 7 World Trade. There is a big granite or marble security desk and we started to establish around that as we were trying to figure out what we were going to do. At that point again, I went out front to see what was going on and where the ambulances I had requested were. I had a face to face with Fire Commissioner Thomas Von Essen. He was there with his driver. He was wearing his protective gear and his helmet. He questioned me as to -- I told him I was there for OEM, operating in the lobby, that the building was being evacuated and the nature of that. He indicated if I knew the whereabouts of the Mayor. I told him that as I was approaching OEM and coming up Vesey Street, I saw a large contingency of gentlemen in suits exiting down Vesey Street proceeding north on West toward Barclay. I recognized some of the people in that group as staff and TAs for the Mayor. I told him more than likely that was probably the direction the Mayor went.

I was in a discussion with Mr. Rotanz and I believe it was a representative from the Department of Buildings, but I'm not sure. Some engineer type person, and several
of us were huddled talking in the lobby and it was brought to my attention, it was believed that the structural damage that was suffered to the towers was quite significant and they were very confident that the building's stability was compromised and they felt that
the north tower was in danger of a near imminent collapse.

I grabbed EMT Zarrillo, I advised him of that information. I told him he was to proceed immediately to the command post where Chief Ganci was located. Told him where it was across the street from number 1 World Trade Center. I told him "You see Chief Ganci
and Chief Ganci only. Provide him with the information that the building integrity is severely compromised and they believe the building is in danger of imminent collapse." So, he left off in that direction.
Q. They felt that just the one building or both of them?
A. The information we got at that time was that they felt both buildings were significantly damaged, but they felt that the north tower, which was the first one to be struck, was going to be in imminent danger of collapse. Looking up at it, you could see that, you could see through the smoke or whatever, that there was significant structural damage to the exterior of the building. Very noticeable. Now you know, again, this is not a scene where the thought of both buildings collapsing ever entered into my mind.

I was there in 1993, 14 minutes after the bomb went off. I operated some 16 hours at the
building and with all the post-incident critiques and debriefings with various agencies. We were always told by everyone, the experts, that these buildings could withstand direct hits from airplanes. That's the way they were designed. They went through all of this architectural stuff, way beyond the scope of my knowledge.

It was hit by an airplane. That's okay. It's made to be hit by an airplane. I mean I think
everyone may have believed that. We were all told years ago it was made to be hit by an airplane.

Just moments before the south tower collapsed and, you know, when it happened we didn't know it was the south tower. We thought it was the north tower. There was a reporter of some sort, female with blond hair and her cameraman, an oriental fellow. They were setting up outside 7 World Trade Center, just east of the pedestrian bridge. I told them it would probably be better off to be set up under the bridge. At least it was protected. I was just about to enter a dialogue with her when I heard a sound I never heard before. I looked up and saw this huge cloud. I told him run. I grabbed the female, I threw her through the revolving doors of number 7. We were proceeding inside. She fell to the ground. I helped her out, I pushed her towards the direction of where we were all in the south corner and there was a little doorway behind that desk which led into the loading bays.

They proceeded to evacuate that group along with some secret service people.

Phil Parr, Battalion Chief, again he had no protective equipment whatever. I'm not sure how he ended up there. I think he was detailed here to headquarters and he made his way over there. He used to be a Deputy Director of OEM. So he made his way there. I didn't initially see him, but when it was all over, me and Phil found one another. We grabbed some hand lights from some Port Authority guys.

You know the level where the foot bridge connects, whatever. We found maybe a half dozen or so people out there. We told them to cover their heads and their faces with, you know, their shirts or clothes or whatever to help them breathe and to walk towards the Port Authority light. A few minutes after we were unable to see --

A. Correct, correct. We were walking underneath number 6 World Trade Center. If you have seen the pictures or are familiar with the way those buildings come, they come up and then they angle out so there is like a covered walkway path. We were there. We ran into a few firefighters. We told them that we were going to try to make a chain of people and if we found anybody we would get them out. There were lots of bodies on the plaza. A couple of firefighters and police officers that we saw in the rubble that we were able to get to and get out of the rubble and direct towards the people, they got out. There were a few people in the rubble that were dead, both firefighters and police officers and civilians that we knew we
couldn't do anything for.
Q. You had some alive, also?
A. Yes, we assisted them out. There were pockets of fire everywhere. At that point I noticed it
was unusually lit in the plaza, considering the event that happened. I looked up and saw this big gaping hole where the south tower used to be. That's the first point that I realized that the south tower had collapsed. Maybe ten or 15 stories high left of it. Probably most of it being a pile of rubble.

I ran into a former Fire Department employee who used to work with me, Nick Cagliuso, who used to work in the Office of Medical Affairs.

There were some people we saw more towards the center of the courtyard that appeared to be trapped. One of them looked like it may have been an Emergency Service officer. We directed two firefighters and an ESU cop to go and help them. The last I saw of them they were in the process of removing that person from the rubble. I then ran into James Basile, EMS 2 Division Chief. He was at the end of this group of people.

He indicated that he was in the lobby of number one and that there were some people still in the lobby, that there was a number of fire Chiefs in there. His aide was in there and that they were making their way out another way. He had made his way out from this location. He said you know we should not be here. We have to get out of here. I said there is no one else here. Let's do that, but on the way out, I said we are going through number 7 again. That's right on the way there. I explained to him the story. I said I'm sure the dust has settled somewhat. I just want to do another visual to make sure everyone that was with me and that was in that area downstairs was truly out.
So we went through the foot bridge again. At that point, I got separated from Phil Parr. Me and Jim proceeded over the pedestrian bridge back into number 7.

I started to make my way to the command post when I heard that horrible sound again, you know, that whining screeching jet engine.

Q. At this point the whereabouts of OEM were?
A. Everyone was scattered.
Q. Last they were by 7?
A. We were all in there. I knew that they all got out. All the people that were there with us.

I started making my way towards this Suburban vehicle. It was an EMS Suburban, the star of life was on the rear window. I ran into Mike Butler, Chief of Fire Prevention.

I don't know if that message got through, because after we got on Warren Street, we ran into Joe Farrell from the New York State Health Department, EMS Bureau.

At some point I heard an EMS Chief officer, later to find out that was J.P. Martin

They told me that there was a group of people up at Chelsea Piers with Kowalczyk and Pat
Scaringello.

I had John McFarland go down to Vesey and West Street, with a team of guys to do forward triage. I got a communication from John. He called me on his cell phone, indicating that they
found Ganci and Feehan's bodies.

Petrassi, Joseph Engine 65 Firefighter (F.D.N.Y.) 1/13/02
At the north tower there was a Chief that directed the Lieutenant to take his men and work his way up, and that's pretty much what we did. We started heading up.

I'm not sure if it was at the 20th floor or 22nd, that's unclear, but we felt a shake, the building shake, and things just started getting like different. A little bit after that the Lieutenant said, well, we've got to make our way down, and we pretty much took whatever people were in the stairway, came down with them.
Q. Were there many people in the stairs?
A. Yes, the stairs were pretty full.
Q. Coming up and going down?
A. Going down. Well, when we were going up, people were coming down.

saw 2 Truck, Captain Ill.

Pfeifer, Joseph Battalion 1 Battalion Chief (F.D.N.Y.) 10/23/01
"I was working the night before in the 1st Battalion, and sometime about 8:15 or so in the morning we got a call to Lispenard and Church for a gas leak in the street."

"I went into the lobby. There were people injured. I went into the lobby and tried to gather information, where the plane hit, what floor, and the best we could get is somewhere around 80. As the units were coming in, we checked for the elevators to see if we had any elevator service. There wasn't any."

"Then what we did was I started to send people up to perform a rescue because we knew there were people trapped above the fire and we were getting reports in the lobby people were trapped in the elevators and people were trapped, and I believe we started sending units up."

"I briefed Chief Hayden on what I knew at the time, which was an approximate floor and we believe we had people trapped. Then we kind of went through a high-rise operation to try and get people up there. We paired the engines. I know I told engines, half the group to take hose, the other half not to, at least early on, and started their way up. Also, I saw my brother, who was a Lieutenant in 33, and we spoke a little bit and then he went up also."

"Then the plane hit the second tower, the south tower. At that point Chief Donald Burns and Battalion Chief Orio Palmer went into the second tower and I took command of that."

"Right before that we discussed the operation of the radio. Any time in a high-rise building, communications is difficult. We tried to get repeaters to work. The Trade Center had a repeater. We tried to get that to work. That did not work for some reason, and there were problems with the repeater in the car also. So communications from the onset was difficult and both Orio and myself tried to get that to work. We tried it numerous times and we couldn't get the repeaters to operate properly, so we had to rely just on handie-talkie communication, which is at best hit or miss in any high-rise."

"At one point I was asked to get the operations with the helicopter into motion. Unfortunately, or fortunately, I could not get a hold of the dispatcher to do that. One of the citywide radios got moved around and I couldn't grab that, and there were no phone lines. The phone lines were out and nobody was picking up or the lines were busy to the dispatcher, so I couldn't get through to them on a landline or a cell line."

"We weren't getting good reports from the police at all. There was one point there was a possibility of a second plane coming in and somebody said something and I turned around to try to confirm that and we couldn't confirm that. There was also later on the possibility of a third plane. Again, we just heard somebody say it and we tried to confirm it. We could not confirm it with any law enforcement people. We all ran out at that point. So that was the difficulty we had."

"At one point after the second plane hit, I think, I'm not positive of the time line, I know Chief Callen asked over the radio to come down to the lobby. But with difficulty with communications, that didn't happen. It didn't fully happen. I'm not too sure who heard that or how many people came down. There was no way of really telling at that point. But right before the south tower collapsed, I noticed a lot of people just left the lobby, and I heard we had a crew of all different people, high-level people in government, everybody was gone, almost like they had information that we didn't have. Some of them were moved across the street to the command post.
Q. Who were you with at this time?
A. You name them, they were there.
Q. With you?
A. Yes, in the lobby. They were moving the command post. So, I guess, after that companies were coming in and we were listing them on the command board so we had an account of everybody. Unfortunately, the command board is not around any longer."

"At one point the Fire Safety Director, Mike Hurley, asked us if we wanted the building evacuated. I'm not too sure if he meant both buildings or he was just talking about this. In either case, I believe he was talking about both buildings. I turned to Chief Hayden and said do you want to evacuate the buildings? He said yes. I turned to Mike and I told him evacuate the buildings. So there were definite communications back and forth that we wanted the buildings evacuated. I forget what stage that was at that time. Again, I can't put that on a time line. But it was before the second building collapsed for sure because Mike wasn't in the lobby with us. So it was sometime before that."

"Then in the lobby we heard the south tower is collapsing. I'm not sure, like I said before. I get mixed up with south and north and two and one. But right before the south building collapsed, we heard a loud rumbling noise, and those that were left in the area, we knew something was collapsing, and I noticed in the lobby area where you go around the corner to an escalator that leads up into the Customs Building, and as things were collapsing into the lobby of the north tower, I pushed everybody around the corner. I knew where I was so I pushed people around the corner. There was my aide, Chief Hayden, Chief Callen, an EMS Lieutenant, Father Judge, I think Chief Villani, and there might have been a couple other people, a Lieutenant, I don't know his name, a Fire Lieutenant, and maybe a couple other people. They were just pushed around a wall literally and then the whole area went black. We heard things collapse. There was debris falling in and everything was black. At that time I went around to Chief Hayden and said I'm going to evacuate the building. I got on the radio and I called up to the Battalion Chief upstairs, which I got an acknowledgment to evacuate the building for a number of times.
Q. Do you remember what Chief that was?
A. I don't know what Chief. But I did get acknowledgment, like I said, a number of times firefighters said they heard me and that's why they got out. And that was just in the blackness where at that point we didn't even know our way out. Then Father Judge was there and he was lying on the ground and I went over to him, took off his collar, I opened up his shirt, checked for a pulse, and I knew at that point that he didn't have any.
Q. Where was he?
A. He was with us in the lobby all the time.
Q. In the lobby?
A. Right. He was saying some prayers and he was very anxious in the lobby. I could watch him. He was very concerned, very different, Father Judge, as I know him. Apparently, what it was, it was a heart attack. We didn't know at the time it was a heart attack. We thought he was hit with debris.
Q. He didn't have any obvious injuries?
A. He didn't have any obvious injuries. Then again, we're in black with just a couple of flashlights. So at this time we had to figure out how to get out of here now. So I kind of had an idea where I was going in the building."

"So I went up the escalator and now some of the other guys are taking Father Judge and they're carrying the body up and out to the top, and then there was a bridge across, and I told them, I told Chief Hayden and a whole bunch of people, hey, listen, let me see if the bridge is still here, whatever, and let me go across and I'll let you know if we can get out this way. Again, I had no idea. At this point we had no idea that the whole south tower had collapsed. No idea. We didn't hear any reports. We knew something collapsed, part of the building came down, elevators
collapsed. We knew we had something but no idea.
MR. CASTORINA: Meanwhile, the building you were in was evacuating; you gave the word already?
MR. McCOURT: In other words, the firefighters and everybody were starting to come down?
A. Well, I gave an order to evacuate and it was acknowledged and there were reports that people heard that and they were coming down to the extent, again, communication was difficult. It was difficult. I was glad somebody heard it.
Q. Did you see Commissioner Feehan there at all?
A. He was there in the lobby earlier along with Commissioner Von Essen and OEM.
Q. And Chief Ganci?
A. I didn't see Chief Ganci myself. But everybody had to come there first.
Q. The bridge was intact, that footbridge going across?
A. The footbridge that went across, pretty much you couldn't see out of any of the windows and everything and it was like fire. Everything was smoky so you couldn't see anything. So I walked all the way across the bridge and found out that the bridge was intact. I radioed back to tell them that you can come across the bridge, that everything is intact, you can get out this way, and I was getting no answer on the radio. I called a number of times, a number of times. I went across with four guys. So the four guys I was with walked all the way back across the bridge again and I tried to contact them, and I was able to contact Chief Hayden, who took a bunch of guys out, like out a window onto the side plaza. So I knew they were out and it's not exactly the area I wanted to go because things were falling down and people were jumping. So I took the group I was with back across the bridge, my third trip across the bridge.
Q. Where did that lead you to? Where did that come out?
A. It came out to the World Financial Center. We got out there and then we were standing under the bridge trying to see what was going on. I couldn't see what was going on. Everything was covered with smoke."

"Then after a while it started to clear. Actually, I was with a civilian. Actually, I was laying over him because he had no helmet or anything. Then we got up and we couldn't see, but it started to clear to like a brown, cloudy smoke, and I hear pop, pop, pop, which sounded like gunfire to me. Then right after that I hear people screaming get down, get down. It's not normal. I worked in the ghetto long enough that you get down.
Q. Of course.
A. Because it sounded like gunfire and I've heard gunfire before. It could have been something totally different. I have no idea. I grabbed the guy I was with and told him, hey, we have to get down, we have to get some cover. Then it started to clear again a little better and we got up and I looked down the block and I saw some law enforcement taking a guy away in handcuffs and he was very agitated.
Q. Would that be on the other side of west?
A. On the west side of West Street.
Q. Towards the river?
A. Towards the river.
Q. Did you ever find out what he was --
A. No. But the cops were real agitated and it was early on. I couldn't imagine what they would arrest somebody for. Again, it could have been almost anything creating that sound. I have no idea. But I figured that was three strikes at that point. And then I came back to the scene and tried to figure out what took place here and what we had.
Q. Did your brother make it out?
A. No.
Q. I'm very sorry.
A. That's the toughest part. And that's the story."

Piambino, Thomas Engine 65 Lieutenant (F.D.N.Y.) 1/24/02
Thomas Piambino is in Marine 1 of the New York City Fire Department.
On 9/11, I was assigned to Engine 65,
"We went in through the west side of the building right off of West Street into the north
tower. We went into, I guess, the -- I think the windows were out already. They were already blown out when we got there, so I don't even think I went in through a door. I'm pretty sure I went in through a window into the west side of the north tower. There was no command post there, and they were just sending us up. I had no particular assignment. We had our roll-ups, Scott bottles and extra Scott bottles we were carrying."
"The south tower had fallen, but at that time I didn't know what it was. All I heard was a tremendous explosion. The tower I was in shook really bad. It really shook bad, and my opinion, I thought it was another aircraft that hit the building."
"...I thought it exploded, and I didn't realize it had collapsed. It looked to me like an explosion, and you could feel the -- you could feel it coming, and they were still running away from it. I mean, you weren't going to out run it. At that point, we all split up. I mean, it was like run, and each one of us took refuge behind something, and I wound up taking refuge behind an ESU truck, I believe it was, a Police Department ESU truck, I think, and I just rode it out until first there was the explosion or the concussion, and then there was very, very strong wind, and then there was the black...."

Picarello, John Battalion 40 Firefighter (F.D.N.Y.) 12/6/01
Chief Henry, [no transcript]
Chief Stack, [no transcript]
"In about a second or two, you just heard like a ba-ba-ba-boom,
from 10 Truck was Georgie Bachman.
"The first person I actually saw was actually Father John Delendick. He had told me about Father Judge."

Piccerill, Steve ENGINE 204 Firefighter (F.D.N.Y.) 12/12/01
Mike McKenna, [no transcript]
Lieutenant Healy, [no transcript]
Eddie Rodriguez, [no transcript]

"ALL OF SUDDEN I TURNED AWAY AND HEARD TREMENDOUS EXPLOSION AND TURNED AROUND THAT WAS THE SECOND PLANE HITTING THE TRADE CENTER SO
THAT'S WHEN THEY TOLD US TO RESPOND..."
"WE FINALLY GOT OUT OF THE TUNNEL, WE WERE DRIVING OUT OF THE TUNNEL UP WEST STREET AND WE'RE SEEING BODY PARTS IN THE STREET, TORSOS, CHUNKS OF FLESH, PARTS OF THE AIRPLANE LANDING GEAR, CAR FIRES EVERYWHERE. IT WAS LIKE WAR ZONE."
"AND LIKE IT SOUNDED LIKE THUNDER AND JUST SAW STUFF COMING DOWN"
"AND I'M LOOKING AT ONE OUR OF OUR GUYS GARY Z. He got hurt pretty bad at the time."
AND THIS GUY Mike McKenna
MET UP WITH THE GUYS FROM 224, 202. I HUNG WITH THEM FOR LITTLE WHILE THEN. WE WERE JUST HANGING OUT WATCHING THE BUILDING 7 READY TO GO
"our Lieutenant Healy"
"Eddie Rodriguez"

Picciotto, Richard 11th Battalion Battalion Chief (F.D.N.Y.) 11/27/01 Montel Williams Show, September 17, 2001
"RUSHED INTO THE LOBBY SEE THE COMMANDER, a CHIEF HIGHER THAN ME HES
GOING INSANE, HE'S OVERLOADED, SO THERE'S COMPANIES WAITING TO BE, YOU KNOW, WHAT DO WE NEED, WHAT DO WE NEED ,WE DON'T JUST RUN IN. IT LOOKS LIKE WE RUN IN, BUT IT IS COMMAND STRUCTURE AND I GET A COUPLE COMPANIES TO THE SIDE, GO TO THE CHIEF IN CHARGE, WHAT DO YOU NEED, AND HE TELLS ME WHAT HE NEEDS. I TAKE MY COMPANIES AND WE GO."
"CHIEF PICCIOTTO: THAT WAS MY INITIAL ASSIGNMENT PEOPLE TRAPPED ON THE 21ST AND 25 FLOOR"
"I WAS IN THE BUILDING WHEN IT CAME DOWN, AS FAR AS I KNOW THERE WERE ELEVEN SURVIVORS OUT OF BOTH BUILDINGS. I'M ONE OF THEM. WE WERE
TRAPPED FOUR HOURS."
"I'M UP IN APPROXIMATELY TOWER 1, SOMEWHERE IN THE 30S AND THIS RUMBLING STARTS HAPPENING. BY THIS TIME, ALL CIVILIANS, CIVILIANS STOPPED COMING DOWN WHEN I HIT ABOUT THE 16TH FLOOR 20TH FLOOR, AGAIN THAT'S GUESSTIMATIONS."
YOU TELL ME HOW LONG IT TOOK THAT BUILDING TO FALL?
MONTEL WILLIAMS: I'D SAY 30 SECONDS"
"THAT'S MY GUESSTIMATION 30, 40 SECONDS"
"SO ITS AN EERIE SILENCE. THE RADIOS STOP. WE HAVE DIFFERENT CHANNELS. THEY STOP AND EVERYONE IS, YOU KNOW WHAT WAS THAT?"
"MY THINKING WAS EITHER I THOUGHT A BOMB HIT THE OTHER BUILDING AND BROUGHT IT DOWN AND IF THERE'S A BOMB IN THAT ONE THERE'S A BOMB IN THIS ONE."
"AND I'M SAYING TO MYSELF, DID I DO THE WRONG THING HERE. SO ITS AMAZING THEY GIVE THE ORDER FROM THE COMMAND POST STAND BY...
MONTEL WILLIAMS: MEANING STOP THE EVACUATION?
CHIEF PICCIOTTO: STOP THE EVACUATION. I RELAY THAT ORDER AND AMAZING AS THAT IS THESE FIREMEN, I CAN'T SAY ENOUGH, WE BASICALLY STOP. EVERYONE IS WAITING TO FIND OUT WHAT WE'RE GOING TO DO."
"CAR CHARLIE WHO I THINK I KNOW WHO THAT CHIEF IS, SAYS---TIME SPAN DON'T KNOW---CONTINUE THE EVACUATION. THIS IS LESS THAN 1 MINUTE THIS WHOLE THING HAPPENS PROBABLY LESS THAN 30 SECONDS AND SO THE EVACUATION CONTINUES AND NOW WE'RE GOING DOWN."
"AND THEN THAT NOISE, THAT FIRST-TIME-IN-HISTORY-ANYONE-HEARD-THAT
NOISE, AND I SAID IT WAS VERY UNIQUE NOISE IT."
"MONTEL, ABOUT TWO MONTHS AGO JUST A REAL QUICK STORY, TWO MONTHS AGO THREE FIREFIGHTERS IN QUEENS FROM RESCUE 4 WERE IN A BUILDING THAT COLLAPSED. THEY WERE IN TWO STORY BUILDING THEY WERE ALIVE IN THE BASEMENT WE HAD RADIO CONTACT. I DON'T KNOW IF YOU REMEMBER BUT THEY HAD THE FUNERALS. HARRY FORD, THEY WERE IN TWO STORY BUILDING THAT COLLAPSED AND WE COULDN'T GET TO THEM IN TIME. WE JUST COULDN'T GET TO THEM."
"AMAZINGLY ONE WHOLE COMPANY LADDER 6" [was entombed in the staircase with him and Josephine.]
"BELOW ME THERE WAS AN OFFICER FROM 16 AND A FIREMAN FROM ENGINE 39. ALSO THERE WAS JOSEPHINE, THE WOMAN I TOLD YOU ABOUT, AND THERE WAS A PORT AUTHORITY COP, I BELIEVE HIS NAME WAS DAVID LIM."
"THE PEOPLE IN OUR VOID WERE BANGED AROUND, SEPARATED SHOULDERS, CONCUSSIONS, BUT NO LIFE THREATENING INJURIES."
Montel: "THE FACT THAT YOUR CORNEAS WERE SCRATCHED, BURNED..." [he's wearing dark glasses for the interview]
"A VERY VERY GOOD FRIEND OF MINE, WE STUDIED TOGETHER, JAY JONAS, HE'S THE CAPTAIN OF TRUCK 6"
"...WHEN I HIT ONE CHANNEL, I'M HEARING A VOICE CALLING MAYDAYS. ALSO AND HES HURT I THINK SAID THAT..."
MONTEL WILLIAMS: YES
CHIEF PICCIOTTO: SO EVERY TIME I'M GOING THROUGH AND I HIT THAT CHANNEL I'M TRYING TO CALM HIM DOWN BECAUSE I KNOW HE'S NOT GOOD, AND JUST EVERY TIME I HIT THAT CHANNEL, I TALK TO HIM FOR MINUTE, CALM DOWN, I DON'T CALL ANYMORE. WELL, I CALL, HE WANTS ME TO COME GET HIM. ITS IMPOSSIBLE FOR ME TO COME GET HIM, BUT I DON'T WANT HIM TALKING
MONTEL WILLIAMS: RIGHT
CHIEF PICCIOTTO: HE'S CONFIRMED, HE'S ONE OF THE CONFIRMED. THEY RECOVERED HIS BODY. I DON'T WANT TO SAY THE NAME.
MONTEL WILLIAM: SURE BECAUSE YOU JUST COULDN'T GET TO HIM."
"CHIEF PICCIOTTO: SO I'M DOING THE MAYDAYS AND FINALLY AT ONE POINT SOMEONE ANSWERS ME. BUT THEN IT GOES AWAY, I DONT HEAR HIM. ABOUT HALF HOUR LATER I'M GOING AGAIN THROUGH CHANNELS AND ANOTHER VOICE ANSWERS ME. THE FIRE DEPARTMENT IS VERY SMALL COMMUNITY, ESPECIALLY THE CHIEFS RANK. EVERY CHIEF JUST ABOUT KNOWS EVERY OTHER CHIEF. GUY ANSWERS ME, 12TH BATTALION, THE UPPER EAST SIDE , I RECOGNIZE THE VOICE IT'S A GUY I CONSIDER FRIEND OF MINE, GOOD FRIEND NOW, MARK FORAN. MARK THIS IS RICHIE..."
"I HEAR MARK TALKING AND HE SAYS I GOT A COMPANY, LADDER 43, HE TELLS
Pat McNally, PAT I GOT 43, I'M GOING TO GET RICHIE..."
"AND TWO HOURS, TWO-AND-HALF HOURS. I'M LAYING ON MY BACK."
"I see a little bit of light."..it's getting brighter and brighter." "What it was, it was a small opening." BUT THE DUST AND THE DIRT AND THE SMOKE WAS OBSCURING IT
"FROM THE BOTTOM OF THE RUBBLE FIELD WE'RE ABOUT, YOU KNOW, ITS GUESSTIMATE 30 40 FEET HIGH."
DEBBIE PICCIOTTO WHO IS RICH'S WIFE AND HIS CHILDREN LISA [student at Pace downtown.] AND STEVEN
CHIEF PICCIOTTO: SHE [Lisa] SAW THE SECOND PLANE HIT AND SAW BOTH BUILDINGS COME DOWN LIVE.
Steve: SOMEONE CAME TO THE DOOR AND SAID THAT YOUR FATHER IS OUT, AND HE'S OKAY AND HE DIDN'T KNOW ANYTHING ELSE, SO I WAS LIKE, WELL WHAT DO YOU MEAN HES OUT? HE'S OUT OF WHAT? WHAT HAPPENED? AND HE'S LIKE, WELL I DON'T KNOW THE STORY AND THIS IS AT LIKE 3:30 3:45, AND HE'S BEEN TRAPPED SINCE 9: 00 O'CLOCK. AND I GOT A PHONE CALL FROM MRS JONAS AND SHE TOLD ME THE WHOLE STORY.
LISA PICCIOTTO: WELL THE THING IS BEFORE WE WERE ABLE TO GET OUT OF STATEN ISLAND WE WERE SO ANTSY WE HAD TO DO SOMETHING SO MY ROOMMATES AND I, WE WANTED TO GO DONATE BLOOD BUT THE LINE WAS JUST PHENOMENAL ALREADY AND DOWNTOWN WAS BEING TOTALLY EVACUATED SO THEY KIND OF TURNED US AWAY AND THAT'S WHEN WE WERE PUSHED ON THE FERRY BOATS.

Pierce, Joel Battalion 57 Paramedic (E.M.S.) 1/23/02
Chief Tramontana
Bruce Hydock, EMT Battalion 57
Richardson, EMT Battalion 57
Jason Steele, EMT, Battalion 57
Lieutenant Soto,
Captain Olsen,
Chief McCracken,

JOEL DANIEL PIERCE PARAMEDIC 3927 35 ZEBRA BATTALION 57
[partner] ERIC RODRIGUEZ PARAMEDIC RODRIGUEZ SHIELD 2526
"I JUST STOOD THERE STARING, AND THEN I WATCHED EVENTUALLY THE SECOND
PLANE, I SAW IT. IT LOOKED LIKE IT WAS CIRCLING COMING SOUTH, THEN CAME BACK NORTH, STRIKING THE SOUTH SIDE OF TOWER NO 2."

"I JUST STOOD THERE LOOKING UP AT THE TWO TOWERS, AND I JUST WATCHED PEOPLE JUMPING. I MUST HAVE COUNTED ABOUT EIGHT PEOPLE, ONE OF THEM WAS ON FIRE AS HE HIT THE GROUND."
"I SAW THAT CHIEF MCCRACKEN, CHIEF GRANT, THEIR AIDES, AND SOME OTHER OFFICERS WERE AT THE CORNER OF LIBERTY STREET AND SOUTH END AVENUE."
"I FOUND CHIEF WELLS"

"I CAME BACK AND HE LOOKED EVEN WORSE, AND I WAS LIKE, YOU'RE GOING TO THE HOSPITAL, WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT AND HE STARTED ARGUING WITH ME. I SAID DON'T FUCK WITH ME YOU'RE GOING TO THE HOSPITAL. THEY HAD A PHYSICIAN COME OVER THAT WAS DOWN THERE VOLUNTEERING SO HE LOOKED AT HIM, LOOKED AT HIS EKG, DID SOMETHING. HE SAID YOU'RE GOING TO VINNY'S AND THATS FINAL."

"SO I SPOKE WITH ANOTHER LIEUTENANT SOTO." "HE BECAME THE TRIAGE LIEUTENANT AND I WAS HIS AIDE FOR THE DAY BETWEEN ONE LIBERTY PLAZA AND
ENGINE 10/LADDER 10."

"I REMEMBER AT ONE POINT I WAS BACK DOWN, I THINK I WAS DOWN BY IN FRONT OF ENGINE 10/LADDER 10. NO. I WAS IN FRONT OF LIBERTY PLAZA AND THEY SAID THEY NEEDED MORPHINE DOWN THERE. THEY FOUND SOMEBODY INSIDE AND THEY WERE GOING TO HAVE TO TAKE HIS LEGS OFF AND THEY NEED MORPHINE. THEY SAW ME AND THEY SAID ARE YOU MEDIC? I GO YEAH. YOU GOT MORPHINE? I
GO YUP. THE GUY WHO WAS WITH ME HE SAID YOU'RE COMING WITH ME AND THEY PHYSICALLY GRABBED ME. THEY SAID YOU'RE COMING WITH US. THEY SAID YOU'RE COMING WITH US, WE NEED YOU NOW, WE NEED YOUR DRUGS."

"AT THAT POINT I FOUND MYSELF ON THE PILE AND I DON'T KNOW IF---IT FELT LIKE I WAS HALLUCINATING, BECAUSE JUST LOOKING AROUND, I WAS UP ON TOP OF THAT PILE A GOOD WAY IN, IT WAS HOT AND I WAS LOOKING AT ALL THESE HOLES DOWN. IT WAS LIKE ONE WRONG STEP AND I'M DEAD. IF I FELL INTO THAT LITTLE HOLE, I'M DEAD AND THAT WAS IT, BECAUSE I COULD SEE THE FLAMES BELOW. YOU COULD SEE THE REDNESS. I KNEW IF WENT IN IT WAS LIKE THE PITS OF HELL. IT WAS LIKE DANTE'S INFERNO, I GUESS YOU COULD CALL IT. I WAS IN THE REMAINS OF THE SOUTH TOWER, BETWEEN THE SOUTH TOWER AND NEAR THE HOTEL, AND IT WAS SOMETHING, JUST BEING THERE, ALL THE WAY IN. I DON'T KNOW HOW FAR IN I WAS. I MUST HAVE BEEN GOOD 200 FEET IN WHEN I WAS GOING UP AND DOWN THESE PILES OF DEBRIS. THEN I GOT CALLED OUT AND I LEARNED THAT THEY MANAGED TO FREE THE GUY'S LEGS UP, SO THAT MADE ME HAPPY. I GOT OUT OF THERE. I CLIMBED ALL THE WAY BACK. I ASSISTED WITH THE HOSE PULLING BECAUSE THEY NEEDED LOT OF FIRE HOSE IN THERE. SO I WAS A PART OF THE HOSE LINE WITH LOT OF OTHER FIREMEN AND ALL THE RESCUE WORKERS."

"I SAW CHIEF TRAMONTANA."
"I WORKED THROUGH THE NIGHT. I MET UP WITH SOME OTHER PEOPLE, EMT BRUCE HYDOCK, BATTALION 57, EMT RICHARDSON, BATTALION 57, WHO ELSE, EMT JASON STEELE, BATTALION 57."
"CAPTAIN OLSEN, WHO ORDERED ME TO GO TO THE COMMAND POST."

Pilla, Steven EMG Division 6 Paramedic (E.M.S.) 10/17/01
I'm one of the ALS coordinators for Division 6 EMS
"I heard that there was an explosion -- I heard the radio on citywide in the office."
"Smoke coming out of the world -- I thought that it was a tape on. They said no, there was an explosion. We turned the TV on. Sure enough, the tower was on fire."
"It was myself; Neil Sweeney, who is vacation relief right now for the other coordinator who is out on refresher; Amedegnato, who is one of the chief's aides here, EMT; Lieutenant Cahill, who was the officer in charge in the division; and Chief Pascale herself."

"One of the firemen who now works as a medic for one of the private hospitals, he comes out and sees me.
Q. Do you know his name?
A. I'll give it to you later as soon as I --
Q. Okay."

"We set up a triage area in the lobby of the building. I'm still trying to figure out what building we were in. I believe it was the Winter Garden building. That's the only one I can think of. So we're in that building. People started coming in filled with ash and choking and respiratory problems. But no one was really hurt.....I popped out, went back into the same building, which wasn't as damaged, and did triage again. There were more and more people in there."

"There was a girl with a broken leg. She got blown just from the force of the ash. She kept
going down from the force of the ash. We ended up treating her. She was stable. There was a chief in there, a fire chief, with a broken shoulder and bloody nose. I was going down the line triaging people. They were upset, they were bent. People with no shoes on I guess from running out of the tower. A fire chief comes over to me and says, "Listen, son. There was a terrorist attack. This building's next, because they know they're going to start attacking other buildings." He had a very good point there, because you're always waiting for the next attack. This is a terrorist act. So I got my chief and decided to go into Stuyvesant High School. At that point I was going to get the fire chief out, to an ambulance..."

"At that point we're getting everything together, and now we're going to move to
Stuyvesant High School. Somebody comes in and says there's a gas leak, there's explosions going on, we have to evacuate. So now we're all running out of the building again. The 20 people I'm treating again beat me to the door. I have no idea where these 20 people are. Someone is running around with a triage cage around their neck. So we run out. You try not to hear the explosions in the background, things just blowing up; vehicles, I guess, that were on fire from the debris or if there were gas leaks. You could hear them getting closer and closer, so there was a good possibility there were gas explosions."

"A Port Authority cop came out. Their suits are dark blue. He was white. His whole suit was pure white. They set up their own triage area in another high school, one of the colleges."
"So strange we had all these triage areas set up and we were getting dribs and drabs. There were no real patients."

"We walked back. We didn't do any further because building number seven was coming
down. That was another problem, to wait for building seven to come down, because that was
unsecure. It was about 5:30 that building came down."

"We didn't do much, to tell you the truth. I was just walking around aimlessly, because there was nothing much to do. You sat there. You were amazed."

"I remember somebody saying to everybody, "Don't forget to fill out an exposure form when you get back." God only knows what was in that. You could feel the fiberglass on your arms. You knew it was like pulverized glass and fiberglass. Everything was pulverized."

Pinkus, Jace Command Center Captain (E.M.S.) 10/11/01
Q: AND YOUR ASSIGNED COMMAND AREA THE FIRE DEPARTMENT OF THE CITY?
A: METROTECH COMMUNICATIONS EMERGENCY MEDICAL DISPATCH
"AT THAT POINT COMMISSIONER GREGORY DIRECTED MYSELF EMT SAM HARRIS AND CAPTAIN DAMATO TO JOIN HIM AND WE WERE GOING TO RESPOND TO THE SCENE."
[parked at West and Vesey] WE ATTEMPTED TO GET OUR STUFF OUT OF THE VEHICLE AND AS WE LOOKED UP WE SAW A PLANE HIT THE SECOND BUILDING AND WE NOTICED THAT THERE WAS A LARGE BALL OF FLAME COMING FROM THE SECOND BUILDING."
"I MET UP WITH LIEUTENANT DAVILA."

A: "WITHIN MOMENTS I SAW CHIEF GANCI, COMMISSIONER GREGORY PROCEEDED ON WEST SOUTH
Q: COMMISSIONER?
A: GREGORY AND CAPTAIN DAMATO.

A: I SAW CHIEF NIGRO, WITHIN COUPLE OF MORE MINUTES, LIEUTENANT HOWIE HAHN ARRIVED, DR ASCEDA, DR CHERSON, AND THEN THERE WAS ANOTHER DOCTOR, I FORGET HIS NAME
Q: MALE FEMALE
A: MALE DOCTOR

"A FEW MORE MOMENTS, CHIEF GOLDFARB, I WAS IN CONTACT WITH."
A1 THERE WA LIEUTENANT BRAD MANN, LIEUTENANT JOHN NEVINS
LIEUTENANT MANN
"I HAD CONVERSATION WITH CHIEF GOLDFARB THAT IF NEEDED WE WOULD BE GOING TO---WE IDENTIFIED AMERICAN EXPRESS TO BE AN AREA OF TRIAGE."
"WE NOTICED AS WE WERE STANDING IN THE STREET---WE LOOKED UP. WE DID NOTICE THAT THERE WERE PEOPLE JUMPING FROM THE BUILDINGS. I PERSONALLY SAW ABOUT 20."
"AT SOME POINT I HAD BEEN TOLD THAT ONE OF THE MEDICS WAS MISSING. I FOUND OUT LATER THAT IT WAS CAROS LILLO. THAT WAS MISSING. I SAW HIS PARTNER ABRIEU, THATS A B R I E U."
"IT WAS CHIEF PERUGGIA THAT WE HEARD WAS MISSING. CHIEF MCCRACKEN IT WAS REPORTED THAT HE WAS MISSING."
"A COUPLE OF MINUTES GOES BY, CHIEF CARRASQUILLO, CHIEF GOLDFARB, AND BELIEVE THERE WAS ANOTHER CHIEF..."
"THERE WAS A PARAMEDIC SMILEY I HAD CONTACT WITH."
"I BELIEVE CHIEF MARTIN AT ONE POINT MIGHT EVEN HAVE EVEN SHOWED UP IN THE BUILDING, IN THE AMERICAN EXPRESS BUILDING."
"CHIEF GOMBO I HAD SEEN EARLIER."
LIEUTENANT TERRANOVA
"ENDED UP IN THE EMBASSY HOTEL. THERE WAS CHIEF GOLDFARB, LIEUTENANT TERRANOVA, CHIEF GOMBO, CHIEF PASCAL, CHIEF CARRASQUILLO, CHIEF BASILE, I SAW CAPTAIN SICKLES, LIEUTENANT YIORAS."
"AND AS WE HEADED TO CHELSEA PIERS WE WERE FLAGGED DOWN ON MAYBE
6TH STREET AND WESTSIDE HIGHWAY. THERE WAS A PEDESTRIAN STRUCK. TURNED OUT TO BE THE PATIENT WAS NOT PEDESTRIAN STRUCK BUT WAS ON THE
80TH FLOOR OF THE FIRST BUILDING."
"UNTIL WE GOT TO CHELSEA PIERS AND AT THAT POINT WE MET UP WITH CHIEF KOWALZYK AND THE DIRECTIONS THAT WERE GIVEN TO ME, ME AND KEVIN MAHON WAS UP THERE ALSO."

A: DR RICHMOND I BELIEVE I SAW ALSO
Q: WHERE WOULD YOU HAVE SEEN DR RICHMOND
A: WELL KNOW FOR SURE SAW HIM LATER ON IN THE EVENING, BUT I BELIEVE I SAW HIM, YOU KNOW, I STAND CORRECTED. I SAW HIM LATER ON IN THE DAY, LATER IN THE EVENING."

Pisano, Gerard Ladder 149 Firefighter (F.D.N.Y.) 12/27/01
"We walked over the bridge and we assembled over, I think it's Broadway and I forget what block that is. Let me see. Probably, yes, it was Broadway and Vesey. Right over there by Saint Paul's Church."
"We were assigned to another officer and we were told to make a search somewhere, but we had no masks. We spent a good part of the day trying to find masks. There were no masks around."
"Then into the night, we were digging on the pile. Just free hand, you know, just going down there and doing whatever we could do."

Plover, Vincent Ladder 85 Firefighter (F.D.N.Y.) 12/26/01
Worst interview out of 500. The man is serious sick if he thinks this constitutes professionalism.
Q. The fellow, from Engine 14, the firefighter from Engine 14 that you were with, do you have his name?
A. Yes, John Dilillo. Now, he responded with 14 engine.

Powers, James Engine 35 Firefighter (F.D.N.Y.) 12/11/01
"I reported to Engine 35 and reported in to Lieutenant Whalen. Lieutenant Whalen put me in the Engine and said, "Right now you're going to be our fifth man in the engine."
"Myself, firefighters Lowrey, Billy Vanname "our chauffeur," Fischer, and Keith Schroeder were on the rig with
Lieutenant Whalen. We also had Lieutenant Patten [does he mean Lieutenant Hadden, whom he references later on?] and Battalion Chief Horan on 35's rig."
"We had heard on the radio the first tower collapsed. We heard somebody on the department radio calling for help, saying he was trapped. We were told that we were going to be going
into World Trade Center number 1, the north tower building, because it was still standing and there was still fire. When we got to the battalion chiefs that were on West and, I believe, Barclay, they said, "Okay. Make sure you've got everything, your roll-ups. We're still going into this tower number 1 or World Trade Center number 1."
"I was treated by a couple of EMT's and some firefighters and they took me back up the West
Side Highway to near Murray Street and we were sitting there and then somebody said that there was a major gas leak in one of the buildings and we had to run from there, so everybody started running again."
"So I was loaded onto a green golf cart and I was taken to St. Vincent's Hospital and I was in and out. I could breathe in, but I felt like I wasn't getting any air, and I was taken to St. Vincent's Hospital approximately 45 minutes to an hour after my arrival at the World Trade Center."

Prezant, Dr. David Fire Department Deputy Chief Medical Officer
"I believe I saw the Fire Commissioner's Assistant, Captain Goldbach."
I saw Commissioner Fitzpatrick there.
"After about five or so minutes, I realized that I was not being of any help to anybody. At that
time no firefighters had been injured. The building had not collapsed. I remember overhearing several Chiefs saying that a collapse was not possible."
"So the EMS Chiefs -- I forget his name. I can't remember whether it was Chief Gombo or Chief Goldfarb. I can't remember. They suggested that I report to Chief Welch, who was immediately outside the south tower on West Street, and set up another EMS triage site for civilians and firefighters that would be coming out of that tower."
"when Chief Welch -- it could be Chief Wells. I'm not certain how to spell or pronounce his name."
"We found to the left of us a civilian with a broken leg."
"To the right of us was a civilian with apparently an injured arm."
"We walked, Dr. Kelly, myself, Chief Nigro, his aide and the captain that had helped Dr. Kelly."
"As we did, we then made a decision that we, Dr. Kelly and myself, would set up a triage center. Interestingly enough, it was selected as being the UFOA headquarters, which I believe is 254 Broadway or 225 Broadway, something like that."
"it probably was within less than a half an hour, we were joined by several other medical officers, Dr. Garvey, Dr. Ortiz, Dr. Maloney, and within an hour, by Dr. Manner. These are all Fire Department Medical Officers."
"But happenstance would have it that there was a convention of surgeons a block away who
then joined us and we wound up with, you know, estimated numbers, six vascular surgeons, four orthopedic surgeons, four general trauma surgeons and nurses. So we had the staff to actually set up a true MASH unit..."
"Dr. Feirstein, the psychiatrist from the Fire Department, joined us shortly and he was in charge of the psychological area."
"It wound up that we didn't have many injuries at all and we, like many of the emergency rooms, all the emergency rooms, with the exception of the first few injuries, had no injuries."
"So we got everything up out of our building and out of the park and we moved into Pace University."
"We stayed there waiting for patients and very few showed up. Around 8:30 we closed up that area and then were available just going around in the car to see firefighters and et cetera."
"A. There were tons of firefighters and police officers and civilians, most of them coming in for an eye wash or to get out of the dust area for a while, but we didn't really deal with any wounded or any chest pain or any significant smoke inhalation. The same was true for the emergency room that was very nearby, which is...
Q. Downtown Hospital?
A. Downtown Hospital. They really were empty."

"Q. It sounds like a very good triage area you set up there.
A. Yes.
Q. It seems like you had everything going for you.
A. Yes. It's just...
Q. Unfortunately, there was nobody to treat."

Puma, Frank EMT Division 1 EMS
EMT Kevin McKeon
EMT Joe Torres, [Norberto?]

"After we heard the first plane hit and felt the ground shake, I ran down to the corner of Church and Park Place, looked up and I saw the plane shooting out of the top of the towers. That's when I grabbed for my radio and yelled over the air, "1 Adam. A bomb just went off in the Trade Center."

"Through that whole time before the second plane hit, we were treating anywhere
between 7 and 15 different patients. When the second plane hit, me and my partner were in the back of our ambulance."

"He then proceeded to get into the driver's seat, and we started making our way to NYU Downtown Hospital, Beekman, to drop off our first set of patients when we got flagged down for another lady who got hit by the landing gear of the first plane. We then proceeded to put her on a long board as best as we could, because we couldn't roll her because she had no back anymore. We put her on the long board and put her in the back of the ambulance, dropped off our first set of patients at Beekman Hospital."

"We then proceeded to go back to Vesey and Church where we originally were, but we were
stopped by the PD. We noticed other ambulances going into Battery Park City, so we followed
them. That's where we had our triage center set up, one of our many triage centers that day."
"We started walking back up towards West Street between Liberty and Vesey when we heard them start screaming over the radio that the first tower, the south tower, was ready to fall.
We started running because we looked up and we saw the part of the tower coming down. Me
and my partner started running, and I ran west down Vesey Street and almost jumped right into the Hudson River."

"I ran into a couple people that I work with: EMT Allen Cruz, who was working the LSU truck that day, EMT Joe Torres, EMT Mike D'Angelo and a couple other faces that I don't remember their names."

"Then we heard them screaming over the air that the second tower was ready to fall."
"Then after that we heard that we were starting to set our staging area up further near the Chelsea Piers."

"I finally ran into my partner, Orlando Martinez, after an hour and a half of being separated from him."

"Then we heard them screaming over the air again that there was a gas leak, everyone
keep pushing forward. We then proceeded to get back in our ambulance."
"we started running into more people from our station, EMT John Moritz, EMT
Kevin McKeon."

"A. I remember when we pulled up first, because we were the first emergency unit on the
scene there, I remember counting at least six bodies who jumped out from the 50th floor."
"I remember the F-16s and the F-18s flying overhead before the first tower collapsed that we all jumped on the floor because we didn't know what it was. We looked up and saw it was
our guys, and we were like, okay, we can stand up now and take control of this."

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