tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-367840372011-04-21T19:47:52.413+01:00I decided to make a blog about 9/11 because of all the false claims that are made by the so called truthers about what had happened on that fateful day. And the best way i thought was to go through all the transcripts that were made from the interviews with the fire-fighters, policemen and emergency personnel. You can use the search engine on the right to look for quotes. On the right i have also added links for reference material. For transcripts see link on the right.Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17951311616880111671noreply@blogger.comBlogger261100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36784037.post-17382405736723065652007-03-12T03:04:00.000+01:002007-03-12T03:48:54.841+01:00<p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">FIREFIGHTER THOMAS TURILLI</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110501.PDF"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Transcript</span></a><br /><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB">We were waiting in I guess like a little almost like a cutout area of the lobby, an elevator bank. One elevator was only working out of like four<span style=""> </span>elevators in that bank. The door closed, they went up, and it just seemed a couple seconds and all of a sudden you just heard like it almost actually<span style=""> </span>that day sounded like bombs going off, like boom, boom, boom, like seven or eight, and then just a huge wind gust just came and my officer just<span style=""> </span>actually took all of us and just threw us down on the ground and kind of just jumped on top of us, laid on top of us. There were rocks falling and all that. The lights were still on at that point and all of a sudden the lights went out and you couldn't see anything. At this point, there's a guy from my firehouse on his way up in the elevator. They got up to the 22nd floor and 13 Truck got off the elevator. He said to the guy -- this is<span style=""> </span>before the actual collapse happened. He said to him stay here with us, stay here with me, because if this elevator closes, I don't have any tools. As soon as he said that, the elevator closed and that's when the actual<span style=""> </span>collapse of the building happened. He made his way out into a stairwell and he made his way down.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB">At that point we were kind of standing on the street and I looked to my left and actually I noticed the tower was down. I didn't even know what it was when we were in there. It just seemed like a huge explosion.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB">Then we started walking actually back towards Tower 1 and a cop and a Battalion Chief came up to us and said just start running the other way. The other tower is coming down.<br />Q. Who told you this; a cop?<br />A. A cop and a Battalion Chief. We were kind of like standing next to them. I stayed with him -- I was with the Battalion Chief at one point and I started running up the street and I kind of lost track of all the guys I was with. The two other guys who I actually brought to the ambulance, the ambulance guy said you've got to get out of the ambulance. They just started running towards the water. We started running, myself, the Battalion Chief, the cop, my Lieutenant was with me at that point, up West Street, and you just heard a rumbling, a huge amount of rumbling, and I just dove under a car, and I was with a guy from I think 138 Truck.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">FIREFIGHTER EDWARD KENNEDY</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB"><o:p><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110502.PDF">Transcript</a><br /></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB">Q. Ed, just tell us the incident as you recall it on that day.<br />A. We weren't dispatched until the second plane hit. We were watching. It was in the house watch we were watching as -- you know, we turned the TV on like everybody else, saw that there was a hole in the side of the building, weren't sure whether it was a little plane or was it an implosion or an explosion. But as we watched the TV, all of a sudden the second plane flew in there and hit, and with that we knew right away, we thought it was an act of terrorism.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB">We parked on </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB">West Street</span></st1:address></st1:Street><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB">. I really don't know exactly where because there were so many rigs and stuff but back a ways. We had to walk down a few blocks to get down. The lobby command post at that time -- we took extra bottles with us, and the lobby command post was set up across </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB">West Street</span></st1:address></st1:Street><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">. I guess it had originally been in the towers, I heard, and the flames had come down into the lobby and they had moved across West Street up in front of I guess it's --<br />Q. The Financial Center?<br />A. -- the Financial Center.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB">So when I saw that and I saw our two guys were going over, I said to the Lieutenant, well, I'm just going to walk south down here a little bit, tell these guys that are pulling in, 113 Truck had just pulled up and they were on the west side of the street and there was another rig coming up, and as I said to the guy with me, Richie Boeri and I, I said to Richie, well, okay, we're going to walk down there and just tell these guys not to block, you know, keep the road open. We took two steps, there was a tremendous boom, explosion, we both turned around, and the top of the<br />building was coming down at us. With this I just turned to Richie and said run. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB">At that moment I'm thinking, well, maybe I should go in the water because there were boats in the water. I'm starting to get a little paranoid now and saying maybe I should take my stuff off, jump in the water, get in a boat, at least I'll be all right, because I didn't know -- at that point I didn't have any idea, you know, I didn't see the other building come down. We just heard it rumbling and crashing and people screaming that it was coming down and we ran and jumped in. I mean, I never knew the first building that came down, No. 2, I didn't know that the whole building came down because I really couldn't see. What I saw was the top of the building, the top quarter of the building come<span style=""> </span>down, and I never knew until later on that the whole bottom, that the rest of it had pancaked down, because I couldn't see because of all the dusk and the smoke and even, I don't know, how many minutes later, however it was. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB">We were on </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB">Liberty Street</span></st1:address></st1:Street><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB"> and we came out into there and it just look like something that -- it looked like a bomb, of course, had gone off, almost like a nuclear bomb. That's all I could think of. I've never been at war. I equated it to being like when I saw something like when I was a kid and I saw Godzilla in the movies or something, when he crushes those buildings and stuff like that, that's what it looked like to me.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB">That was the only Mayday that I remember, and to tell you the truth, the only guy that really stands out in my mind that I remember being on the radio was Chief Visconti. I remember him talking and giving directions and this and that. But this is as the day was going on and, of course, there were so many transmissions going over. I remember him screaming about 7, No. 7, that they wanted everybody away from 7 because 7 was definitely going to collapse, they don't know when, but it's definitely going to come down, just get the hell out of the way, everybody get away from it, make sure you're away from it, that's an order, you know, stuff like that. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">FIREFIGHTER PAUL BESSLER</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110503.PDF">Transcript</a><br /><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB">Okay. I'll start with Engine 1's arrival to the building. We responded to the north tower and we proceeded up to the 22nd floor. When we got to the 22nd floor, there was a staging area for I believe it was the Port Authority Police, and our proby was having chest pains, and my Lieutenant, Andy Desperito, gave an urgent for Firefighter Craig Dunn, probationary firefighter, which kind of slowed us down a little bit. We would have continued up, but we wanted to make sure he was getting assistance. His urgent was given and it was answered. I don't know by who. So we were going to proceed up. He was in good hands with the Port Authority cops. While we were in the hallway, we were taking a breather, the south tower fell. We all thought it was a secondary explosion or maybe a plane, but we never knew that the south tower fell. We just knew, whatever it was, that it was really bad. So the lights had gone out and the ceiling tiles fell and we all turned our flashlights on and went into the staircase to get shelter because the shafts were open. On the 22nd floor, some of the elevator shafts were actually open. I don't know who had said it but they said, you know, get into the staircase, and we all went in the staircase. The emergency lighting was on. Andy actually started going up the staircase, which, in my mind, I thought he's not going up the stairs. After what just happened, this is not good. There's something we don't know. He was on a mission to go up the stairs. The brothers were up. Just at that point, my radio came clear as day, "Imminent collapse. This was a terrorist attack. Evacuate."<br />That's exactly what I heard. I think that was Chief Picciotto that was giving the order. We relayed that again, hoping that the brothers would hear it above us, and I remember the look on Andy's face, like apprehension that we were going to leave this building.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB">Just as we got towards the walkway, I looked back because I heard what I thought was another jet, and it was the building on its way down already. My guys had just came out. They were on the apron and they were just going to cross the barricade and stuff was -- the debris was on its way down and we just ran. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">FIREFIGHTER CRAIG CARLSEN</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110505.PDF">Transcript</a><br /><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB">As we got down to the location, we got dropped off a couple of blocks away. I don't really recall what street we got dropped off on, but I think it was Barclay and West. The lieutenant and I traveled down to where Ladder 8's rig was to find out, see if we could hook up with Ladder, looking for the command post. I proceeded into </span><st1:place><st1:placename><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB">One</span></st1:PlaceName><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB"> </span><st1:placename><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB">World</span></st1:PlaceName><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB"> </span><st1:placename><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB">Trade</span></st1:PlaceName><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB"> </span><st1:placetype><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB">Center</span></st1:PlaceType></st1:place><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB"> into the front lobby. Just making it into the door, I ran into 3 Truck, members of 3 Truck, which told us that there were numerous people trapped in elevator cars and that they needed forcible entry saws.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB">I guess about three minutes later you just heard explosions coming from building two, the south tower. It seemed like it took forever, but there were about ten explosions. At the time I didn't realize what it was. We realized later after talking and finding out that it was the floors collapsing to where the plane had hit. We then realized the building started to come down. At that point everybody at the command post took off into -- there were two garages across. I guess it was by </span><st1:place><st1:placename><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB">Two</span></st1:PlaceName><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB"> </span><st1:placename><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB">World</span></st1:PlaceName><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB"> </span><st1:placename><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB">Financial</span></st1:PlaceName><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB"> </span><st1:placetype><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB">Center</span></st1:PlaceType></st1:place><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB"> next to the Winter Garden, just a little bit south of the north bridge. Everybody took off into an underground garage. I made it in about 20 feet inside the door, and I tripped over an EMT who I guess broke his leg and was disabled. I pretty much just stayed there and tried to comfort him. Before I had gone into the garage, I grabbed a mask. At that point, that's when the building started to come down. It was already coming down, and you could see the force of air coming towards you. I was just trying to drag the EMT down the ramp. That's when the blast came, and now you're just trying to don the mask. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB">Q. When the north tower was coming down, did you have any indication? Did you hear the explosions again? Did anybody warn you like they heard on the radio or anything like that?<br />A. I didn't have a radio, because we were coming from the medical office. So I never did get a radio. So I wouldn't have heard that, if somebody had said it. You did hear the explosions. Of course after the first one -- the first one was pretty much looking at it like in awe. You didn't realize that this was really happening because you kind of just stood there and you didn't really react as fast as you thought you were going to. The second one coming down, you knew the explosions. Now you're very familiar with it. Of course when I looked up, all I could see was the antenna coming down. You pretty much just pick up and take off. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">FIREFIGHTER MICHAEL MACKO</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110506.PDF">Transcript</a><br /><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB">We were making our way down </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB">West Street</span></st1:address></st1:Street><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB">. We got just about south of the north overpass, about 50 feet past that, when the first collapse occurred. I looked up. I was awed by – I thought it exploded at the top. Everybody I guess at that point started running, and I luckily ran north where I came from to try to run out from under this – which happened to be a collapse, realized I couldn’t. I was going to stay under the overpass. I realized I couldn’t get out from under the collapse. I dove under an ESU truck that was facing north on the west side of </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB">West street</span></st1:address></st1:Street><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB">. I dove under that and waited for the building to come down. When the building did come down, I actually thought I was trapped, and the truck was blown off me, pushed off me, I guess. It was not there. At that point I was just really shocked and didn’t know what was going on at that point.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">MR. ANTHONY DeMAIO</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110507.PDF">Transcript</a><br /><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB">So we're starting towards the scene. It had to be maybe -- we were practically underneath it. We were on the other side of the pedestrian bridge. Definitely we were on the other side of the bridge. All of a sudden -- yeah, we were, because the pedestrian bridge goes over to the high school. That's when we heard the rumble. We looked up, and the second tower was coming down. We turned around. We run out of here. I lose my boss. I couldn't find him for a while. I continued running north. Then after a while everything started to settle down, I started to work my way back.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB">When we came up on -- over here somewhere. It was actually -- I forget the name of the street. North End?<br />Q. Had the second building collapsed yet?<br />A. Yeah. No, what happened, like I said, we were walking towards the scene. That's when we heard the rumbling and the second building started coming down. That's when we ran.<br />Q. So you got there after the first building collapsed?<br />A. Yes, after the first building collapsed and just prior to the second building coming down.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">MR. MICHAEL FELICE</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110508.PDF">Transcript</a><br /><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB">We passed underneath a bridge, a foot bridge. We passed underneath a foot bridge. I remember that. I'm looking at this tower, and Tony DeMaio was with me. I can remember telling him, "Tony, I don't believe what I'm seeing. I can't believe this, you know, the smoke pouring out." All at once as I'm looking at it, I see chunks of the tower starting to come down and it was picking up speed. I can remember saying, "It's coming down." Right at that point firefighters were rushing past us. I almost got knocked over. I turned around and said, "Tony, run." I can remember turning around, and things were flying out of my pockets. I couldn't worry about that at that point, because I was running. I ran to the left, and Tony ran to the right. I'm looking back, and I said, "God, look at this!" I can remember saying that. I could see this cloud following. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">FIREFIGHTER KIRK LONG</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110509.PDF">Transcript</a><br /><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB">We made it up to the 22nd floor. We stood there for a couple minutes. I believe Andy Desperito talked to the battalion through the fire warden phones. We did locate somebody at the end of the hall, but everything was blown out. The ceiling had fallen. The drop ceiling had blown to the floor. Some of the walls were blown out. So Andy and I had crawled down the hallway to get to the Port Authority command post. After that we went back to the members, and when the building started to shake. I don't remember anybody telling us to get out, but there was a Port Authority person with us and I believe he had orders to leave. Again, I think that's maybe why we were going. Let<span style=""> </span>me see what else.<br />Q. Do you know what stairway it was?<br />A. I believe it was B. Again, I was watching every person coming down, looked at their face, just to make them happy that they were getting out and we were going in and everything was okay. We were also with 16 Engine on the 22^nd floor. When the building shook, I was right next to an elevator shaft with Andy, crawling down the hallway. I was waiting for a flame to come up from the basement because I believed something in the basement blew up. Nothing like that happened, so I was waiting for a flame to come down from a plane. Nothing like that happened. Still at that time I never knew that the south tower had gone down.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB">I get outside, still helping people out, still not knowing the south tower had gone down. We get outside, help some old man out. We helped him halfway down the block, I guess. We heard a noise like the plane was still coming in -- like another plane was coming in. We turned around to look, and that's when our building was going down. I was covered up with debris. I couldn't see anything, couldn't talk, choking from all the dust. I had my cylinder, but of course I was out of air from walking down all the steps and helping out the PB officer.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">FIREFIGHTER PATRICK MARTIN</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110510.PDF">Transcript</a><br /><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB">That's where we saw Timmy Stackpole standing there. We looked and he was just on the west side of </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB">West Street</span></st1:address></st1:Street><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB">, basically, just north of the south pedestrian bridge. I don't know how long it was after that that the towers came down. We were looking up. You saw the smoke coming out. We really didn't have an assignment yet. Our lieutenant came back. I can't remember if he actually gave us an assignment of what we were going to do or what, but it was right then that we heard the noise. My lieutenant said he looked down at the first floor, and he auto see the first floor of the south tower like exploding out. I looked up. I looked up, and the sky was filled with that debris cloud. You could see the debris coming down, pretty much toward us. We were standing underneath it. At that point there we made 180 degree turn, and we started running south on </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB">West Street</span></st1:address></st1:Street><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB">. I'm pretty sure we made it under the south pedestrian bridge. I don't know whether we got all the way to </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB">Albany Street</span></st1:address></st1:Street><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB"> or not, but we were able to make a turn and we were alongside the building. We didn't know that the whole tower had come down until later on. We heard it and we knew -- the whole sky was filled with the debris. You could see it coming down. Whatever it was was coming right at us. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB">This time I came up. I came up because we were by the water. We came up </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB">Albany</span></st1:place></st1:City><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB">. I went north on whatever street, </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB">End Street</span></st1:address></st1:Street><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB">, to about </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB">Liberty Street</span></st1:address></st1:Street><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB"> and went back to the debris field. There was a lot of debris here. Then I heard the noise again. I don't even remember seeing anything of the north tower coming down. I don't know if I saw it or not. Climbed out of the debris field, and I was alongside </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB">Liberty Street</span></st1:address></st1:Street><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB">. I know I made the turn here. In the building there was like a cutout where I could get like underneath the building. There must have been a door there; I can't remember if there was. This time I remembered I was all by myself thinking, oh, now I'm going to die by myself. I could hear the building shaking as the building was coming down. You could hear the whole building shake. <o:p></o:p></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/36784037-1738240573672306565?l=jay-911.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17951311616880111671noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36784037.post-62538108559866572482006-12-17T15:46:00.000+01:002006-12-17T15:50:35.621+01:00<p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">EMT NAOMI NACIONAL<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110483.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">All of a sudden I heard this noise that was just horrible. I would say it sounded like a gate rattling or something like that. I look over at the people, and I go to look up. But I was sitting inside the ambulance, so not realizing that there's no way I could see. I saw nothing, but I heard it. Then I looked back, and I saw that almost everyone was gone. It was just like in a second I looked and no one was there. So I got out and I started running. That was when the second tower collapsed. It was right at the beginning of the second towers collapse.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">PARAMEDIC KAREN LAMANNA<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110484.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">About halfway down, all of a sudden we heard screaming over the radio, “Oh, my God, oh, my God, there's another explosion, there's another plane.” My partner and I looked at each other and went, “Oh, my God we’re in trouble now.”<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">I no sooner throw the vehicle into park, I'm just throwing it into park, and the noise started of the first tower coming down. It was the most horrendous noise I ever heard of my life, and it's even hard for me to explain now what it sounds like. I know I’ve heard people describe it as thunderous. I'm sure it was thunderous. It was just many different things.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">While we were doing that I remember hearing a plane flying overhead. I'm thinking, oh, my God, not again, not again. I looked up, we all looked up, and there were F-16’s. I was like oh, my God. We were in trouble then. Okay, that’s a first, F-16’s flying over New York.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">PARAMEDIC JOEL PIERCE<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110485.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">That’s when we heard that sound, again, and I swear it sounded like another plane coming in, just that rumbling noise, that steadily – that continuous rumbling that was getting louder and louder, and I think the last words I had were, oh, God not another one. So we all ran. We got ourselves in this little corner right over here, right by the hexagon here, and we all just kind of cowered underneath this little overhang right up against the lobby windows. There was no place to run.<br />Q. The lobby windows of World Financial?<br />A. Financial, yes. The hexagon part.<br />Q. Okay.<br />A. There's a little corner right over here, and that’s where we basically just crowded together and kept our heads down and the rumbling noise just got immense at that point and I kind of looked up and all I saw was this huge dust cloud going right between the two buildings here, between 1 and 2, right where the – going literally between on Liberty Street, and it was just this huge wall, like this perfect wall of dust.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">EMT JASON CHARLES<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110486.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">I grabbed her and the Lieutenant picked her up by the legs and we start walking over slowly to the curb, and then I heard an explosion from up, from up above, and I froze and I was like, oh, shit, I'm dead because I thought debris was going to hit me in the head and that was it. Then everybody stops and looks at the building and then they take off. The Lieutenant dropped her legs and ran. The triage center, everybody who was sitting there hurt and, oh, you know, help me, they got up and everybody together got up and ran. I looked at them like why are they running? I look over my shoulder and I says, oh, shit, and then I turned around and looked up and that’s when I saw the tower coming down. I saw the – it looked like the top, maybe 70, 60 floors coming off the building, and I had stood there thinking maybe the towers were not going to hit me. Then I looked closer and two pieces of the debris fly over my head about 40, 50 stories up, flying over my head, and I was like, shit, I'm out of here.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">At one point – at some point, I'm not sure, but the building – that horrible twisting metal sound of a freight train or whatever – it's the worst sound in the world – stopped. But then it started again. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">I was like, listen, guys, you guys got to get out of here because Tower 1 is going to fall because for some reason I had just known that the tower was going to come down at that point because when Tower 2 came down, the ground was actually shaking.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">We start walking back there and then I heard a ground level explosion and I'm like holy shit, and then you heard that twisting metal wreckage again.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">So I wound up in the gym. Those guys had a TV set and that’s when I found out we were under attack, because prior to that I thought Tower 2 blew up because the engine from the plane hit Tower 2 and exploded inside. It was like stupid, but that’s what I thought.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">So at that point now, we were just waiting for patients and nobody was coming in. It was like, you know. Then we ran into another Lieutenant, Lieutenant Davis. I think he’s from Battalion 4, if I'm not mistaken.<br />(Tape side two)<br />-- towers and I heard six loud explosions, and those six loud explosions changed my mind real quick and I went back to the triage center and it was like you know what? Let me wait here.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">CAPTAIN PAUL CONLON<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110487.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">He pointed to the lobby command post. Again, you could see the entrance. You can point to the lobby command post. He pointed to the entrance of Two World Trade Center. From where he was standing, you could see it. It was probably 200 yards or something. I look at it. There's burning debris everywhere. There was an engine company north of us, north of that pedestrian bridge, putting something out, putting out a car fire or a large thing of rubbish or something. There was burning debris on the ground.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">We got about halfway there, and Dan Suhr gets hit with a jumper. He was right to my right and behind me. It was as if he exploded. It wasn’t like you heard something falling and you could jump out of the way. He gets hit.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">FIREFIGHTER TIMOTHY BURKE<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110488.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Then the building popped, lower than the fire, which I learned was I guess, the aviation fuel fell into the pit, and whatever floor it fell on heated up really bad and that’s why it popped at that floor. That’s the rumor I heard. But it seemed like I was going oh, my god, there is a secondary advice because that way the building popped I thought it was an explosion.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">FIREFIGHTER ANGEL RIVERA<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110489.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">We reported over there. We were there about ten minutes before the chief told us go to the Marriott Hotel, go from the 14th floor up, search and evacuate all the floors. So we walk all the way up, no problem. Then we hear the explosion and debris falling. We were looking out of the windows and see body parts all over the place. It was scary. It was very sad. We searched 14, 15, went in one lobby, we came out the other way, we went in one stairway, came up -- when we hit the 19th floor, something horrendous happened. It was like a bomb went off. We thought we were dead. The whole building shook. The brick coming out of -- the door to the hallway into the hotel blew off like somebody had thrown it all over the place. It shook all over the place. We were thrown on the floor. We looked inside the lobby after everything calmed down, and everything was collapsed. The building was still shaking and we're still hearing explosions going on everywhere, so we decided let's get out of here. After we decided to get out of there, we dropped everything.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">We met on that floor, and we were all safe. We were all like -- we could have been over here. What happened, we looked out of the window of the hotel, the wall, practically, because the window was all blown up. There was no way out. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Mike Mullan walked one flight up, and then the most horrendous thing happened. That's when hell came down. It was like a huge, enormous explosion. I still can hear it. Everything shook. Everything went black. The wind rushed, very slowly [sound], all the dust, all the -- and everything went dark. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">When the second tower came down, we had no idea what was going on. We thought another plane, another bomb, another as a second device. We thought, this is it, we are dead. When that happened, as I told you before, everything was black. It was like being inside a storm or volcano or something, something horrendous. We said we're going to die, we're going to die, God help us. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">FIREFIGHTER CRAIG DUNNE<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110490.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">We proceeded to go into the lobby of tower one. We got in there. The glass was down in the front. There was a gentleman -- you saw people that were jumping from the building. You had to look up and make sure you didn't get hit by any jumpers or anything. We saw a couple of people that were burnt on the outside of the building. There was a gentleman that was burnt inside when we went in. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">So we stopped at 22. Lieutenant Desperito and I believe one other member of Engine 1 tried to make their way down the hallway on the 22nd floor off the B stairwell to the command post. We were there three or four minutes. The elevator shafts were blown out, so they had to make their way around -- the fire came down the elevator shafts. We were waiting, taking a breather. People were still coming down. All of a sudden we lost power in the building, and it felt like somebody was shaking the building. We didn't know what was going on, whether our building was coming down or something was shifting. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Lieutenant Desperito was with Mike Yarembinsky, and Mike was kind of waiting. He said, "Go ahead." He told us to meet outside, make sure everybody was together to meet outside and wait on the corner of Vesey and West. I believe we were there maybe two minutes, two and a half minutes. We heard the rumble, looked up, and the antenna started leaning and the whole building started pancaking towards us, coming down. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">LT. THOMAS PIAMBINO<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110493.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">The civilian evacuation, in my opinion, was kind of orderly. They stayed to one side, and we stayed to the other side and worked our way up. I wasn't positive of what floors the fire was on. I didn't have any information. The handie-talkie information was pretty sketchy at best, and I don't know what point I heard this on the radio, but someone had said on the handie-talkie that there was a third aircraft inbound, and that is when I heard that, I specifically heard that, and at one point I guess – I don't know what -- where we were. In retrospect, I know what it was. 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. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">We proceeded down the stairway, and we had some civilians with us, and we managed to get them down to the lobby. When I got down to the lobby – the lobby was in bad shape when I went up. It was worse when I came back down. All the elevator shaftway doors were blown out, and there was stuff coming<span style=""> </span>down the -- just falling down the shafts, and the civilians had bogged down at the bottom of the stairs, because they were afraid to pass the elevator shafts, and there were piles of rubble all over the place.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">We started to go north on West Street as fast as we could. We weren't running, but we were moving, walking pretty fast, and then the north tower started to fall, and my perception was that when I looked back at the tower as it was starting to come down -- I was booking -- was that there was -- 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.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">EMT EDWARD MARTINEZ<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110494.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Once we were dispatched to Vesey and West Street, Vesey and West Street, upon entering the area, what we saw was like a total devastation from, I guess from the first plane that struck the tower. There were burnt cars. We saw – it was like a grayish – it was night. It was sunlight. There was a lot of light. It was a sunny clear day, but in that area it was a grayish area. The sun wasn’t shining. It was like a fog, like a big fog. We saw like I said, burned vehicles, some of them were on fire.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">I was talking to him when I heard a loud, like a roaring noise, like a loud loud roaring noise. At the time I didn’t know what it was. I just looked up. All I could see because of the fog was there, you couldn’t see above. Your distance was limited. Once I heard that, I heard like a big explosion, a tremendous explosion, let me put it that way and a rumbling sound.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">I got slapped down on the ground. Everything was hitting me, whatever was falling. At the time I didn’t know what it was. I thought maybe that the building that was on fire exploded. I didn’t know. I found out later on that the second plane had hit another building, the second tower.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">There was a lot going on. There was a lot of noise. I remember hearing still a lot of noise. I don’t know if things were still falling, but all of a sudden we heard another rumbling sound and again with the smoke, you saw the smoke coming down and everybody just ran towards safety.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">EMT BENJAMIN BADILLO<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110495.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">About 5 minutes after just sitting there, I hear this really bad thundering sound. I didn’t know what it was. It just sounded like thunder, but it was like different. When I look up into the sky, out of curiosity, I don’t know what made me look. I could see the top of the building coming down. I paused for a second or two. When I took my eyes off the building and back to the ground, I could see officers and a lot of people just running into the building, so I did the same thing, like any reasonable person would do, trying to save their own life. I ran inside – I don’t know if it was the Marriott Hotel or – I don’t know if the Marriott is shown here,<br />Q. I believe it's in here. It used to be the Vista.<br />A. Yes, I don’t remember if it was the Marriott or the building right next to it, because there were two buildings right near to each other. But as soon as I ran into the building, I took a right. I was just trying to get as deep into the building as I could in the lobby. A few officers ran in there and civilians ran in there with us. As soon as I made the right, I tried to hide under a security desk and you could just hear everything come down. As soon as everything came down, the lobby and the lights – the lobby filled up with smoke and debris. The lights went off. You couldn’t see anything. It was completely dark. It was a really loud noise. I can't even describe it. But it was a really horrific nasty noise.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">They told me to get inside the vehicle and about two minutes later, we made a U turn heading south, because he was coming up north and then he made a U turn going south again, down towards Battery Park, and I could hear the second rumble and I already knew what it was. I knew it was the second building collapsing.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">FIREFIGHTER MICHAEL BYRNE<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110500.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">We went down and parked on Church and Vesey off from the north tower under that pedestrian walkway. We went into the tower, we were in the lobby a couple minutes. There was only one chief there. We really had no direction what to do. Captain Burke decided we would either go up on our own or wait for someone. We went up, started our way up. We went to the bank of elevators. We pulled a lady out of the bank, one of the banks. We used a rabbit tool. Most of the banks were blown off. The doors were charred and dismembered, some of them. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">We walked up three more flights to the 27th floor. I don't know the time we were up there for, but however long we were up there, that's when the other building came down. We didn't know it at the time. The whole building shook. We hit the floor. Guys were saying, "Pop the door. Pop the door. Pop the door." It stopped. No smoke, no nothing. We thought something was coming down the hallway, maybe. Again, I don't know the time frame from that time that elapsed. We got a report maybe 69th floor, 64th floor, partial collapse. After that -- there was one chief, I believe, up there. I'm not sure. He told us to start our way down, make your way down, everybody out. </span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/36784037-6253810855986657248?l=jay-911.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17951311616880111671noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36784037.post-46516533089582746112006-12-09T23:49:00.000+01:002006-12-09T23:53:49.238+01:00<p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >FIREFIGHTER MICHAEL Morabito<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110461.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >We were probably about a block away when we heard a giant rumbling sound. It sounded like jets were going overhead and then we looked up and we saw the tower start to fall and we just ran. We outran the dust cloud and got back in the rig. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >LIEUTENANT RUDOLF WEINDLER<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110462.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >The next thing I did was we saw a fire starting to show at windows in 7 World Trade Center, decided to go in and try and see if there was anybody in the building and/or put out the fires, and we did a search from floor to floor of 7 World Trade Center passing fire on floors 3, 7, 9. The standpipes had no water. We tried to extinguish a few fires with cans. When we got to 11, there was just too much smoke and we decided that, without water, if we went any higher, we'd be on fool's mission. So we left 7 World Trade Center, back down to the street, where I ran into Chief Coloe from the 1^st Division, Captain Varriale, Engine 24, and Captain Varriale told Chief Coloe and myself that 7 World Trade Center was badly damaged on the south side and definitely in danger of collapse. Chief Coloe said we were going to evacuate the collapse zone around 7 World Trade Center, which we did. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >At some point, 7 World Trade Center collapsed. We were down the block. We heard it starting to go.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >EMT KEVIN BARRETT<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110464.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Approximately </span><st1:time minute="50" hour="9"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >9:50</span></st1:time><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >, we heard this loud noise. I looked up and it sounded like another airplane was coming in. that’s what it sounded. It sounded like a large engine, like you're sitting on the seat of the wing of the plane. That’s the best way I can describe what it sounded like. We look up and we saw tower two coming down. We just all ran.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >EMT MOUSSA DIAZ<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110465.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >All of a sudden we heard a big boom and I looked up and the tower started to collapse, so I instructed the patient, I told her make a run for it. From then we all ran. I lost my partner and a big black cloud of debris started coming around the corner from, I believe it's 5 World Trade Center. Q. When you said you heard a boom, what tower -- can you describe which tower -- A. I believe it was tower one, because we were right in front of it. Right between, there is a street. There is like a path. We were against the building. 5 World Trade Center. I believe that was what it was, and 1 World Trade Center. It was directly above it and that's where the command post was. When we heard the big boom, I looked up and I just saw the building collapsing. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >FIREFIGHTER GEORGE HOLZMAN<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110467.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >I started walking back towards the rig, the OV and the roof guy were helping me take care of people and I started walking towards the rig to tell the </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Manhattan</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > dispatcher what was going on. When what we thought was another plane had hit another building, because we were on the side of the building that was pretty smoky and debris, cloud. The remainder was in our face most of that time. We assumed or we thought that there was another explosion, another plane had hit. We didn't know what had happened.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >We stayed there for quite sometime when I don't even know who, I think it was someone, Lieutenant Lowney spoke to, asked us to leave the area, they were concerned about 7 </span><st1:place><st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >World</span></st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > </span><st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Trade</span></st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > </span><st1:placetype><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Center</span></st1:placetype></st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > collapsing.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >FIREFIGHTER KEVIN HOWE<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110469.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >With that, I was able to -- I'm hearing like a rumble and I'm looking up and I'm seeing the antenna start to do this type of nonsense, swaying a little bit it seemed, and sure enough the building was coming down. That was tower number 1, the north tower. As it started coming down, we saw this ferocious amount of black cloud, a brown cloud that was chasing everybody. It was chasing us also.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >At that time there was a lot of fire going on. I think it was the Customs House was roaring. The 7 </span><st1:place><st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >World</span></st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > </span><st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Trade</span></st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > </span><st1:placetype><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Center</span></st1:placetype></st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > was roaring. All we could think is we were an Engine Company, we have got to get them some water. We need some water you know. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >I remember being pulled off the pile like just before. It wasn't just before. It was probably an hour before 7 came down.<br />Q. It was about an hour before. Maybe an hour and a half.<br />A. I remember when 7 World Trade came down and everybody was like shell shocked. I mean this was a 47 story building. We all ran. We were like oh, my god, here we go again. It just gave us the creeps.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >EMT JOHN HEER<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110470.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >You could see when we were around the corner you could see the top of the south tower. You could see the top. It just starts – you hear the crumbling, like an engine roar and something started coming down like that and people just started scattering up the corner.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >But the second tower, which is actually the first tower, tower one came down. We just heard a rumble and the smoke started coming around and people started running.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >He gave us some water and we hung out over by a rail for I don’t know how long. Then we just started listening to the radio, Coast Guard coming up. There are jets flying overhead now. Every sound you hear, everybody is panicking and running everywhere.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >FIREFIGHTER THOMAS DONATO<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110471.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >During that time a couple of the members felt like we were being useless just standing around. We wanted to do something. So we started trying to walk down, trying to get into the pile. We kept on being turned around from chiefs, because they didn't want us near seven. 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.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >We made our way to the base of seven. That's where we set up the tower ladder. As we were coming down </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Greenwich</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > – was it </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Greenwich</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >? I'm not sure. It was either West or </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Greenwich</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >. There was multiple cars on fire throughout the block. All the hydrants, there was no pressure in any of the hydrants that we were around. There was a pumper set up on one of the streets, so we tried to stretch a line off the pumper because there was no pressure in the hydrant. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >CAPTAIN ROBERT SOHMER<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110472.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >As the day went on they started worrying about 7 World Trade Center collapsing and they ordered an evacuation from that area so at that time, we left the area with the other companies, went back to the command post on Broadway, where we were instructed, they were looking for companies to go to the west side to operate on the bridges, to cut members out that they had confirmed were pinned and trapped under the bridges on the west side. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><st1:city><st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Greenwich</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > and Park was covered with debris, there were burning autos and all debris. It was starting to extend into the buildings on both sides of the block. We went to hydrants in that area. We had off duty guys in our cells, but the hydrants had no water. We did whatever we could. The rigs actually were starting to become in danger of lighting up themselves.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >I walked down to the position with the Chief where we were going to assess what we need and how close we wanted to get with the apparatus. They were worried about 7 at the time. The decision was made not to do it, not to get anybody else hurt. That's when we backed up and they said let's wait for this other building before we continue any work, because where the bridge was was in the direct path of 7. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Then the other part was unfortunately we couldn't do anything at the pedestrian bridge but the concern of 7, which they had no idea which way it was going to collapse and they just knew it was going to collapse and they positioned us outside of it.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >They made us evacuate due to the fear of 7 coming down. That's when we went back to the command post, got the other instruction to work with this Chief, where we went to the west side, got as far down as we could. The Chief and myself went down to that area where we they wanted us to work. Seeing what we would need; torches, air bags, anything else like that to operate at that bridge. The concern there again, it was later in the afternoon, 2, </span><st1:time minute="30" hour="14"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >2:30</span></st1:time><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >, like I said. The fear then was 7. 7 was free burning. Search had been made of 7 already from what they said so they had us back up to that point where we were waiting for 7 to come down to operate from the north back down. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >FIREFIGHTER THOMAS ORLANDO<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110473.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >We made it up -- every five or six or seven floors we just took a little break because there were a lot of people on the stairway, a lot of people coming down, just to catch our breath and whatever, take a little breather. We finally made it up to probably around the -- I would say the 18th floor when we took a little break. At the time the building was shaking. It was hit with something. At that time we thought it was another missile attack, so we all just ran into the stairway and just helped cover us and other civilians and firemen until it stopped shaking. We didn't know what it was at the time.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >F. F. ROBERT </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >SALVADOR</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110474.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >The alarm came in. We heard the explosion. My initial thought that the explosion was something out of the kitchen. It was approximately 8:47, </span><st1:time minute="48" hour="8"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >8:48</span></st1:time><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >. We ran out to the front. We were getting on the rig. We knew it was an explosion, and then we heard a 1060, an emergency. A 1060 came over and said a plane just hit the north tower, commuter plane. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >I did it again, and then the north tower started coming down. I heard the same -- same pancaking, like a machine gun coming and glass flying, so I closed -- shut the door, got out of the rig, and ran -- started running across the street. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >FIREFIGHTER ROY CHELSEN<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110475.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >We were actually sitting in the kitchen, the lieutenant and I, and we actually heard the first explosion. We both looked at each other, and we were like, "Oh, what was that?" It seemed like right after that the alarm came in and we were on our way downtown. We took the </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >FDR Drive</span></st1:address></st1:street><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > down, and you could actually see the building pretty much the whole way down. The whole three-quarters of the way up was engulfed in fire.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >We made our way up to 29 or 30. We were again resting again. All of a sudden just -- I don't know if the sequence is right, but everything went black, and all the power went out. There was just this rumbling. I felt like it went on forever. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >I believe 4 Engine was with us, there was 28, and I believe 8 Truck was with us. We all just huddled into the staircase. We were holding on thinking -- I'm a big person. I'm thinking the floor's going to collapse or the ceiling's coming down, but I thought that was it. When the rumbling finally stopped, all of a sudden we felt this gush of air coming from everywhere. Just from every direction there was like wind blowing. What I heard later on, that was just the concussion of the air coming back up from tower two.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >We got out and we got under the bridge. A couple bodies came down, flying down, just in front of our guys. We just got under the bridge and like, okay, it's safe, it's good. All of a sudden we heard this huge explosion, and that's when the tower started coming down. We all started running.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >FIREMAN KEVIN CRONICK<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110476.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Then shortly thereafter is when I heard this loud rumbling noise and we looked up and saw that the building, or the south tower of the </span><st1:place><st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Trade</span></st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > </span><st1:placetype><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Center</span></st1:placetype></st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > was collapsing. Then we just turned around and took refuge inside the building we were standing in front of. The building collapsed.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >FIREFIGHTER JASON MCGIMPSEY<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110477.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Q. Were you aware that the south tower had collapsed?<br />A. We didn’t know actually what was going on. We weren’t sure if those noises – sounded like another plane, bomb, something like that, but – it just was a big, we didn’t really know what was going on because we were inside the building and then walking around we knew it was bad, just from looking out.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >From that point everything just turned black. I thought we were buried at first, so I masked up at first, because I don’t know if it would be – it was just everything just turned black so I thought I was buried. The second collapse was really bad because the whole building really shook and the noise – it was – it sounded like it was another plane. I was waiting for the fuselage to come in. it was so loud.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >EMT MELVIN RODRIGUEZ<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110480.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >When we finished with the fireman, we were around Barclay or Murray. They might have made us move back. There was a gas scare. I don’t remember the time frame, but everybody started saying keep your ambulances away from manhole covers and sewers. Somebody yelled, “Everybody run for lives. There's a gas main leak. There might be an explosion.”</span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/36784037-4651653308958274611?l=jay-911.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17951311616880111671noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36784037.post-61884475552702534812006-12-09T01:09:00.000+01:002006-12-09T01:17:05.486+01:00<p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">FIREFIGHTER HUGH METTHAM<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110441.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Suddenly the north tower starts to rumble and shake violently. We all head to stairwell B and huddle near the door while the floor we are on shakes and rumbles for 30 seconds for more. Lights go out, and we are thrown into total darkness. Stairways and hallways fill with smoke and dust as the rumble and roar subsides. All of us start to speculate on the cause of the rumble. It could be another plane crash or localized collapse. Someone in the darkness mentions a bomb. There is little time now to ponder what just happened. What could shake the north tower so violently?<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">We reached the sixth or seventh floor and are met by many firefighters coming down the stairs, informing us that the upper floors are collapsing and that there's a heavy odor of gas and fuel.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">I start to walk fast in northerly direction on West Street. 15 seconds later, near the corner of Vesey and West Street, we hear a terrible roar behind and above us. The upper section of the north tower begins to collapse and push out a wave of smoke, ash and debris.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">LIEUTENANT WILLIAM WALSH<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110442.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">After about 15 minutes, we conclude our operations there. Lispenard is about one block south of Canal Street. I believe the chief gave the code for a gas leak, 10-40, code 1. all the units were about to go 10-8 when we heard thus load roar. Everybody thought – or at least to me it sounded as though there was going to be a Con Edison steam explosion. This was about a quarter to 9 I’d say. So everybody looked up to where they thought they heard the sound coming from, and we saw an American Airlines plane. To me it looked as though it was going treetop level right down West Street. Then he appeared to rise a little bit. We were under the impression – he looked like he was going down, but we didn’t hear any mechanical difficulty. We couldn’t figure out why an American Airlines plane would be so low in downtown Manhattan. We sort of expected him to veer off and go into the Hudson. But he rose a little bit, his altitude, levelled off, and he was headed straight for the Trade Center. So just before he got to the Trade Center, it seemed as though he gained power. We were just watching this airplane on target for the World Trade Center. All of a sudden, boom, he disappears into the Trade Center. You hear this sickening noise as if two pieces of fibreglass had hit. You hear this loud explosion. He just disappeared into the Trade Center.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">So we parked the apparatus right in front of the glass overhang on West Street, which is the main entrance to World Trade Center number one. We all gathered our tools, and we headed to through the front door. Now, the front door is a revolving door. There is a vestibule of about ten feet, let’s say, and there's another revolving door. There I noticed two civilians that had more than third degree burns. They were in pugilistic position. They were black, burnt. Their skin and their clothes were burnt off. They were smoldering, and they were trying to get up. They were just moving around. I had estimated they had less then half a minute left in their lives.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">What else I observed in the lobby was that – there's basically two areas of elevators. There's elevators off to the left-hand side which are really the express elevators. That would be the elevators that’s facing north. Then on the right-hand side there's also elevators that are express elevators, and that would be facing south. In the center of these two elevators shafts would be elevators that go to the lower floors. They were blown off the hinges. That’s where the service elevator was also.<br />Q. Were these elevators that went to the upper floors? They weren’t side lobby elevators?<br />A. No, no, I’d say that they went through floors 30 and below.<br />Q. And they were blown off?<br />A. They were blown off the hinges, and you could see the shafts. The elevators on the extreme north side and the other express elevator on the extreme south side, they looked intact to me from what I could see, the doors anyway. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">About this time, 10:15, 20 after or so, I feel a rumbling of the building. It felt as though – I got knocked from one side of the hallway to the other side. It felt like you were in a subway car standing up and the subway car was making a turn and you were getting shifted back and forth. That’s the way it felt. We later found out that this was World Trade Center number two collapsing. It had hit World Trade Center number one, and I guess it hit the Marriot Hotel. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">The wind was blowing south that day, and you had a clear view of the World Trade Center. I could see where it was heavily on fire. I assumed it was about the 95^th floor or so. All of a sudden, it starts coming down. That put panic into me. I just dropped my tools, and I started running north as fast as I could. But then the debris started coming down, and to me it sounded like the roar of a freight train. In the background you could hear beams hitting beam like an erector set falling down.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">I went down as far as Vesey Street, and it was all a big dust cloud. I heard over other people’s handy talkies that there were electrical fires and gas fires. It was just a dangerous situation down there.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">I just remembered seeing two floors of heavy fire from the north side of World Trade Center one and the West side of the World Trade Center one. All of a sudden things collapsed one floor, and then within a second or so it just imploded.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">FIREFIGHTER TYRONE JOHNSON<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110443.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Maybe about five minutes into the process of going up the steps, that's when the building collapsed on us. At that time we were thrown all around the place. Guys were laying around, covered up. I was messed up and covered up. Beams were thrown. Guys were injured. Just maybe a quick couple minutes -- it seems like a lifetime, though -- a few minutes I uncovered myself, got a hold of the rest of the guys in the company and we found our way out of the building. We just searched our way out. We saw the light, and we crawled out of the building.<br />Q. Did you have to crawl up?<br />A. We had to crawl down, maybe down half a floor, and then crawl up to get out the door. Once we got out of the building, we started walking towards the water, which is on the West Side Highway. At that time walking maybe we ran across other firemen milling around. Then we heard another rumble. Then I turned to my left and looked up. It was the second tower coming down. After that we just ran, ran, ran, ran. A black cloud of smoke just caught up to us while we were running towards the water. We got covered again. I got knocked down and covered again. I got up and made my way to the ambulance and I was taken to the hospital. Basically that's it. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">FIREFIGHTER JAMES DUFFY<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110444.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">We were waiting around. 122 Truck was over there right next to us. 22 Truck was in the lobby also. Then we were just waiting to go into the south tower. As we were waiting, we looked up and all I saw was -- I heard this huge noise, and I saw hundreds and hundreds of people running towards us. They were running out of the south tower to the Marriott, to the lobby. We just turned. We started to like run also. We got about ten feet before getting blown across the lobby. We got blown across the lobby, just got covered with debris.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">FIREFIGHTER THOMAS SPINARD<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110445.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Well, I just came on that day during a 24. I relieved the chauffeur probably about 8:20 or so. We got a box on Church and Leonard of an odor of gas. So Engine 7 and Ladder 1, Battalion 1, responds. It turned out to be a false alarm. As we were at the box, a plane passes us overhead real low. You could hear it; you could feel it. We turned around, and it just impacted the building, building one. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">I believe we were the first engine hooked up. There was a rig right along the curb there. It was a ladder. It was a tiller, so I don't know, whichever one, maybe 6 or something. I'm not sure. There was a guy laying in front of it, a civilian. We also had two civilians blown out to the middle of West Street on the divider there. It's about two feet high with dirt and grass they were sitting up there. I don't think they walked up there. They were just blown up there. They were all women. They were naked. They were burnt up. They were alive, but they were -- maybe they made it; I don't know. The ambulance took them away. The guy down here who was laying down in front of the rig, the ambulance took him away also. As I was hooking up, I had debris falling, people, glass, file cabinets. I saw a file cabinet come out. There were just chairs -- they were looking to break the windows with anything, I guess.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">While we were still in the middle of the street, another plane comes in, makes a big circle, comes around from like the Statue of Liberty direction, and hits two. We can't believe that another one is coming in. Joey got on the radio, "Another plane just hit the second tower." I don't know if he said mayday or what, but he yelled "Another plane hit the second tower." At that point debris was flying all over, the fireball, fuel was coming down, fireballs were coming down. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">We're still around there. The people who were removed at this point by the ambulance were in the street. I saw three people down there. They were all removed. I don't know what time later a loud rumble -- it sounded like an explosion. We thought it was a bomb. We ran under the bridge, me, Joe Cassaliggi and two police officers; I think one police officer and one Secret Service. We ran under the bridge. There's a column there, over here, right on the sidewalk, a big six foot round masonry column. We get behind that, and number two tower comes down and debris comes right around us. Heavy debris is hitting the front of the column, light debris is make it around, dust and little particles, and then the dust cloud hits us.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Q. Is there anything else you want to add?<br />A. I didn't go into the lobby, but I could see into the lobby. It seemed like there were people burnt. Guys were saying there were people burnt on the elevator, people burnt in the lobby. I heard them say there was marble blown off the walls. I imagine the concussion came down the elevator shaft or something and blew everything out.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">FIREFIGHTER MICHAEL YAREMBINSKY<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110446.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">We entered the building on the west side doorway. We got into the lobby –<br />Q. That’s the north tower?<br />A. North tower. When we got into the lobby, the first thing we saw or what I saw was there was a body covered up in the lobby, a dead body.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">When we got to 22, we heard there was a Port Authority command post on 22. So we were stopped there. My officer wanted to find out some information, my officer Lieutenant Andy Desperito. He went over to the command post. We noticed in the hallway that the elevator shaft had been blown out. There was nothing there, no doors, no framing, nothing. When you looked down, all you saw was the cables for the elevator and the brick work that was surrounding.<br />Q. Was it burning?<br />A. No burning, no smoke coming out of it. When he came back, on his way back when he was walking towards us, the entire building started to shake. This is when we were on the 22^nd floor, in the hallway. Initially we thought that our building was coming down, or some part of it was collapsing. What we found out right after that was that the south tower had just come down.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">LIEUTENANT JAMES MCGLYNN<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110447.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">We were heading across Houston before we made the left on West End Avenue. At that time I saw the plume of heavy fire engulf the north tower, what looked like the north tower. I thought it might have been a bomb. I didn’t know what it was. It turned out later that I found out that that was the second tower being hit.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">We made it up to approximately the 31^st floor. On the 31^st floor we felt the building begin to shake. It appeared that that building was starting to come down.<br />Q. Your building?<br />A. The north tower.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">It's obvious now, what happened was that vibration that we felt was the south tower collapsing. It wasn’t this building. It was the south tower that had come down.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">I believe I was between the second and third floor on the half landing, and it started to shake and vibrate. Then I heard the sound of the floors imploding one on top of the other. You heard it coming, and you heard it getting louder and louder and louder and louder and things are coming down on top of you. I hit the floor, and I rolled to the wall and just kind of covered up into a fetal position and started saying my prayers. Finally that stopped, and the debris started coming. When the loud banging stopped, I said, okay, at least I'm not going to get crushed or I'm not going to get crushed on impact. Then the debris kept coming, and it started covering me up and I thought, oh, God I'm going to die and just get buried alive. I said I would just rather die quickly than get buried alive, then that stopped. Then I felt this strange thing like air rushing up. The only thing I thought, “Am I falling? Am I going to heaven?” I didn’t know what was going on. I think my explanation is that that was the outside of the building tumbling on the street and then forcing air in and then it having nowhere to go but it came up. That’s my only explanation of what happened there. Then that stopped, and I just waited around and kind of nothing else happened. I stood up, kind of brushed myself off and kind of felt all my body parts.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">But there was contact with outside units, and they said, “Okay, we know that you’re there, but we can't come for you right now.” They said they had a 40-story building, which I guess was –<br />Q. Was it Seven World Trade that was on fire? Across from the north tower.<br />A. I think it's this, Northeast Plaza.<br />Q. Northeast Plaza?<br />A. That came down too; right?<br />Q. Uh-huh.<br />A. I think that’s what it was. That came down. Well they said that’s fully involved at this time. This was a fully involved building. I said all right, they’re not coming for us for a while. Now you're trapped in this rubble, and you're trying to get a grasp of an idea of what's going on there. I heard on the handy talky we are now fighting a 40-story building fully involved. Now you're trapped in rubble and the guys who are fighting the worst high-rise fire in the history of New York or history of the world, probably. I don’t know, 40-story building fully involved, I guess that was probably the worst.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">I just climbed out of there and followed the ropes down, followed the I beams up and over. At the same time we were walking out, and sure enough, that building was still involved. I'm like, is it going to come down next? Just when you thought it was over, you're walking by this building and you're hearing this building creak and fully involved in flames. It's like, is it coming down next? Sure enough, about half an hour later it came down.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">FIREFIGHTER JOSEPH PETRASSI<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><a name="OLE_LINK1"></a><span style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <span style=""></span> <p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110449.PDF">Transcript</a><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110449.PDF"><span style=""></span></a><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110449.PDF"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">We had our roll-ups and bottles and we walked up, and I believe it was around the 20th floor that we stopped to take a breather. 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.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">We made our way down to the lobby. The lobby looked like it was blown out, like the elevator doors. We came out of the building and we were looking up and the tower seemed to blow out, but it was on fire, and the Lieutenant said to run and we ran north up West Street. You could the feel the stuff hitting you on the back as you were running. It felt like it was right behind you. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">FIREFIGHTER RICHARD RATAZZI<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110451.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">We got in front of the Marriott when what sounded like another plane coming in. Everybody was -- a group of guys, I can't remember which companies they were all from, everybody just stopped and looked up and that's when the middle of the Marriott blew out at us. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">I went into I guess where they were setting EMS up in the building. I found the sink, I was flushing my eyes out. I got another drink of water, I was throwing that up. I proceeded out to the backside of the school, I ran into Firefighter Drum and Firefighter Meyers from Engine 39. They assisted me back out to West Street, because I believe they were evacuating that area. There was a gas leak. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">FIREFIGHTER JOHN SNOW<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110452.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">So I guess it was another, I'd say, ten minutes before we finally got a assignment. I remember the captain saying, I guess the Chief told him, we're not trying to put the fire out now. We're going to try to save people. So we, along with 22 Engine and 13 Truck, we went over to the elevators and myself and I think it was Mike Byrne, he opened – someone had said that there was someone inside an elevator in the lobby and we managed to pry open the elevator and there was a woman in the back. She was scared to death. <span style=""> </span>We got her to come out. And then 13 Truck got an elevator to work, because we were assigned to go up to the 27th floor of the north tower. This was the out from 13 Truck, he started operating the elevator. <span style=""> </span>Guys went up in two or three trips. I guess within five minutes 22 Engine, 13 Truck and myself, 21 Engine, we were on the 27^th floor. We took it to the 24th or 25th floor and then we walked up a couple of flights and I'm not really sure of the time frame as far as how long we were in searching that floor, but I knew there was a tremendous crash of the south tower coming down, but we didn't know at the time it was the south tower. We just thought it was upper floors maybe that -- maybe an upper floor that had collapsed, because there was a tremendous crash and everybody just hit the deck.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">So we started moving out towards West Street. It was myself, Mike Byrne, Jimmy Foley started walking towards West Street and I guess we just hit West Street when we heard the roar or the rumbling. We just looked back and heard the rumbling of the tower coming down and everybody just ran up West Street towards where an overpass was.<br />Q. Was that the north overpass?<br />A. Yes. Heading north. It was kind of like you knew that the dust and everything was catching you.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">FIREFIGHTER PATRICK CONNOLLY<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110453.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Basically I live in Queens and my house looks right at the tower, and I was jogging and not too far from Haz-Mat 288 and saw the first explosion and immediately, you know, saw what was developing and knew it was something pretty serious. My brother Brian who works for Ladder 17, he was at home so I decided to run to his house and just let him know, make sure he was aware of what was going on. When I got to his house we turned on the TV, and when we turned on the TV we saw the second plane hit.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">So when we come to the intersection of Vesey Street and West Broadway, you have to go left or right. We were going right heading towards the West Side Highway and as soon as you turn right, about seven steps after you turn right there is an overhead foot bridge that would lead from 7 World Trade Center into 6 World Trade Center. We were coming over just there, right there and as we approached that, the underside of it, I said to my brother, "I said, this thing is gonna come down on top of it." And he said, "Then we'll just run to the other side of it." So as soon as we got under it we ran to the other side of it and the debris was falling so we were kind of cautious when we came out. We came out and maybe about one step past it and as we came past it my brother had said to me -- you know, the whole way down he was explaining to me that this is nothing like what you deal with, what you're expected to deal with. He said, "There is a lot of people gonna be hurt on the outside." He was a policeman so he was all concerned about a secondary device. So he was saying that, you know, he kept drilling that into my head: "Secondary device," "Secondary device," "Secondary device." You know, it's not over. There is something else that's gonna happen. He goes if that first tower came down, he said, this might go down too. He was telling me not to go into the buildings. He said, basically, if you see firemen we're gonna look for them and help them immediately and if we see pedestrians, whoever we saw we're gonna help them. Basically, when we got underneath to the other side of that foot bridge, to the west side of that foot bridge, he said to me, "You know, we should probably split up at the next corner in case we get jammed up in this thing together." And I was just like, you know, totally naive. I just said, "No. You're crazy." And as soon as I said that, I felt the ground shake and I looked up and the whole top of the tower was starting to fall and my brother turned and he didn't even look up. He turned and there was already about a foot of debris on the floor and as he turned he went to push off with his legs, but he was pushing too hard and he slipped in place and fell. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">I got to the corner of West Broadway, I made a right turn. As soon as you make a right turn on West Broadway right there, not even a foot north on West Broadway there is a service entrance to 7 World Trade right there and I saw another fireman standing right there. He was standing right there. Chides me like "In here, bro. Dive in here." The door was closed, but it was inset, you know, 18 inches as is normally, a normal 36-inch door would be. As I make a left, I saw my brother who was directly behind me. And I just left my feet. I drove for the one corner and as I dove for the one corner I saw that my brother was out here, right out in the wide open spot. The next thing, I just started getting crushed from above. I was just getting hit. But nothing hard. Like just, you know, considerable smacks and stuff like that, but nothing that you couldn't take. Nothing that was pulverizing me. And I took my T-shirt, shoved it into my mouth, held my nose<span style=""> </span>closed, took one last breath and waited to die. Apparently it got a little bit harder and the noise got really severe. It sounded like a severe wind storm, a severe rainstorm. The next thing I know, like maybe a half a minute passes by and it suddenly got very quiet again. So I get very quiet. I kind of threw my shoulder like that and all the things that were on top of me kind of shifted off and I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe that you're alive. I tried to scream for my brother, but I had the shirt in my mouth. I tried to pull the shirt out a little bit, and all the air was forcing into my mouth so I shoved it back in again. I knew that the door was there on my left-hand side. That's the only thing I knew. I didn't see that other fireman. The who was calling me, I didn't see him. I didn't see him, I didn't hear him, but I knew the door was there. So I hit it like that (indicating), like three times like that and then I heard three knocks coming back from about 5 feet off, which was where my brother was. So I kind of felt better about that. At least I felt he was okay because we couldn't communicate really through talking and I just kept hitting the door and hitting the door and hitting the door, and eventually maybe ten minutes later I felt my brother's arm grab my arm. So of course obviously you're emotional, you're grabbing each other and hugging each other and going through the whole gamut of emotions and while we're doing that, the door pops open. We're not sure, you don't know what to think. Is it an explosion? Is the building starting to settle and forcing the door out? We didn't know. And then as the door opened up the fireman that was calling me was on the other side of the door. Somehow he forced the door and was pulling us into the space, into the -- now basically into the belly of 7 World Trade and he explained that he was a Fire Marshal, named Joe Brosi and my brother Brian, he knew Joe before he was a Fire Marshal working 17 truck. So he and my brother, they were partners. It was like a real strange coincidence. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">PARAMEDIC KENNETH DAVIS<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110454.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">The second building had just started to come down and you could feel the rumble in the ground, and we were like, it can't be the train because you know it's not running. So we all started to run down the street and the building had come down. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">PARAMEDIC JOSEPH JEFFERSON<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110455.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">I went around to the other side to try and see if I could get the equipment out, and as I was standing there, I heard this rumbling and I looked up and the building was coming down.<br />Q. Was that the first building coming down?<br />A. That was the first building, yes.<br />Q. Okay.<br />A. So I took off and I ended up hiding on – I ran past – I guess that’s 90. The building that was the next over is 90 West. I remember I passed that building (inaudible) into the building. So I turned around to run into the building, but the stuff was coming down so fast that I wasn’t able to get into the building. So I ended up hiding in the windowsill trying to cover up basically the stuff was coming past me like an avalanche, you know, it sounds like a freight train.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">I stood there for a couple of seconds and then I heard a couple of secondary explosions and some vehicles were engulfed in flames, you know, they were on fire.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">EMT JOSEPH CONZO<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110457.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">From this map here, we entered the Marriot Hotel on Liberty, on west side and Liberty and as soon as we were entering in there with our equipment, we heard what seemed to be a third plane hitting, but I found out later it was the collapse of the World Trade Center 2.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">FIREFIGHTER TIMOTHY BROWN<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110458.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">We finally set up -- prior to this I believe it was the west side of the core of the building there were elevators. Someone had come to me and said that there were people trapped in one of those elevators. So I ran around the corner, and the hoist way doors were open, but the elevator car was only showing about two feet at the top of the door. You could see all the legs of the people that were in the elevator. I would guess there were about eight people in the elevator. The elevator pit was on fire with the jet fuel. People were screaming in the elevator. They were getting smoked and cooked. There weren't a lot of firemen there at the time. I grabbed some of the Port Authority employees and asked them where the fire extinguishers were and told them to get as many fire extinguishers as they could so we could try and fight this fire. As they were doing that, firemen started showing up, and I started asking them to get big cans, let's try to put this fire out. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">As we ran towards the rear, which is the three side of the hotel, and rounded the corner to go into Two World Trade Center, in the doors, we heard the roar above us. I know I never looked up. I don't think anybody ever looked up. But there was no question what it was. It was a very tremendous sound, which I think we hear on the tapes. So we just turned and ran for our lives. Now it was the flight/fright thing, because everybody knew we were all going to die. We ran back along -- I knew right from the start that I was going to go into the lobby of the hotel to try and get protected. As I ran by the medics, I yelled at them to follow me. Charlie and one of the medics, who I don't know their names, followed me into the lobby of the hotel. The other guy ran back toward the pedestrian bridge. Charlie tells me everybody lived of that group. We ran into the lobby. No sooner did we get into the lobby of the hotel, which was crystal-clear when we went in, then it went completely black in an instant with the dust. The roar was just getting louder. The dust started blowing in our faces. I'm guessing around 30, 35 miles an hour the wind was. Everything started blowing toward us that wasn't nailed down. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">By the front of the truck, I thought it was a box truck. I did not recognize it as a fire truck, although it could have been. I thought it was a bomb. The headlights were still on, very eerie. I turned around and ran the other way, thinking that it was a bomb, telling everybody to run the other way. We ran into a steel rolldown gate that was down. Someone had said we can get out this way, so now there were more people around. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">LIEUTENANT JAMES WALSH<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110459.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">As I was coming up West Street, I started hearing sounds getting very loud, and I never nothered to look back because the sound got extremely loud. It was the roar of a plane, which I didn’t really know. It was the airliner coming in. I remember running back up West Street towards where my chauffeur was from the high-rise rig, and running at the same time I was trying to get down at the same time it seemed like. Then I heard the explosion, continued running up to Scott, and I said what was that? I was under the impression that maybe it was a fighter plane because it got so loud. He said no, another airliner just hit the south tower.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">I think the moment he finished saying it the third time, I heard the sound and I looked. It sounded like gas or an engine or something, and it was the south tower starting to collapse, and I think it was – the sound I heard was the sound of the fire and gasses being compressed by the top part of the building above where the plane hit coming down and pushing the smoke and gasses out. I think that’s what I heard. The last sound I heard, I was probably about five feet from chief Downey.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">The building didn’t fall the way you would think tall buildings would fall. Pretty much it looked like it imploded on itself.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">FIREFIGHTER KENNETH ESCOFFRY<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110460.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">On the morning of September 11th about </span><st1:time minute="45" hour="8"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">8:45</span></st1:time><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">, I was relieved, and a few of us were standing in front of quarters when we noticed a plane came directly over the firehouse maybe around </span><st1:time minute="45" hour="8"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">8:45</span></st1:time><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">, somewhere around that time. One of the guys mentioned that the plane looked like it was really low. Before we could really think of what he said, the next thing we heard an explosion. We saw the smoke. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">We went up to the mezzanine level, and in the corner, which was exposure 4, we noticed it looked like it was jet fuel that was just running down the side of the building. The fire wasn't spreading or anything. Within that 30-second time we were up there, an </span><st1:place><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">EMS</span></st1:place><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"> worker asked us to come into the staircase to help him remove a person that collapsed in the staircase. After going into the staircase, within another minute or so, there was a loud explosion. I believe that's when the second plane hit.<br />Q. Let me ask you a question. Do you know what staircase it was? Was it A, B, C staircase?<br />A. That was the staircase in exposure 4. I'm not sure.<br />Q. You're not sure. Okay.<br />A. Once that explosion happened, the door to the staircase slammed shut.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">About an hour later me and George decided let's go out, because we were having difficulty breathing because we didn't have a mask. On the way out between tower one and six, we heard something like an incoming missile, and we started to run. That's when the second tower came down.<br />Q. Tower number two?<br /></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">A. Right. That was the first tower that came down.</span><br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/36784037-6188447555270253481?l=jay-911.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17951311616880111671noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36784037.post-14958776427479281222006-12-06T21:23:00.000+01:002006-12-06T21:28:01.992+01:00<p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">FIREFIGHTER JOHN AMATO<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110421.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">We get down to about Barclay and </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Vesey Street</span></st1:address></st1:Street><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">, which is a block away from the overpass, the bridge overpass that goes across the West Side Highway. All you hear is a rumbling in the street. It sounded like an earthquake. When I was a younger kid, I was in an earthquake and it felt like the same exact feeling. I looked, and I could see the antenna on the top of the roof coming straight down. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">FIREFIGHTER ROBERT SIRAGUSA<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110423.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Actually as we heard a radio transmission of "Collapse, collapse, collapse," that's when everybody just went their own way. I looked up and I saw the top couple of floors starting to come down. So I took off into the building directly across from the </span><st1:place><st1:placename><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">World</span></st1:PlaceName><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"> </span><st1:placename><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Trade</span></st1:PlaceName><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"> </span><st1:placetype><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Center</span></st1:PlaceType></st1:place><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">, which was –<br />Q. On the west side of </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">West Street</span></st1:address></st1:Street><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">?<br />A. </span><st1:place><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">West side</span></st1:place><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"> of </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">West Street</span></st1:address></st1:Street><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">, which was probably the </span><st1:place><st1:placename><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">World</span></st1:PlaceName><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"> </span><st1:placename><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Financial</span></st1:PlaceName><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"> </span><st1:placetype><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Center</span></st1:PlaceType></st1:place><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">, it was called. We ran in there, a few of us, about 10, 12 guys. We ran into the building, ran about 50 yards to the rear of the building and dove behind a wall. Then we heard the tremendous roar and collapse of the first tower coming down. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">There were numerous burning materials. There were car fires. We proceeded to try to extinguish some of them, but there was a big problem with the water. There was very low water pressure. We did have a problem with that, but we did the best we could trying to extinguish the perimeter fires all around the area.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Then basically after that the fire boats came in, because we had no water. So basically most of the day and the next couple of hours I was stretching line from the fire boat. I teamed up with a bunch of guys getting water from the fire boat in front of the </span><st1:place><st1:placename><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Trade</span></st1:PlaceName><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"> </span><st1:placetype><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Center</span></st1:PlaceType></st1:place><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">FIREFIGHTER NICHOLAS BORRILLO<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110426.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Maybe on the second floor I thought I heard a little bit of an explosion or something. Later on we found out that there was a – there was a Port Authority guy on the staircase in our vicinity. He confirmed that another plane had hit the other tower. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">A couple guys were behind us, so we had to stop maybe two times as we were going up. We climbed up to the 23rd floor. We were waiting for a couple of our guys to come up. They finally hooked up with us, and we took a break. There was a water display thing like for sodas and everything. We got into that, because we were just overheating. We took, I don't know, a five-minute break there. Then we heard a rumble. We heard it and we felt the whole building shake. It was like being on a train, being in an earthquake. A train is more like it, because with the train you hear the rumbling, and it kind of like moved you around in the hall. Then it just stopped after eight or ten seconds, about the time it took for the building to come down. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">LIEUTENANT ROBERT BOHACK<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110427.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">We began, with the Port Authority cops, to come down the stairs. As soon as we got into the stairway, the building started shaking like an earthquake. I thought our building was coming down. My mind was saying there's some kind of wind compensator up there in the upper floors, a big, huge vat of cement. Did you ever heard of that? I know the building moved.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Q. Yeah.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">A. There’s some kind of huge ton of weight up there. Its a huge vat filled with cement and it shifts. When the wind is blowing one way, it shifts to the other way with the wind to compensate. I thought if that thing shakes and comes loose from it's supports, we’re fucking dead. So that’s what I thought it was. I thought our building was starting to collapse.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">With that, as soon as I said that, the building made a groan like steel twisting. I didn’t have to tell those guys twice. We just started making a B line for </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">West Street</span></st1:address></st1:Street><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"> or the western side, the entrance we came in. with that, we ran out the front. There was, I think, a chief’s aide sort of as a lookout saying, “Come on. Come on. Come on.” We stopped at the entrance as soon as he waved us on, we go. We get to him. He was maybe 50 yards ahead of us, in front of us. On </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">West Street</span></st1:address></st1:Street><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"> I get to him and he says, “Look at the building, Lou. The other one collapsed, and this one is collapsing.” He showed me, about 20 stories up you see a crack in the building. I look, “Holy shit, the other building’s gone.”<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">FIREFIGHTER STEVEN ROGERS<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110429.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Q. How did you know it was collapsing? Did you hear the noise?<br />A. The noise immediately -- as soon as I heard it, we knew it was coming down. It wasn't like, oh, what the hell is that? It was like a noise you never hear in your whole life. It came down. I only ran like five feet when I got hit with stuff. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">FIREFIGHTER JOSEPH CASALIGGI<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110430.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">We were actually one of the first companies on the scene. We pulled up right in front of </span><st1:place><st1:placename><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">One</span></st1:PlaceName><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"> </span><st1:placename><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">World</span></st1:PlaceName><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"> </span><st1:placename><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Trade</span></st1:PlaceName><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"> </span><st1:placetype><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Center</span></st1:PlaceType></st1:place><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">, right into the cul-de-sac right in front of the canopy. So we got off the rig. I noticed there were several people sitting in the grass in front of the building burned head to toe, gray, just staring at us. The captain ordered us to grab four rollups. We went into the building. We went into the lobby. The lobby actually looked like the plane hit the lobby. From what I understand, I was told afterwards, that a fireball shot down the elevator shaft and blew out all the windows in the lobby and blew out the elevator doors. We searched for an elevator to see if there was one operating. There was none. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">I was watching one guy hang onto the outside of the building, the outside of the north tower while I was standing under the bridge. Then there were police officers talking about a third plane coming into the area. Then a few minutes passed. I was standing under the bridge. We had heard a loud rumble, and people just started running in our direction from the </span><st1:place><st1:placename><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Trade</span></st1:PlaceName><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"> </span><st1:placetype><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Center</span></st1:PlaceType></st1:place><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"> toward us. I never even looked up. We just turned around and started running. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">BATTALION CHIEF BRIAN OFLAHERTY<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110431.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">I don’t know if I say something to Larry or just point to him. In my mind the intention was to go over and see Galvin and find out where the command post was, exactly where the command post was. As we were walking towards him, about, I’d say, six to eight feet from Galvin, and a lot of guys are looking at him, but the one guy, Freddie Scheffold from the 12^th Battalion, he looked at me, I looked at him. You know how you make eye contact with somebody and you acknowledge each other, it's just that nod, I know he sees me, at that exact moment I can feel – or hear the noise first. I hear a noise. Right after that noise, you could feel the building start to shudder, tremble, under your feet. Somebody said to me, “What's going on?” I said, “What's going on? The fucking building is coming down.” I actually said, “The fucking building coming down. This goddamn building is coming down.” I knew what was coming down. The building I was in was coming down. I looked real quick forward. I didn’t like that option because it was a big, high lobby, a lot of glass. I figured it was not that well supported. I remember seeing those columns. Whoever was next to me – I thought it was Telesca, but it ended up being Myers, Brian Meyers. He said, “Where are we going?” I turned and said, “We’re going back to those columns.” I remember taking a few steps and trying to run, and you’re either thrown or blown off your feet. I remember I ended up my face was right up against a wall, a column was right near my left shoulder, a big column. That’s it. It was a terrible noise. Besides the building shuddering, the sound was horrendous. To me it sounded like steel cutting through steel. That’s how I explain it. You’re laying there. There's stuff hitting you. I had my right hand up behind my head and neck, and I just said let it be merciful, because you think it's all over. There's stuff hitting but nothing – the stuff is debris flying around.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">I started walking west. I don’t think I get more than 100 feet up past the curb line heading west on that street, and the first thing I hear is this roar and people screaming. I have a chance to look over my left shoulder. As I'm looking over my left shoulder, I see a shadow coming towards me. I thought it was another plane. I didn’t think the building was coming down. I thought it was another plane. I couldn’t believe it.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">FIREFIGHTER KEVIN GORMAN<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110434.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Everything was dark. Water was coming down and everything like that, and then the shit hit the fan. Just everything started rumbling, a lot of noise. Turned around, went back the way I came, got probably five steps through the doorway I had just came. I don't even know if I got to that, because there was a walk -- there were bars in front of that that weren't there any more, got knocked off my feet and sent -- was buried under some stuff and pushed across the floor, and after everything stopped dug ourselves out, put the flashlight on, yelled for each other and then exited the building. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Guys were giving us water, wet rags to put on our head, and we were standing there, and there was a cop I knew who came by and gave me a drink of water, and then as he was standing there, he said, Aviation just reported that the north tower is leaning." I said, "Which way is it leaning?" He said,"This way." So we started to turn around walking. John Malley, who was right behind me, I turned around for him, because he was doing something, either putting his coat on or something, and as I was looking at him I heard the explosion, looked up, and saw like three floors explode, saw the antenna coming down, and turned around and ran north. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">LIEUTENANT GERARD REILLY<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110435.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">So we probably were in the building maybe a minute in the lobby of the tower, whichever one we were in, and that's when it came down. But I thought it was an explosion in the hotel, because all the debris came down, it was pitch-black, the whole building shook. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Then I was standing in front of the north tower when that collapsed. I heard the noise, looked up, saw the rumble. I was right on the north corner, the north part on </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">West Street</span></st1:address></st1:Street><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">. When it started to fall, Billy Wall from 47 yelled "Run!" to his men. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">FIREFIGHTER PETER GIAMMARINO<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110436.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">So we went into the lobby just a few feet towards the elevator banks, and our lieutenant said "Stand fast, open up your coats, cool off a few minutes, and I'm going to go see what we gotta do." And it seemed like maybe it was a minute. It wasn't that long at all, and we heard this sound that kind of sounded like an airplane. We thought it was another airplane hitting the towers. That's exactly what it sounded like, you know, and it gradually got louder. And someone yelled, "It's coming towards the windows," like the front of the Marriott that might have been like an atrium or something like that. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">CHEVALO WILSON-DeBRIANO<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110437.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">We had a view of the burning World Trade Centers. When we crossed the </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">59th Street</span></st1:address></st1:Street><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"> bridge, we heard over the radio people screaming that there was a building collapse. We crossed </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Manhattan</span></st1:place></st1:City><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">, went down the west side. We went down past </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Vesey Street</span></st1:address></st1:Street><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">, past the pedestrian bridge. We stopped the MERV. There was a lot of smoke. We started helping a few injured firefighters who came on the MERV van for treatment. Then we felt a rumble. My partner, who was the driver, told me that he thinks there's another collapse, so we have to egress by foot and leave the vehicle, and it was a rapid, running egress from the area with other police officers, firefighters and civilians to avoid the debris and dust cloud. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">CAPTAIN JOSEPH RIVERA<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110438.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">While there, we were looking up at the fire and we heard a loud rumble; and when we looked up, that was the start of the collapse. When the building collapsed, ironically we had a building behind us that had an underground garage, and we all ran into that underground garage. In that underground garage we were trapped for approximately 10 to 15 minutes. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">FIREFIGHTER STEPHEN VIOLA<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110439.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">22 engine went up before us. 13 truck went up before us, and then one of our guys -- one of the guys from 13 truck. Our guy went in with 13 truck, and he was coming down with the guy from 13 truck to bring the elevator to us, and when he was either going up or coming down the elevator, that's when the south tower collapsed, and it sounded like a bunch of explosions. You heard like loud booms, but I guess it was all just stuff coming down, and then we got covered with rubble and dust, and I thought we'd actually fallen through the floor into like the PATH tubes, because it was so dark you couldn't see anything, and from there it was a little hazy from there on, but I remember our lieutenant trying to take us back out through the Marriott the way we came, but that was -- we couldn't go through that way, and we ended up <span style=""> </span>coming out through -- I guess it was the base of the north tower out onto West Street, and ended up -- me and another guy put on one of the ambulances, and we were just waiting to leave on the ambulance.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">FIREFIGHTER JOHN DRUMM<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110440.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">So besides making sure everyone was okay, we were waiting there. Maybe we were on the 31st hallway for approximately five minutes when all of a sudden a large crashing, thundering, roaring -- it's almost impossible to really explain with those words, but it was so much more noise than I could ever really explain clearly. The members that were nearby, we all went and got down on our hands and knees on the floor, not knowing what this was, walls, floor. I had no idea. I had no idea what was happening until I got out of the building later in the day I had found out what happened. Later in the day I found out what was going on when all of us were on the floor and all that roaring was going on was the south tower collapsing.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">I knew the north tower had come down, but not until really I was done running at </span><st1:place><st1:placename><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Stuyvesant</span></st1:PlaceName><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"> </span><st1:placetype><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">High School</span></st1:PlaceType></st1:place><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"> had I found out that the south tower was the noise I had heard when we were still on the 31st floor. That's when I realized that both buildings were down was after I came back out into the street from </span><st1:place><st1:placename><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Stuyvesant</span></st1:PlaceName><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"> </span><st1:placetype><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">High School</span></st1:PlaceType></st1:place><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">.</span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/36784037-1495877642747928122?l=jay-911.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17951311616880111671noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36784037.post-21480994873935082472006-12-04T07:21:00.001+01:002006-12-04T07:35:19.464+01:00<p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >FIREFIGHTER MICHAEL REGAN<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110401.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >As everybody was running towards us, we waited for the cloud to disperse a little bit. Then we started heading in. People were running towards us. I was giving oxygen to people that were gasping for air, and when we finally got in there, there were a couple of Chiefs and a couple of people yelling and screaming about you know, fire over there, secondary explosions and we stretched a line off a rig and started putting out fires, me and Jerry Suden. Lieutenant Rohan told us to stay with that, that we would team back up.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >I guess we were operating for -- it's hard to tell time, I mean time, time was so -- but we put out, I don't know, a couple of trucks, a couple of rigs, a couple of civilian cars, then they started taking guys off the roof of, I think it was building 6. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >FIREFIGHTER DENNIS FISCHER<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110402.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Time is kind of fuzzy, but I would say maybe a minute after we dropped our gear, the Lieutenant was going to walk up to the command post and find out what was going on. He got maybe 40 to 50 feet ahead of us. At that point, a bunch of people started running towards us, running north on </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >West Street</span></st1:address></st1:street><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >. At that point, a police officer stopped briefly as he was running by us. He said guys -- can I say what he said?<br />Q. Yes.<br />A. Guys, get the fuck out of here that building is going to come down. It's coming down. That building is coming down. We looked at each other. We kind of looked around, we didn't really think it was going to happen. Maybe 15, 20 seconds after he said that, we heard the rumbling. We looked up, that I remember as plain as day. I looked up and I saw from the top, I actually watched it with my own eyes, I saw the top start to pancake down. I remember looking at the proby I was with. We looked at each other in amazement. The time seemed to like stand still for a second. We looked at each other. We looked back up. We looked back at each other. It seemed like a bunch of time went by. It was probably like a fraction of a second. Everybody started just running the other way. I saw my Lieutenant as I was looking forward that was ahead of me running towards me, just waving me, just run, run.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >LIEUTENANT GLEN ROHAN<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110404.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >We got approximately to Vesey, a little further past Vesey, I would say about 200 feet from the tower, when we heard a noise. I wouldn't even call it an explosion, but it was enough to make you look up. When we looked up, you could see things coming off the sides of the building of what was then number One World Trade Center. We looked at it for probably about five seconds before I realized that this building is coming down. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >FIRE MARSHAL STEVEN HEAVEY<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110405.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >And I remember Fire Marshal Mazzarella -- we were all looking up and he turned to me and he said, "You know, Steve, I think we're a little bit too close." And at that point there was a loud noise and the building from the upper floors started pushing like the dust and debris and a shower of sparks and it was clear that some sort of major structural failure was in the works and, you know, our instinct was to run. The guys started running. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >At that point I didn't know the extent of the collapse. I didn't realize it was a big pancake. I can't say I recall the other tower collapsing. You know, needless to say the whole area took on a very sinister tone. We didn't know what was coming next. Suddenly every mailbox and city bus was a bomb. You know, every civilian was a terrorist and we made our way down to the battery.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >FIRE MARSHAL JOHN COYLE<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110406.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >I remember glancing to my right, and Joe Mazzarella was at that moment looking up. I suddenly saw his face like a look of complete terror, and he just turned on his heel and took off running. I started running after him and looking over my shoulder. The tower was – it looked to me – I thought it was exploding, actually. That’s what I thought for hours afterwards, that it had exploded or the plane or there had been some device on the plane that had exploded, because the debris from the tower had shot out far over our heads. It was raining down.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Everybody was covered in this dust, really super covered. But nobody knew what had happened. I still thought it had exploded, something had exploded.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >FIRE MARSHAL JOHN MURRAY<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110407.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >We are getting ready to go out the door. The TV is still on. We see the second tower explode. There was nothing, at least those first few minutes, there was nothing about another plane. It was just that the thing exploded, so now we thought that it was a bomb. We jump in the car, we take off, we shoot over there and we were shitting in our pants driving over there because now we figured it was a bomb. We didn't think it was another plane. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >So we start walking up the bike path and the whole time you are hearing, boom boom boom, you know, more fucking bombs, what the hell is this. They kind of sounded like block busters or something. We were walking and I'm like what the fuck is going on. More bombs going off? As we are walking, we see a detective looking, everybody is looking up and we are kind of looking forward walking, you know, heads up guys, we got jumpers. That's when I look up and see all these people.<br />Q. Is the north tower still up?<br />A. Yes, the north tower was still up. It was about that time that you hear that same rumble, oh, fuck, it's happening again, now telling everybody run down, down toward -- actually before that we were telling people just to go down.<br />Q. South?<br />A. Yes, south on that promenade there. Head down that way, just everybody go. Now you hear that big jet airplane going again. Fuck. Everybody starts running and this time, like I said, it was coming down when we were right there by the water, ran down maybe 50 feet or something.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >FIREFIGHTER RICARDO RODRIGUEZ<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110411.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >When I got off the rig I could see the chauffeur -- I heard the chauffeur yell something. He was running up </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Liberty Street</span></st1:address></st1:street><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >. I turned, I could hear a rumble, I turned and all I saw was this huge black cloud, 50 story black cloud coming at us.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >FIREFIGHTER JAMES CURRAN<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110412.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Us, Engine 7 and Ladder 1, we all responded with the Firstg Battalion. We were there for 5, 15, 16 minutes. We had found out what grate the leak was coming from and our chief Pfeifer was bent over with the gas meter. We heard the plane, we looked up. It was low enough that it rattles the buildings we were standing at. We saw it come out from behind the buildings and hit tower one and like I said, a fireball, looked like 10 or 20 stories big, shot out the south side of the tower and then out the hole that the plane made going in.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >We went in through the revolving doors. There was a mini lobby. There was like brown haze, smoke in the lobby. A lot of the marble slabs were falling of the wall, cracked. There were also two people in like the little section of this lobby. One guy was burnt pretty much to a crisp and his jacket was the only thing left on him. Put that out with a can and then there was a lady off to the right of us that was alive but she was screaming that she couldn’t breathe. So I hit her with the can and cooled her down.<br />Q. Where did these people come from?<br />A. I don’t know if they were in the elevator or what not, but they were the only two people I saw in the lobby and they were right in the entranceway. Like I said she was still smoking when we got there. The other guy was dead and she was just screaming that she couldn’t breathe. After I used about a half a can on her, we went through the lobby. All the elevator banks were kind of blown out at probably 70 degree angles, 60 degree angles, and there is all rubble and spot fires in the lobby.<br />Q. Where did that come from?<br />A. I think they said the fuel went all the way down the elevator shafts and when it finally hit rock bottom it blew out all the elevators.<br />Q. Is that it?<br />A. That’s what I have been hearing. I don’t know. I don’t think anybody really knows. It was pretty much rubble in the whole lobby walking through.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >After the 23, actually we were sitting on the 23, when I don’t know – it wasn’t the tower going down, but the building shook and vibrated. I was sitting right next to the first elevator shaft, just my sleeve was in front of me. There was a breeze strong enough coming out, it ruffled my shirt and we all just dove into the stairway.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >We started filing out and following the line of the building. I got just underneath the north walkway. A guy started screaming to run. When I got underneath the north bridge I looked back and you heard it, I heard like every floor went chu-chu-chu. Looked back and from the pressure everything was getting blown out of the floors before it actually collapsed.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Maybe another 15 minutes we were all linked up again on the 30^th floor. Actually me and him, we had gone up to the 31 and forced the door. As soon as you took it, you smelled jet fuel right away so we shut the door.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >FIREFIGHTER TIERNACH CASSIDY<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110413.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >We don’t actually see the second plane hit, but we see the impact. We were on of course the north side, so we saw the huge explosion engulf the whole top of that building.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >We start walking down </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Cortlandt Street</span></st1:address></st1:street><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > from Broadway, going west, we’re carrying the stokes basket, myself and the team I was with, the other four guys. We started hearing the pancaking of the north tower now. I looked at the officer I was with. We both looked at each other like what's that? Not thinking the second one would be coming down.<br />Q. What did It sound like?<br />A. It sounded like a plane just getting ready to land, just getting closer, coming in; a bowling ball getting closer when it's ready to hit that sweet spot you know.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Then, like I said, building seven was in eminent collapse. They blew the horns. They said everyone clear the area until we got that last civilian out.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >So yeah, then we just stayed on Vesey until building seven came down. There was nothing we could do. The flames were coming out of every window of that building from the explosion from the south tower. So then building seven down. When that started coming down, you heard that pancaking sound again. Everyone jumped up and starts running west towards the water.<br />Q. Why was building seven on fire? Was that flaming debris from tower two –<br />A. From tower two.<br />Q. – that fell onto that building and lit it on fire.<br />A. Correct.<br />Q. Because it really got going, that building seven. I saw it late in the day, and like the first seven floors were on fire. It looked like heavy fire on seven floors.<br />A. It was fully engulfed. That whole building – there were pieces of tower two in building seven and the corners of the building missing and whatnot. But just looking up at it from ground level, however many stories it was, 40-some-odd, you could see the flames going straight through from one side of the building to the other. That’s an entire block.<br />Q. I wonder what was burning in there. What do you think was burning? It's an office building. There's not a lot of wood in there.<br />A. You figure, that jet fuel, that explosion that hit, everything just came out. Remember that explosion? It was massive, that fireball. That jet fuel just –<br />Q. It was jet fuel, yeah. That must have been where it landed. That’s probably where a lot of the fuel went.<br />A. A 25,000 gallon tank I think it had?<br />Q. It had to go somewhere.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >FIREFIGHTER DEREK BROGAN<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110414.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >We were in an outer office on the 23^rd floor on the southeast corner, which I guess faces tower two. Then we felt the rumble. You just heard this noise that sounded like the subway train going by but magnified by a thousand. When we heard that noise, we just all got up. We didn't bother to look out the window. We just made an exit out of that room. We got to 9 Truck. I remember them yelling that we had to close the doors behind us. We closed the doors behind us, and I went to go back in the stairwell and there wasn't any room in the stairwell. It was loaded with people. So myself and a guy named Schroder from 10 Engine went down the hallway and found a closet, and we darted into the closet. We were in there maybe five to ten seconds. Then we heard a knock on the door. We opened the door. At that time the lights went out and the whole place just was -- you couldn't see anything. Dust, smoke, whatever it was. Outside was a Port Authority cop. We dragged him in with us. We couldn't get him all the way in the room because he was laying on the floor and his leg was hanging outside of the doorway. This wind came down the hallway and blew the doors open that were in that office that we were in. I remember me yelling that his ankle was getting crushed outside the door. That subsided after about 20, 30 seconds. The rumbling was still there, but the wind was gone. We opened the door. We yelled outside where 5 Engine was, because you couldn't see anything. They said they were here. They just kept on yelling. We found them in the stairwell. We went down with a number of civilians, maybe like nine or ten civilians and maybe four Port Authority cops, it seemed. We were all carrying people and sharing our masks with them. As we got back in the stairwell, we didn't know whether we were going up or going down. But the rumbling was so intense that we didn't really know what had happened. We just assumed that our building had been hit by another plane.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >We waited in the lobby probably about a minute, and then the officer just told us that we have to cut our losses and try to find our way out, because you couldn't see anything. There was gas leaking all over the place. The marble was falling on top of us. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >When we were a couple blocks away from the building, we heard the noise coming down. It was just like dominos only it was probably going faster and faster and faster. Then you just couldn't see anything.<br />Q. This is the second collapse?<br />A. This is the second collapse.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >FIREFIGHTER RONALD CIFU<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110415.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >I went up Church and made a left turn onto </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Liberty</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >, but there was too much civilians and traffic on </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Liberty</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >. So I backed out, and that's when the second plane hit. I heard an explosion, and the guys got off the rig to back me out. Then the debris started falling. We got hit with a lot of debris on Church and </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Liberty</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >When I first got there, there were a lot of maydays and urgent messages. One of the messages I heard was we lost an elevator, and then there was a second message that we lost another elevator.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >I think the standpipe system itself might have been severed, so I don't know if the standpipes were ever used. If they were, I don't think we had a good supply of water. I don't think we had a good supply of water from the hydrants. It seemed like we were getting – the pressure was just dropping as we used all the hydrants in the area. The water pressure seemed to be a problem. It was just the more hydrants you were using, the less pressure you were getting and you just couldn't supply. Even after the collapse when we were starting to relay water to the car fires and stuff like that, we just couldn't get the water. I think that was a big problem.<span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Even when I went down there a week later, it was the same problem. We just couldn't get any pressure out of the hydrants.<span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >FIREFIGHTER TIMOTHY MARMION<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110416.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >We got the call at about I guess 10 to 9. We came down to the </span><st1:place><st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Trade</span></st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > </span><st1:placetype><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Center</span></st1:placetype></st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >. When I got on the rig, one of the guys told me -- I had been in the rack before that working the night before. We had a pretty rough night, so since I was in the rack, I wouldn't have been aware of anything going on. The guy told me -- what I heard on the voice alarm was explosion in the </span><st1:place><st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Trade</span></st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > </span><st1:placetype><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Center</span></st1:placetype></st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >. When I got on the rig and started down there, a guy told me a plane had hit. At that time they thought it was a small plane.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >So we were on the scene for an hour at that point. It probably took us 45 minutes to get up there, I would think. I would think at about a quarter after 9 we started up. So if that happened a little after 10, I would think 45 minutes.<br />Q. 45 minutes? Do you recall what stairway designation that you took up?<br />A. The stairway probably close to </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >West Street</span></st1:address></st1:street><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > on that side of the building, next to one of the elevator banks. They also told us to stay away from the elevator banks, that they were coming down.<br />Q. Yeah, they were afraid of them collapsing.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >FIREFIGHTER STEPHEN ZASA<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110417.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Upon that time I heard a plane roar. I had my window down and on my side we saw a plane flying very low come right across us and with a loud, you know, the engines revved up, and I had mentioned to him, I had no idea that it was heading towards that way, and I just said like where is this guy going, you know, he was extremely low, not realizing it was another plane heading towards the World Trade, and we saw it struck the building, we saw a big mushroom of flame, of fire coming up, and it was like disbelief, and he had gotten on the radio and notified the dispatcher another plane had struck the World Trade Center. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >BATTALION CHIEF THOMAS VALLEBUONA<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110418.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Upon getting back to the car, I started to grab my turnout gear. I told the other chief we’ll go up there, see what's going on, that we’ll check in up there and I’ll be right behind him, let them know that we have some cylinders here, as silly as it seems now, when I heard “boom,” an exploding sound, a real loud bang. I looked up, and I could see the </span><st1:place><st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Trade</span></st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > </span><st1:placetype><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Center</span></st1:placetype></st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > starting to come down, the south tower, which I guess I was about a block away from.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Myself and Chief Cruthers started to talk and I said, “What should we do?” and “ba-boom” again, the same sound, the same noise, the same shuddering, shrilling noise of metal falling as it cascades down.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >You could hear like things hitting the ground, “boom, boom, boom, “ and stuff.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >So we got some lines going and we were trying to knock things down, and the lines basically went flat. They didn’t go flat, but they went limp, almost. You realized right away that the mains must have gone out in either the first or the second collapse. Basically our water supply was nothing. It wasn’t even enough for the line coming off that pump. We were trying to work on other – trying to find other sources of water.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >FIREFIGHTER RICHARD CARLETTI<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110419.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ></span> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >We were standing there. The officer from 91 says stay here, we're going to get two more guys and get teamed up, and what went through my mind was – the only thing I was annoyed at was that we were going to have to hike 80 floors. We stood there for about ten minutes and I just heard a loud groan by everyone in the street. I guess the south tower started to lean. The top 30 floors leaned over. I was looking up at the north tower. I was trying to monitor more what was going on in the north tower with the radio, and they were on three different channels at this point. I looked up and about the 70th floor I saw the western wall of the south tower start to belly out. Tommy turned, said run. He started running and I turned around behind him and we ran into the revolving door of the Winter Garden room, which is a glass atrium, I guess about ten stories high. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >When the north tower collapsed, I remember seeing the antenna do a little rock back and forth and I could just hear the floors pancaking. I heard it for about 30 pancakes, just boom, boom, boom, boom, and the dust blew up to us. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >We checked the hydrants. We only found hydrants working on the east side of the street. The west side were all shut down, were all dead.<span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >We came back down Stuyvesant. From this point we just went like a complete circle back down to </span><st1:place><st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Stuyvesant</span></st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > </span><st1:placetype><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >High School</span></st1:placetype></st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >. Then they told us there was a bomb scare and we had to move the rig north from there.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >FIREFIGHTER GERARD GORMAN<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110420.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >So we rushed in to the lobby and pretty much pretty quick the guy, Gregg Atlas, who didn't make it out, from 10 Engine, came over to us and said to us, 5 Engine, you're going up to the fire. Just put water on the fire. Somewhere along the line I heard the elevator drop. He said, oh, shit, and just right after he said that, you heard a huge explosion, and I looked to my right and I could see the reflection, just the whole Financial Center, a reflection of flames just turn orange, basically, because it's all glass, you know, turn orange and you saw it. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >So now I get back to we're on the 23rd, 24^th floor, we're drinking water, we're getting loaded up again to go back up, we're taking our roll-ups again because we didn't hear nothing about no this is an evacuation. We still don't know, of course, and we're trying to stay together with 10. We're like making more and more of an effort to stay together because<br />it's very hard. Then it was like a fucking rumbling. It was like an earthquake. It was like worse and worse. All the windows blew in. It got real dark.<br />Q. The floor you were on, the windows blew in?<br />A. Yes. I think so.<br />Q. Wow. So, in other words, they gave way?<br />A. I think. I think. I remember diving into the core of the building by the elevators. I fucking forgot my mask, dove in, just diving. It was like an earthquake. It was shaking and then the lights went out and it got shitty in there. We all made it back in the stairway, all got out -- I mean, our officer, Lieutenant Bohack, said that's it, we're going out.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >So on the overhang I remember seeing a frigging Bomb Squad cop and I asked him, what the hell blew up? He goes, I don't know. Oh, shit. Fucking he don't know. So I ended up going down there, and then between the two small buildings there's an opening, a space, and then I heard rumbling again right as I <span style=""> </span>was in that space, me and the Port Authority cops, the ESU cop, the Bomb Squad cop, I guess, we heard the rumble. We all ducked into the overhang of, I guess, 5 World Trade Center, where the staircase was. We ducked in there and everything got dark. I mean, it was like a rumble and it was like another earthquake again.</span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/36784037-2148099487393508247?l=jay-911.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17951311616880111671noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36784037.post-38292165505247980472006-12-02T21:15:00.001+01:002006-12-02T21:26:58.141+01:00<p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >ASSISTANT CHIEF HAROLD MEYERS<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110382.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Q. When you reported into the command post, you reported to Chief Nigro; is that correct?<br />A. That's correct.<br />Q. Did he give you any specific assignment?<br />A. Yes, he did. Chief Nigro directed me to continue monitoring conditions at the site. Specifically to monitor number 7 </span><st1:place><st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >World</span></st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > </span><st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Trade</span></st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > </span><st1:placetype><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Center</span></st1:placetype></st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >. We were very concerned with the collapse potential there, and to do whatever I could do to ensure site safety in that no additional people became injured. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >FIREFIGHTER PAUL DIPAOLO<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110385.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >About maybe three, four minutes after we originally spoke to him, we felt a rumble. Me and Paul Beck grabbed Tom, and we ran down Trinity, and I believe we made it probably right around the corner. I don't know what street that is. What street would that be right there?</span><br /><st1:street><st1:address><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Q. Thames Street</span></st1:address></st1:street><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >.<br />A. Thames that goes all the way through. We made it around the bend, and the three of us made it right around the corner as everything came down. We got hit with all the debris. It knocked us down.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >FIREFIGHTER TIMOTHY JULIAN<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110386.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Because I was riding backwards, I was a little disorientated. Finally, we made it to Broadway and </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Liberty</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >, and the second plane hit, so that was probably about </span><st1:time hour="9" minute="0"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >nine o’clock</span></st1:time><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >, and it was the loudest explosion I ever heard.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >At that point, I remember they were getting a report that a second – another plane – the Pentagon got hit, and we got a report another plane was coming in, and I believe it was a FBI agent, or whoever, or police, and he was saying it's not another plane yet. It is a plane, but it's a fighter jet, and in hindsight it turns out probably that was the fighter jet that was going to maybe shoot down that plane, but we thought another plane was coming in, and we were in a bad spot.<br />Q. Paranoia was bound to set in.<br />A. But upon this – we heard it fly over, and then we felt safe. It wasn’t a kamikaze plane, you know.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >We came out from 90 West, made a left, headed east, and right when we got to the corner of </span><st1:state><st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Washington</span></st1:place></st1:state><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > and </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Albany</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >, that’s when I heard the building collapse. First I thought it was an explosion. I thought maybe there was a bomb on the plane, but delayed type of thing you know, secondary device.<br />Q. I was convinced for a week it was a secondary devices.<br />A. You know, and I just heard like an explosion and then a cracking type of noise, and then It sounded like a freight train, rumbling and picking up speed, and I remember I looked up, and I saw it coming down, and I was able to make it across </span><st1:state><st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Washington</span></st1:place></st1:state><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > to the very corner of </span><st1:state><st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Washington</span></st1:place></st1:state><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > and </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Albany</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >. I think it's the south side of Bankers Trust building. I made it right to the corner, and there's a column right there, and I was with my guys. We all made it like to the column, and I remember it was plate glass behind me, and I'm thinking I'm going to get hit by this glass and like a porcupine. I'm going to get it, you know, but nonetheless, it rumbled. It was the loudest rumbling I ever heard. The ground shook, and I got thrown down, and I remember it just got black, and I got knocked down.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >FIREFIGHTER VINCENT PLOVER<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110387.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Approximately four minutes later, myself and the other -- the company that was there and the chief, we started running north, and at that point I headed back down to -- toward where the Trade Center parking lot -- but adjoining the Battery Park City. So I joined up with a couple of other guys, and there was a pumper there, and I started the pumper and stretched lines, and we cut a hole -- exposed, and they were -- one would light the other one up, and then the gas tanks were blowing, so we started putting out those car fires, and then we got some foam after that.<span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >FIREFIGHTER PETER FALLUCCA<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110388.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >We just were getting ready to pull up, getting ready to get out, and the second plane hit, and we started getting hit with debris on the top of the rig. We were huddled down in the bottom of the rig, because -- I mean, we were getting pelted with some heavy stuff, and at that time I didn't know that it was a second plane. I just thought it was a secondary explosion from the first building, because I was on the opposite side. I was sitting behind the officer, and I couldn't see really the top of the towers, but the guys that were on that side of the rig, they were able to see, and I heard, "Holy, shit!" You know, he screamed, because he saw this big fireball, and then all the debris. You heard the explosion and everything, but I saw the big fire ball. The stuff was coming down across the street. It looked like a meteor came flying across the street. They said it was the engine. I don't know what it was. It was a big fireball or something from the plane I guess, came from across the street in front of our rig, and as we get out of the rig, there's a cop, city police officer, in the street. He's telling us, "I'm getting out of here. I just saw a rocket." He said he saw it come off the </span><st1:place><st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Woolworth</span></st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > </span><st1:placetype><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Building</span></st1:placetype></st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > and hit the tower. Now I see the two towers are hit. He says, "I just saw a rocket hit that building. I'm getting the F out of here. I'm getting out of here." And we were like, holy -- I'm saying to myself, I didn't even go in yet. They're shooting rockets. I don't know what we're doing <span style=""> </span>over here, but after I watched it on the news a couple of times, I could see it was a piece of the plane or something flew off the building and made like a -- it looked -- if you didn't see it actually come off the plane, you saw like the stream of smoke coming from one building to the other, but actually came from the tower, and they didn't go the other way, so he swore he saw a rocket, but at the time we thought it was a rocket. We thought -- I thought we were under attack, and we were under attack, naturally, but I thought we were under attack in the city. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >People were handing us bottles of water going up, civilians, words of encouragement and all that stuff, good luck, guys. We had a few people – women crying. There was a light haze inside the stairwell. Before we got in, all the elevators were crashed down in the lobby, and we were going to the stairwell. See all the elevators were crashed down, big slabs of marble on the floor, all the ceiling tiles of the dropped ceiling was falling down, wires hanging. You see wires and stuff hanging inside the elevator shafts, because the doors were blown right off the elevators. There was one body inside the lobby. Looked like his legs were chopped off. I don't know where he came from, but he had already had a triage tag on him. It was a civilian. I don't know where he came from, how he died. Looked like his clothes were a little burnt up on him, but his legs were chopped off. I don't know where he came from, but he had a triage tag, so somebody must have tagged him before we got there. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >So I can remember we started making our way up. We got up about ten floors, and we'd take a break and go up another ten floors. We got up to about the 23rd Floor. We were inside the hallway taking a break, and the whole building shakes. I mean violently, like earthquake shake. Two seconds later the lights go out, and I hear guys going, oh, shit. I see guys taking off -- firemen, cops. Guys are saying, this building is not supposed to shake like this, and I see guys running down the stairs, running out of the building, and I told my boss.<br />Q. Is there anything else that you can think of that might be pertinent?<br />A. When I came out, all the people that I saw in the lobby, I remember seeing a guy filming in the lobby. There was a guy with a video camera in the lobby filming.<br />Q. Fireman? Civilian?<br />A. He look like -- you know, might have been a light-duty guy. He looked like he had a firemen uniform, but he didn't have bunker gear on. He just had the coat on and blue pants. It looked like a fireman, but it didn't look like -- he wasn't wearing -- he didn't have bunker gear on, and he wasn't wearing a helmet. Just he had a camera, and I remember him filming with a camera, and it wasn't like the amateur ones. It looked like a professional looking camera that he had. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >SUPERVISING FIRE MARSHAL JOHN D. LYNN<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110389.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >It's hard to deal with the time frame, but it seems as if suddenly there was a -- our attention was drawn to the south tower. There was some kind of explosion, you might say, up in the area where the fire was. Actually, in hindsight, that was the start of the collapse. Now, we were very close at that time. We were up on </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >West Street</span></st1:address></st1:street><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > toward </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Liberty</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >, very close to the hotel but on the west side of the street. So immediately, from my point of view, I knew that we were much, much too close, and we just started running. There was a group of us there, all Marshals. We just started running south on West Street to the corner, and there were a lot of people running and a lot of people bumping into each other at that corner and it was like a pileup of whoever was passing by, which slowed us all up. As soon as I made the turn, I jumped in behind some van. It was like the second car off </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >West Street</span></st1:address></st1:street><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > going toward the river. I dove in behind the van, and it was on us already, you know, the noise and like a pressure wave, like a wind, and the dust cloud. Immediately I recognized that I couldn't </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >breathe. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >LIEUTENANT JAMES FODY<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110391.PDF">Transcript</a><br /></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >We continued on about the 20th Floor. We took another quick break, went in on the floor to catch our breath. As we were picking up our gear again, getting ready to go up again, the building began to shake and sway, and I believe at this time the lights went out, you know, with all that going on. We didn't know it at the time, but this was, in fact, the south tower collapsing. We just kind of stayed there for a minute to see what was going on. Within a minute or two, I heard a transmission on the radio that the 66th Floor had collapsed. It had collapsed into 65, but the building felt sound at this time. We continued on.<br />Q. When you were in the lobby, did you notice the elevators, what the condition of the elevators was? Was there any fire in the elevator shafts? Did you notice the elevator to any extent?<br />A. I didn't see fire in the elevator shafts. There was a good deal of soot, like a white soot all through the lobby. A couple of the doors of the elevators were buckled, so there was some kind of explosion or fire in there. There were -- in the vestibule between the outer doors and the inner doors, there were two civilian bodies burned. There was nothing we could do for them at that point, you know. I assumed something came down and just burned them. They might have been in the elevator or near the elevator and stumbled as far as they got. I heard reports that there was one elevator working that some guys used. There were no elevators by the time we got there. All the elevators were out. It was one of the first things that was established. Elevators were not working. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >FIREFIGHTER EDWARD MECNER<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110391.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >While we were on the 23rd floor, at one point I took off Don Casey's coat. I saw that he was having a hard time breathing. Derek's coat we took off, his turnout, because he was having the chest pains. I figured just to get the heat off him. It was pretty hot carrying all the stuff up. We found some water. Then within a minute or two, it sounded like a missile was about to come through the windows, I guess maybe on every floor, but it sounded like it was going to come right through the 23rd floor. Everyone automatically just hit the deck, like you do in a war movie. We heard a crash and the ground shaking, and everybody kind of like -- when we realized we were okay, everybody kind of got up and were wondering what was going on. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >FIREFIGHTER WILLIAM GREEN<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110392.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >We were returning from an </span><st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >EMS</span></st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > run, and we pulled up to the intersection of Rose Streer and Avenue of the finest. That’s right next to </span><st1:place><st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >One</span></st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > </span><st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Police</span></st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > </span><st1:placetype><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Plaza</span></st1:placetype></st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >. That’s when we heard a loud explosion. We were looking around. We didn’t know where it came from. It was loud. A police officer pointed to the north tower of the </span><st1:place><st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >World</span></st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > </span><st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Trade</span></st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > </span><st1:placetype><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Center</span></st1:placetype></st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >. We looked up there, and we saw a hole, maybe about three stories wide, a jagged hole, somewhere in the eighties in the north wall of </span><st1:place><st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >One</span></st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > </span><st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >World</span></st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > </span><st1:placetype><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Tower</span></st1:placetype></st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >. We thought it was a bomb.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >We entered in through the front doors of the lobby. The lobby was screwed. All the windows were already broken. Marble walls that surrounded the elevator shaft, the were cracked and broken.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >We headed for the B staircase. It was pretty much in the center of the core. We had to go through these turnstiles. I remember there was a lot of rubble on the floor there. There was elevator doors ajar. There were elevator doors missing. I could see an elevator car twisted in the shaft. I remember I looked up at the ceiling because I thought maybe the ceiling got charred because there was a bunch of rubble on the floor. It was about three feet high in the middle. The ceiling wasn’t charred. So I thought the floor blew up. I was telling guys afterwards the floor must have blown up. Maybe there was a bomb downstairs or something. But I came to learn that that was bodies. We had to climb over and around the pile.<br />Q. A pile of bodies, in the lobby?<br />A. I didn’t recognise it as bodies. I don’t know if my mind didn’t see it.<br />Q. Burned?<br />A. Burned.<br />Q. Near the elevators?<br />A. It looked like rubble to me.<br />Q. Right.<br />A. Right outside the elevators, in the core. We had to climb up and around it – it was like three feet high in the middle – to enter the B staircase.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Approximately when we got to the 14^th floor I heard a handy talky transmission, “Another plane! Another plane!” A little rumble. “Another plane just hit the south tower.”<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >I entered the staircase. I started going up. I got to approximately the 37^th floor. I had the backup position. I had a handy talky. The building violently shook like an earthquake, tossing us around. I donned my mask. I didn’t know what. Then someone opened the door from the 36^th floor and said </span><st1:place><st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Two</span></st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > </span><st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >World</span></st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > </span><st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Trade</span></st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > </span><st1:placetype><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Center</span></st1:placetype></st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > just fell down. I'm thinking it's one of these, it fell like on an angle, fell across many blocks. I didn’t know it pancaked. The way the building shook, I didn’t doubt him that it had fallen completely.<br />Q. When you went in the lobby and you talked about the elevator doors that all, some were blown? What did they look like?<br />A. There were elevator doors that were missing.<br />Q. Missing.<br />A. There were elevator doors that were ajar.<br />Q. Right.<br />A. I could see an elevator car twisted in the shaft.<br />Q. Was there fire in the elevator shaft? Was there smoke? Any evidence of fire dropping down to that level?<br />A. That rubble was burnt rubble. I’ve come to learn from guys behind me they said it was burnt bodies.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >LIEUTENANT SPIRO YIORAS<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110394.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Upon going back to the corner of West and Vesey, I don't know how long I was on the scene, it must have been like about maybe 20 minutes, 30 minutes, before the first tower collapsed. I just heard a rumbling noise and looked up and I saw parts of the building coming down and I just started running uptown on </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >West Street</span></st1:address></st1:street><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >RONALD COYNE<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110395.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >At that point, I just heard a thunderous sound, and I looked up, and I saw the building start to topple, start to sway, and it was swaying our way, and we just yelled, “Run” and I tried to run as fast as I could, and I saw an SUV parked, and I figured that that would take some, you know, some of the hit, because I knew I couldn’t out run the building, and by the time it took me to break the back window of the SUV, my safety coat was already on fire.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >FIREFIGHTER ROBERT NORRIS<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110396.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >I was standing next to a guy who had just called his wife – girlfriend, “I'm okay, I just want to let you know everything is fine,” and I asked him – I said, “Do you mind if I borrow your phone and call my wife?” And he gave me his phone, and as soon as I called my wife, the phone was ringing, and I heard what was a third plane coming in. I heard the propulsion of an engine and then an explosion.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >I remember being over there, and did I hear yet another – what I thought was a propulsion of a plane, and then an explosion, and then we all dove to the floor.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >After awhile, we heard a report that there was a gas leak or possible gas explosion in </span><st1:place><st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Stuyvesant</span></st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > </span><st1:placetype><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >High School</span></st1:placetype></st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > because of ruptured gas lines. There was a chaotic evacuation of Stuyvesant High School, which just made things worse, because even though there might have been a leak, it just seemed as if it might have been connected somehow with what we found out was terrorist attacks.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >FIREFIGHTER PAUL VASQUEZ<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110397.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >They sent us over, and then the rigs came over. We parked by the federal building over there, and it was already dust clouds, so I guess the first building already collapsed, and we started walking in, and not that long after that we heard, like, the rumble of the second building collapsing. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >FIREFIGHTER FRED MARSILLA<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110399.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >At this point, 7, which is right there on Vesey, the whole corner of the building was missing. I was thinking to myself we are in a bad place, because it was the corner facing us. But you do what you got to do as usual. We operated till they finally started pulling people back.</span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/36784037-3829216550524798047?l=jay-911.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17951311616880111671noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36784037.post-91934204744118522502006-11-29T17:51:00.000+01:002006-11-29T18:00:27.239+01:00<p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >FIREFIGHTER FRANK VASKIS<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110364.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >We got downstairs. We got on the rig. Everybody had their bunker gear on and waited for our assignment. We were down there maybe five minutes before it came over that they wanted us to go to </span><st1:place><st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >One</span></st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > </span><st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >World</span></st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > </span><st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Trade</span></st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > </span><st1:placetype><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Center</span></st1:placetype></st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >, there was an explosion. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >While I was underneath checking out the situation, I heard a large crash, and one of the cops who was directing traffic said another plane hit. I heard more screaming, an initial rush of people by me, and the cops were saying that there was a third plane incoming. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >So I walked over underneath the overpass, and there was it seemed like ribbons of aluminum or whatever, the facade of the building, was trickling down.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >I walked past it to the north overpass, and I cross back over </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >West Street</span></st1:address></st1:street><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > to the front of the building. At that point the windows of the building had been blown out or taken out by the explosion.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >When I got to </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Murray Street</span></st1:address></st1:street><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >, we heard another loud rumbling, and I looked back and saw a cloud of dust. That was I guess when one fell. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >FIREFIGHTER HOWIE SCOTT<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110365.PDF">Transcript</a><br /><!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >We proceeded south down West Street under the north walkway and saw to our right in front of the financial building there was a command post over there that included Chief Ganci, Chief Downey, Mayor Giuliani, Bill Feehan and Tom Von Essen, the Commissioner. They were in conference about something.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >As we proceeded back down </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >West Street</span></st1:address></st1:street><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > now, John was a little up ahead of us. I don't exactly remember how much further. We just made our turn to go in towards the lobby of tower two. For whatever reason, I just happened to look up and saw the whole thing coming down, pancaking down, and the explosion, blowing out about halfway up. I yelled up to John -- I used a couple of expletives and said, "It's coming down, run, let's go." So we about-faced. In my mind I was saying north walkway, let's get under that, and dove under that. I probably fell short of that and kind of crawled. Anyhow, I did get under that. I believe I smashed into some sort of mask service rig. I remember looking back and noticing that big mushroom cloud just roaring at us like a freight train. I quick scrambled and threw the cylinder on and threw the mask on my face and started crawling, which I'm figuring up </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >West Street</span></st1:address></st1:street><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >We get to just about the north walkway, about to go underneath, and the second one came down. Again, a quick retreat back up. This one was, as far as I was concerned, the big one. The first one you had a chance to make a move, I felt, especially us. You may not have made the right move, but you had a chance, because it seemed like it pancaked down and that delayed the whole process, where the second one just seemed like it just opened up all over the place. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110366.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >I rode over the </span><st1:place><st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Brooklyn</span></st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > </span><st1:placetype><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Bridge</span></st1:placetype></st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >. When I was roughly in the middle of the span, there was a massive explosion on the south tower. Again I didn't see a plane or anything, so I didn't know it was a plane that hit the tower. I think in my mind I just thought there was a massive explosion on one of the upper floors and now you had a real bad fire.<span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >We started up onto the pile when we just heard a horrific rumbling coming, and we knew the north tower was coming down. I then proceeded to run under the south walkway and dove into an ambulance. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110367.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Chief Brown directed me at that time to just track what units were where, and, you know, who was who, and a lot of voluntary and private ambulances on the scene. Just try to get the number and names of the crews, and at that time I was doing that, and then we started to hear a roar, and I looked back. Everybody was running, so I just kind of started running with them, and the next thing I know, I just remember jumping on a staircase and putting my hands over my helmet, and, you know praying to God, and then it all went black. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Then we heard two planes coming overhead. We weren't sure, you know, if they were friendly or just loud jet engines, so we started making a little run to the west side. We noticed it was a F-16. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >FIRE PATROLMAN PAUL CURRAN<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110369.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >We turned onto Broadway, and we worked our way down West Side Highway. We reached luckily around </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >John Street</span></st1:address></st1:street><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > when the second tower was hit by the plane, another plane. At the time we didn't realize it was a plane. We just heard a massive explosion. Debris rained down on us. People panicked.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >With that, all a sudden the tower went completely -- a horrendous noise, a very, very tremendous explosion, and a very heavy wind came through the tower. The wind almost knocked you down. We were on the north side of the elevator banks, and they kind of broke up that wind. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Q. Everybody tells me all these vehicles were on fire. What do you attribute all these vehicles being on fire to?<br />A. I believe it must have been from the debris falling and the heat just started hitting the cars and starting cars on fire. There were an awful lot of cars burning, an awful lot. It had to be radiated heat or just stuff falling on cars and setting them on fire. There were numerous cars burning, numerous.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >SERGEANT JAMES CANHAM<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110370.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >I proceeded into the building. I had told John, which is Sergeant Sheehan, that I was going to go into the lobby area where the elevator banks were to take a quick look, because I saw that there were no firemen on the lower level. I wasn't sure -- knowing that the elevators had dropped, seeing the condition of the hallways, the bent doors, the fascias of the hallways were knocked into the hallways. I started searching the elevators, when a woman said there was another woman trapped in an elevator. I had gone over to the elevator with my tool and began to pop the door open. The elevator was cantilevered, so it was very hard. But there was an occupant inside. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >As I hung up the phone and started making my way back down the hall is when the rumble started. I thought it was our tower starting to collapse, being the volume of fire I saw when I had gotten there. I ran down the hallway. As I ran down the hallway, I pass two other police officers. They were also, I believe, making searches on that floor. They must have been with the team. We passed each other in flight. The sound became horrific. I was about maybe five feet from the mask. I just dove for my mask, scooped up my mask with one arm and I grabbed the stairwell doorway. I had half my body on the floor and the other half was in the stairwell. I figured if the stairs go, I'll roll onto the floor. If the floor goes, I can maybe -- it was a grasp at nothing. This is what I thought the best way maybe out of this, because at the time with the sound of the wind blowing through the elevator banks, because it was air pressure coming in, I had believed at the time it was air pressure coming down. I thought the floors were coming down. But it was tower two falling, which once again I didn't -- it didn't register. I thought it was my building. It must have rumbled for almost what seemed like an eternity, but it must have been only five minutes or so, between the sound of it and the dying down. The entire floor was enveloped in dust, smoke, minimal heat, and a very eerie silence.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Q. You're talking about adjacent to number eight </span><st1:place><st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >World</span></st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > </span><st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Trade</span></st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > </span><st1:placetype><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Center</span></st1:placetype></st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >, just west of the building called number eight. When you went into the lower level of </span><st1:place><st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >One</span></st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > </span><st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >World</span></st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > </span><st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Trade</span></st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > </span><st1:placetype><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Center</span></st1:placetype></st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >, the sprinkler heads were going off.<br />A. Right, they were heads off.<br />Q. There was no fire; there was no heat. Their heads were off from a pressure surge like from the pressure created by the falling of building two or what do you think?<br />A. What I believe set those heads off is when those elevators had dropped --<br />Q. Why did the elevators drop?<br />A. They were sheered.<br />Q. They were sheered. We didn't cover that. People told me, yeah, I think the elevators dropped and the doors were blown out and all that.<br />A. Right.<br />Q. The elevators were sheered?<br />A. They were sheered.<br />Q. What did the elevator doors look like?<br />A. They were buckled, cantilevered. The one woman was -- how she was standing up, I didn't know.<br />Q. She was standing up? She was alive?<br />A. She was standing up and alive, as I popped it with my tool. I had a converted officers tool. I made my own little. It's very good as far as leverage and so on and so forth. I got the door open maybe six to eight inches. That's when the guys from – once again, I believe they were 10 Truck. He had put his officer's tool, my tool and the Halligan. We had both Halligans. But the door was so warped that we really couldn't get the strength to pop it open. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Once again, I'm doing this 23 years. You always think, yeah, if you give a location, you have a good idea where they can be. This changed all the rules. This changed all the rules. This went from a structure to a wafer in seconds, in seconds. I couldn't believe the speed of that tower coming down. I heard the rumble, I looked up, debris was already 50 feet from the ground, on its way down. You looked and you ran. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >FIRE MARSHAL RICHARD MC CURRY<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110371.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >So as we walked up </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >West Street</span></st1:address></st1:street><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > we made a turn on </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Vesey Street</span></st1:address></st1:street><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >. We went approximately one or two blocks when all of a sudden we heard this big roar. It sounded like another plane coming in or it sounded like an earthquake, but it just didn't sound right. So we all started running, my partner and I, and we had the commissioner with us also. The next thing I know we were engulfed in this black cloud of smoke and we couldn't breathe, we couldn't see anything. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >FIREFIGHTER PAUL HYLAND<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110374.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >We were actually looking -- we were trying to figure out exactly the position of where we had to put the rig because they wanted us down, I guess, it was really on West Street and Vesey, and it turned out we had stopped at Chambers and Liberty and we were waiting there because there were thousands of people and everybody was filming and just couldn't get across and we're trying to figure out, and then there was a gigantic explosion. I had the </span><st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >OB</span></st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > and I looked up and I just saw the top of </span><st1:place><st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >World</span></st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > </span><st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Trade</span></st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > </span><st1:placetype><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Center</span></st1:placetype></st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > go up like a lit candle. It just everything just lit up and I thought it was maybe a secondary explosion, because if you looked from where we were, they're twins, so you're going to picture the second -- I didn't see the plane go in and I thought it was just a secondary explosion in the same tower, and everything just came down on the street. It was just raining steel. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >I walk down and I make a left. Now I'm about 20 to 25 feet from the windows and the building starts to shake, and I look out and I'm just seeing all the steel from the south tower coming down right in front of my face, just all the steel, I mean, everything. I thought it was our building going down. So I just ran back, and the guys thought I was Derek Jeeter because I scooped up my mask, ran into the staircase, we donned our masks and we just stood there and the building shook and we just huddled like children. It shook. We took about a minute or so, that's all I recall, a minute or two, then it stops. Everything was quiet. Then we went back out of the stairs. All the sheetrock, all the ceilings had come down in the building, guys were coming running back in. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >So it took us quite a bit of time to hit the lobby and it was just destroyed. I mean, it looked like -- it wasn't the same lobby 15 minutes ago. It was just completely gone, every window was shattered, all the ceiling tile, the elevator banks had let go it seemed, the floor was all crushed down. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >FIREFIGHTER DAVID SANDVIK<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110375.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >We start heading down the block and we get down to I guess about </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Church Street</span></st1:address></st1:street><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > and the second plane hit, and I remember just being underneath. I never heard the motor of the plane, the sound of the engines. We just heard the explosion, you felt the explosion, and looking straight up and seeing that fireball that you see on the news, but we're underneath looking up now at it. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >We got a report of people trapped. So we pick up everything, put the roof rope back on, extra cylinders, and I happened to see a lobby guy, like a guy that works in the lobby, and I asked him which elevators does he have running, and he said all the elevators are out except for the low-rise, which will take us to 16. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >We just finished searching the floor and I was with -- it was me, the boss and Artie, and the south tower came down and our building rocked. I remember windows blowing out and the air pressure in the hallway felt like we were almost in like a wind tunnel, and I remember the boss just saying get to the staircase. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >We got down to the lobby, and when we got out of the stairwell, the lobby was deserted. Nobody was down there except the people coming out of our stairwell. We were walking through and the elevator doors were blowing off. The lobby was just like a complete mess. I remember grabbing the proby that day and we were looking down the elevator bank and I said, man, this would make a hell of a picture. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >FIREFIGHTER JOHN WILSON<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110376.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >I would say we were in the lobby I don't think it was more than five or ten minutes, and they were talking, I guess discussing where should we go, what should we do. I think the lieutenant was on his way back to us to talk to us, and we heard the loudest roar that I ever heard in my life. Everybody just ran. We ran away from the noise. So the noise was to my east as I was standing the there. We ran back basically the way we came in, I don't know how far. All of a sudden I was just picked up. I felt the wind from behind me just pick me up and throw me. So now I'm on the ground. Now I started crawling. Hopefully I think I'm crawling the way I came in. However long that lasted, ten seconds -- I don't know. It seemed like a long time. It just subsided, the noise. It was just like a crescendo sound like boom, boom, boom, and it just got louder and faster for like -- what did it last, ten seconds or something like that?<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >So Mike had cut, I would say, maybe two pieces of pipe or the sheet metal or whatever he was cutting.<span style=""> </span>He was cutting another piece. Now we heard this noise again, like this rumbling noise. I assumed the same thing is happening that just happened however long ago it was. It didn't seem like it was a half hour. It seemed to happen pretty fast. So I just was standing right there. It was Ray, me, Mike and Scott. The other two guys from 113 actually left. Ray asked them – he goes, "I'm going to go outside and see if I can go around." He was looking for another way to access Bob Nagel. So it was just Ray, me, Mike, Scott and one guy from 113 that I remember being there now. So it was five of us. Now we hear this rumbling again. We're like, "Oh, Jesus. Now what?" We tried to run again. We were running the way I think we came in. We were running back, I would say, towards </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Liberty Street</span></st1:address></st1:street><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >, in whatever's left of the hotel now. Maybe half of it is left now. I don't know. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >FIREFIGHTER JOHN WEBER<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110377.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >I was just getting my bearings to see exactly where I was, and you just heard a banging, "bang, bang, bang." People yelled that it was coming through the window. The way the noise was going to me or to a lot of us, we thought it was another plane coming. It was two; why not three or four. It sounded to us like it was a plane coming through the windows. Most of us that were in that little group there ran towards the entrance where we came in. As I'm facing out towards </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >West Street</span></st1:address></st1:street><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >, it was kind of like left. We ran left. As we go, the ceiling started hitting us, falling down. We all just dove into a corner. There must have been 20 or 30 guys there. We just huddled, a big huddle, literally on top of each other, just like covering each other, right near it seemed like a desk or a bar, like the check-in desk or a bar top, something like that. We waited there until everything kind of calmed down for a while. It was all blacked out.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >LIEUTENANT JOSEPH PATRICIELLO<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110378.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >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. It didn't appear to me at that moment the building was coming down. But when the noise level began to pick up, it was obvious that something wrong was going on. We all proceeded to run southwesterly towards </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Liberty</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > and West. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >BATTALION CHIEF EDWARD HENRY<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110379.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >I assume I was walking southeast, away from the </span><st1:place><st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Trade</span></st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > </span><st1:placetype><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Center</span></st1:placetype></st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >. I could be wrong on that. But I was walking away from tower number 1. With that I heard this noise like a freight train coming. The fellow who was taking pictures started to run and I started to run. Within one second this whole portico collapsed to the floor. My face was 6 inches off the floor as rocks and rubble and everything were rolling past me.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >The first thing I saw in the clear blue sky was three fighter planes coming over and I said, “Geez, what happened? Are we at war? What is it?”<o:p></o:p></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/36784037-9193420474411852250?l=jay-911.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17951311616880111671noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36784037.post-545807339966994432006-11-27T22:26:00.000+01:002006-11-27T22:31:45.969+01:00<p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">FIREFIGHTER FIRST GRADE DAN WALKER<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110341.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">He walked back toward the tower as far as I can recall across the hallway and back towards the lobby of the tower and he no sooner disappeared into the crowd than there was a big rumbling noise. Everything started shaking and the wind started blowing. The wind was incredible. It had to be, I g don’t know, I would say like at least 50, 60 mile an hour winds coming through that hallway, through that corridor. Everybody, of course, starts running. Civilians were running, we are running, you are just trying to get away from this tremendous noise and wind.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">I thought myself that the lobby – they were talking about the elevators were – looked like they were going to come down. The elevators weren’t secured. We did hear that over the radio as we were coming up on the towers from the dispatcher, I think gave that information out over the radio. So I thought that the elevators in that lobby of the north tower had come crashing down, because you just can't imagine that these buildings were going to come down.<br />Q. Absolutely not.<br />A. At that point that’s what I was going under the impression, that the lobby of the north tower had collapsed in some way. Whether it was the elevators or whatever.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">What I didn’t realize was that overhang goes all the way around the building. I didn’t realize I was still under the overhang. But in my mind I said if I hear anything coming down I'm going back towards that overhang for protection. Next thing you know, we didn’t walk 25 feet and it starts rumbling. You know, again, you don’t even imagine this is what’s happening. The other building has already completely collapsed and now the building that you are standing under is completely collapsing.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">FIREFIGHTER JAMES IPPOLITO<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110342.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">We couldn't get up any faster, so we went back to the B staircase, and we were taking a break on 30, and that's when we heard a rumble, outside explosion, and I think that was the other building coming down, but we were getting reports on the radio that there was another incoming plane, so guys weren't sure. At first we thought it was the plane hitting, but we at this point -- we knew the plane was already in the building, and we heard rumbling. The building started to shake. We all ran into the stairway, into the B staircase again, and the building started to shake and lights went out. Just got this tremendous rush of air coming up through a staircase. Everybody was just holding onto each other. Then we started to make sure -- you know, we didn't know what happened. We were -- everybody was questioning each other, what the hell was that. We thought it was another plane. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">We started to walk towards them, and there were all rigs and stuff outside, and that's where we were walking towards. Looked like some kind of maybe a command post or something was there. Started to walk towards it, and that's when the building came down. I heard an explosion and turned around and the building was coming down. At that point, we dropped everything we had, at least I did. We started to run north on </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">West Street</span></st1:address></st1:Street><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">. At that point, we were overcome with the cloud and it looked like -- felt a lot of wind again, got knocked down.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">FIREFIGHTER TERENCE RIVERA<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110343.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">I was standing outside the quarters about to go home when the first plane hit. I heard a loud noise and then all of a sudden an explosion, looked up. I couldn't even tell really which tower was hit. There was debris flying. There was a lot of smoke and fire. I ran back inside, let everybody know we knew there was an explosion, grabbed my gear.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">We went around the corner on </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">West Street</span></st1:address></st1:Street><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"> and the Ladder pulled right up in front of tower – the north tower. The engine took the hydrant on the middle of </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">West Street</span></st1:address></st1:Street><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">. As I got off the back -- the back step, there were a few individuals that were civilians that were outside that were burnt. There was a -- he wasn't a regular security guard. He had a weapon on him. I don't know if he was FBI or Secret Service and he was trying to put the pants out on one individual that was conscious. His pants were still smoldering. I took the can, fire extinguisher off the truck and then sprayed down the pants on the person that was still conscious. At that time, I had asked him where did this individual come from. He told me when the plane had hit, a fire ball had shot down the elevator shaft and had blown people out of the lobby. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">As I was coming outside, I see a lot of people running towards the Marriott Hotel, I see people running -- everyone was just running. And I hear shh. It sounded like someone was turning on a hydrant and I look up and the first tower was coming down. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">I proceeded to run up north and I run towards the overpass that connects </span><st1:place><st1:placename><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">World</span></st1:PlaceName><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"> </span><st1:placename><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Financial</span></st1:PlaceName><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"> </span><st1:placetype><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Center</span></st1:PlaceType></st1:place><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"> where they have -- where the high rise rig is at and also -- I think it was Rescue 1 or Rescue 5's vehicles underneath it. As I run towards it, I know that I'm not going to escape the -- escape it, so I dive under – I don't know even know which rig it was. I dive under a rig. At the same time it felt like an explosion. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">FIREFIGHTER KEVIN MCCABE<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110344.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Shortly after they came out and got their gear on, we were ready to go straight ahead, you heard a roar, some sort of vibration, like a vrr vrr vrr, getting louder and louder. My first thought to myself, I live down in Rockaway so I have heard planes coming overhead for years. It sounded like a plane getting closer and louder and louder and next thing you know, you felt the building shook. At that moment, it was I think every man for themselves. I think I might have heard somebody say it's coming down or something.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Shortly after as I'm walking, you hear another loud boom. I hear guys behind me, I guess I hear some commotion behind me and I turn around and I see guys running towards me. Again I think I hear somebody say it's coming down. I remember turning, looking and looking up and seeing the dust cloud opening up overhead.<span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">I remember sitting there talking and when I said to somebody that I was in the hotel when a plane hit, he said what do you mean the plane hit. He goes both buildings had been hit already. I said what do you mean. I said that noise we were hearing. What we heard was the noise of that south tower coming down.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">FIREFIGHTER KEVIN DUGGAN<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110345.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">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. So we continued towards the Battery Tunnel. There was a lot of traffic. Took us awhile to get there.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">So we were just watching people. People were jumping. The fire was -- a tremendous volume of fire. Our captain said he didn't think we'd be able to put out the fire because of the volume of fire versus the volume of water. He said the sprinklers were going to be out, the standpipes were going to be out. So we were there. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">My captain actually was standing -- he had taken his bunker pants down to his knees, and we were standing there, and then we just heard this real loud roar. We looked up and we could see the south tower. Looked like the middle of it was just exploding out, and at that point, one of the officers just said, "Run," and we were just turned and started running into the garage, so I just turned and ran in. I was just -- I didn't think it was a great move to be running into the building like that, but there was nowhere else to go, and I was just thinking, like, holy shit, we're going to be buried in here, thinking the tower would probably fall over towards us. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">We were still right by maybe 4 </span><st1:place><st1:placename><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">World</span></st1:PlaceName><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"> </span><st1:placename><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Financial</span></st1:PlaceName><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"> </span><st1:placetype><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Center</span></st1:PlaceType></st1:place><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">, because we were in the grassy area there, and then the north tower, we heard the rattling, and we saw the north tower collapse. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">FIREFIGHTER SEAN BROWN<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110346.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">We were on the 23rd Floor, set up communications, when we heard a rumble. I would say we were on the 23rd for about five to ten minutes. The building shook. Lights went out. Asked my officer if -- you know, what happened, and he thought maybe the top of the building got blown off. I turned to him and I said, "What do we do?" And some chief appeared. Don't know who the chief was. Chief from the department appeared, said, "Start making your way out of the building. The south tower just collapsed. A third plane is coming towards the north tower."<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">FIREFIGHTER SIDNEY PARRIS<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110347.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">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. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">FIREFIGHTER ROBERT CHYRIWSKI<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110348.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Then I look and I see Mayor Giuliani and Von Essen and Nigro and a whole entourage walking south. I don't know exactly where they were going, but I saw them.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">We were just standing there looking at all this chaos going on, the two towers just burning, and before you know it, I'm just hearing this loud roar and I look up and I just see this big cloud coming down. That was when 2 World Trade started to come down. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">CAPTAIN DAVID LOPER<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110349.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Anyway, it's then that I was looking at the north tower that I saw what I thought looked like a seagull in the distance almost and it went into the south tower and the south tower exploded in a huge fire ball. I just told my chauffeur, "Stop for a minute. Stop the rig." And he just slammed the brakes and we just looked and it didn't strike me as to what happened. I still thought -- I said to him, at that point, "The gas tanks exploded from the plane." That's what I thought it was at that point. It wasn't until afterwards that I realized it was a whole second plane at that time. And I didn't realize that until a couple of days later. It just didn't make sense to me. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">I went back to the commands post after talking to guys, kept them together. Went back up and there is a crowd of people and everything, still waiting to see what we were going to do. Then all of a sudden there was like a loud -- almost like a rushing sound, a roar, and we looked up and we could see it looked like an implosion and the building kind of went in and out and kind of like shook and I remember like 20 or 30 guys, whatever it was, all there at the command post. A lot of them in front of me pulled towards </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">West Street</span></st1:address></st1:Street><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">. We were looking up and then this thing started coming down and nobody ran. I could just remember that. Even myself, I remember being hypnotized by this thing and just looking up at it and then finally, thank God, somebody yelled, "Run." <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Somewhere heading back towards those guys, that's when the north tower collapsed. And it was the same thing, the same noise. So as soon as I heard it this time, I knew it. I just saw those two guys and I just yelled "run" and we just started running up towards </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Vesey Street</span></st1:address></st1:Street><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">EVELYN VEGA<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110350.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">So moments after, maybe five minutes or so, I hear a rumble, and I just look towards the east side of the street. I'm in the middle of the block on Vesey between West and North End, so now I turn, and I look east towards the corner of West and Vesey, and I see people in blue uniforms, cops, whoever they were. They were running towards my way, so I didn't know what to do, so I looked the opposite direction, and I see other people running the same direction. So I just started running. So I started running by myself because my partner was taking care of something else, so I just ran, left the vehicle there, and just kept running north. Running, running north, and still at this time I didn't know that the second plane was hit, and when we heard that rumble, that noise, I didn't know that that was when the first tower fell until I met up with another coworker.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">FIREFIGHTER WILLIAM CASEY<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110352.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Then we started to proceed up, and I don't know what the stairwell number was, stairwell letter, to the 27th Floor. At that point, there were different companies up there, different people up there. At that point, as soon as we got up there, we all hit the ground, because the building started shaking. We didn't know what that was. We assumed it was some floors above that had collapsed. We weren't really told what it was. We found out, obviously, that it was Tower 2 that collapsed. At that point, I believe it was a chief – I wasn't sure where he was from. He came down from somewhere. He came from one of the areas on the 7^th Floor, and he told us to just get off this floor. So we were told to get off the floor. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">We started getting ready to get this guy into the ambulance, and with that, you heard this -- it was almost like a roar, and it was like a rumbling, and I turned back. I kind of froze, because when I turned back, I started seeing the building starting to come down, and when I turned back around, there was nobody -- there was nobody there, so I kind of just dove up against a fence. It was like a parking garage, an open parking space. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">FIREFIGHTER ADRIENNE WALSH<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110353.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Then we were instructed to search through two or three buildings to make sure they were stable, and then they pulled everybody out because of the pink building. Was it 7 World Trade, that was going?<br />Q. Right.<br />A. Then they pulled everybody out.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">FIREFIGHTER JOHN MORIBITO<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110354.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Then I proceeded into the lobby of the building. When I walked through the lobby, there was broken glass everywhere. There were also two people in the lobby, a gentleman who was already burned and was dead, and a female. She was nude. Her clothes had burnt away. She was trying to communicate. Her eyes were sealed shut. Her throat apparently was sealed. She couldn’t really communicate. Within the next two minutes, she had perished right there. We never actually got her any assistance. We couldn’t get her an ambulance, and we didn’t get her out of there.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">I noticed in the courtyard that there were valises, suitcases, strewn about the courtyard. There were wallets everywhere, broken glass, and then I noticed that there were airplane tickets.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">I saw the chiefs. Chief Pfeifer from Battalion 1 come in. Along with him was the battalion aide, and the French filmmaker, who happened to be standing in the lobby at the time, and he was videotaping everything that was occurring.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">After a couple of minutes, we heard – I heard over the department radio, “Prepare for impact. A second plane is approaching the building.”<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">I noticed that some of the elevators had been blown out of their shafts. They came down and crashed out of their shafts. They were buckled, and I had noticed that there were people still in the elevators. I believe that they were at that point deceased.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Then I saw the lights in both buildings went out, and I heard the rumble. At that point, I didn’t know what was happening, but 2 World Trade Center was collapsing.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">I tried to look around briefly for somebody. I couldn’t find anyone. I saw a couple of flashlights in the distance. I walked straight ahead. I ran into the elevators. The elevators were completely out of the shafts at this point. All the elevators – I could see members were crushed in between them. I could see civilians were crushed in between elevators.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">FIREMAN JOHN OTTRANDO<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110355.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">After I hooked up, I went into the lobby of the north tower and I saw the command post being set up there. I noticed some people on the floor that were badly burned. One man was deceased, and there was a woman there that was very badly burned. I went out to get </span><st1:place><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">EMS</span></st1:place><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"> to come in to help her. They were very busy, and I just asked them for some blankets. I went back into the lobby of the north tower, and I covered the civilians up. I stayed with the woman until </span><st1:place><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">EMS</span></st1:place><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"> came in, and I helped them take her away.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">FIREFIGHTER MICHAEL BEEHLER<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110357.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">We had came down Broadway and as we got to </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Liberty Street</span></st1:address></st1:Street><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">, I believe -- yes, we got to </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Liberty</span></st1:place></st1:City><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"> Street and made the right off of Broadway on to </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Liberty</span></st1:place></st1:City><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"> and we were on </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Liberty</span></st1:place></st1:City><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"> between Broadway and I believe Church and we had gotten off the rig with Battalion 31. We were speaking to them on where we should go because we were assigned to the north tower. I remember just hearing an explosion that basically I can't describe the sound of. It was actually the second plane crashing in. We were on the side, we were on the south side of the south tower when it came down -- I mean when the plane crashed in. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">I was by I guess the outer part of the building and I just remember feeling the building starting to shake and this tremendous tremendous like roar and I just -- I kind of didn't even notice it, but like out of the corner of my eye, I saw out of the building, I saw a shadow coming down. At that point I thought it was the upper part of the north tower that had just basically like toppled over, fell off. I didn't actually see the building part go by me, because I think I was on the opposite side. But I just remember feeling this tremendous tremendous shake and hearing this, like, noise. Again I can't describe.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">FIREFIGHTER DEAN BELTRAMI<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110359.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">At that time, there was a bomb threat in </span><st1:place><st1:placename><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Stuyvesant</span></st1:PlaceName><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"> </span><st1:placetype><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">High School</span></st1:PlaceType></st1:place><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">, and we evacuated that area and went further up </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">West Street</span></st1:address></st1:Street><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"> until we were a good distance away, probably – I'm not sure of the street it was on, but it was quite a distance away.</span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/36784037-54580733996699443?l=jay-911.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17951311616880111671noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36784037.post-46193095432413526912006-11-25T22:50:00.000+01:002006-11-25T22:57:23.903+01:00<p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >FIREFIGHTER JOSEPH GALASSO<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110322.PDF">Transcript</a><br /><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >As we got in there, like I said, the lieutenant walked away for a second to find a stairwell, told us to wait. At that point, not even a few seconds later, the lights went out and you heard -- it sounded like a waterfall almost. You just saw people running. The lights went out, and it got dark. You just saw parts of buildings coming down.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >I guess when the first building came down I actually thought it was another plane hit at that time. I didn't know the building came down. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >At that point -- again, not even – I would say about 40 seconds, we get to the middle of the street with this individual, and you heard like a loud "rrrrr." Everything started shaking. We thought it was another plane.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >FIREFIGHTER JAMES MURPHY<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110323.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Then we saw the second one come up. It looked like it was coming up the </span><st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >East River</span></st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > from here. I guess it was coming from the south. I thought it banked over the </span><st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >East River</span></st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >, which is what it looked like. I thought it made a left over the </span><st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >East River</span></st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > and went right into it going from east to west. But as it turns out, it came from the south. Then we saw it just go right into the building and explode. I remember talking to Eric. I remember Eric saying something, "Oh, my God, there's another plane." I was saying to him, "That plane is closer to us. It's really not a big plane going towards the building." Two seconds later it rammed into the building. You don't expect it. We just freaked. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >We waited there right on the corner of the mall, right on the corner where the two sections met, the two mall sections. We were on the north corner of that. That's when 30 seconds after the lieutenant left you could hear the noise. I was looking down towards </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >West Street</span></st1:address></st1:street><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >, because that's where it seemed that it was coming from. You just heard -- I thought it was a third plane that hit, because when we were going in there was a couple of cops. When we made the right onto </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Liberty</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >, they said, "Be careful, guys, there's a third plane heading in." So that's what I thought it was. It just seemed like a long time that it was -- it didn't seem like an explosion. It was like boom, boom, and then just got louder and louder. It got louder and louder, and then all of a sudden I was looking out onto </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >West Street</span></st1:address></st1:street><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > and the whole area turned from gray to black in a hurry.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >We couldn't have walked more than like 15 steps when the second tower came down. Everybody just ran for their lives. Really that's exactly what happened. All of a sudden there was blue out and then it just got a shade darker and the noise and then it got darker and darker and darker. The noise was getting louder, and there was stuff falling. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >I remember just walking up that block. That first block, all the cars were on fire. They weren't totally engulfed in flames, but there was fire on them and their tires were exploding. I just remember how quiet it was walking up that block. Everything was quiet except for the explosions of tires and stuff like that.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >LIEUTENANT WAYNE MERA<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110325.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >So we turned down </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Liberty</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > off of Broadway and we're almost at Church and all of a sudden a massive explosion. Unbelievable. The sound was incredible. It turns out it was the second plane that hit the south tower, and it hit on the Liberty Street side, so it was a block and a half, two blocks from us. The sound was incredible. We didn't know what it was at the time. We thought it might have been a bomb.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >I was in the back room, it must be the northeast corner, and some guys must have been on the southeast corner, when all of a sudden the building shook. I've never been in an earthquake, but it couldn't have been any worse than that, any major earthquake. It just shook the building like I just couldn't believe. I mean, it was really bad. We stopped a second, looked at each other, what's going on here? We come out. Another guy comes from another room, let's go, let's go in the stairwell. We start going to the stairwell.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >When the building shook, to go back, we didn't realize what happened. We didn't realize it was the south tower. I know myself and I've talked to the guys that were with me that day, we all thought the same thing, it was the upper floors of our building. That's what we thought. We thought the upper floors of our building had collapsed and we didn't know what was going on. So on the way down, I remember, I know myself, I kept thinking that the rest of it was going to be coming down. But it ended up being the south tower.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >We got down to the lobby and it opened up where you could walk at a normal pace. Nobody was running out, but you were walking at a pretty good clip at that point. You could see a couple of the elevators had crashed to the bottom and there were doors blown open and stuff. It was very strange because there was debris everywhere, not the big, heavy, steel debris, but there was dust, coated with dust everywhere.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >My back was towards the building. The guys sat down on the rig, you can open up your coats, take your mask off your shoulder, breathe a sigh of relief, okay, let's catch our breath, see what's going on before we do anything. Paul Hyland looks up and goes here it comes. Run. My back was towards the building. I didn't check back and look. A lot of the other guys were already looking that way, so they saw everything break apart. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >We're in front of Stuyvesant catching our breath, and I'm not sure how much later, it wasn't that much longer, a cop comes running up and tells everybody from the high school to go down the block, that they got a bomb scare or a gas leak, the high school is ready to blow up. So now we're trying to catch our breath here, so we ended up running up another five or six blocks not knowing what's going on. We're going up West Street and I'm looking over to the right and I saw all these buildings, the rig was to the left, and I'm thinking are these secondary devices? Are they planted to explode every 20 minutes now? Are they going to chase us all the way up the west side?<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >FIREFIGHTER PAUL BECK<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110326.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >We were just rummaging around and soon we heard this noise. It sounded like a train. I thought it was another jet coming overhead. I thought it was a fighter jet now patrolling or another plane coming.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >FIREFIGHTER CHRISTOPHER PATRICK MURRAY<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110327.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >We went over the </span><st1:place><st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Brooklyn</span></st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > </span><st1:placetype><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Bridge</span></st1:placetype></st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >, came down I believe it was Broadway and stopped the rig on Broadway and </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Liberty</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >. At the same time, the second plane hit. So when we were stepping off the rig, we heard the explosion and we looked up and we what everybody else saw, a big ball of fire, smoke, flame debris, building debris.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >But when it start coming down, you knew exactly what it was. A couple of guys thought it was another plane because we heard reports of another plane coming in, and then you heard this noise and a few guys said it's another plane. But for whatever reason, I knew exactly what it was. It sounded like a freight train going right over your head. It was an unbelievable experience. Then, when the second one went, obviously, you heard the same noise, so you knew what that was.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >LIEUTENANT NEIL BROSNAN<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110328.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >At that time, getting of the rig, we were informed, we believe by the department radio that the elevators were falling in the shafts and not use high bank or mid bank of elevators. To use only low bank of elevators only.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >At this time, I caught the explosion, coming from my left side. I seen the ceiling coming down and we all got low and backed down a dead end hallway.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >We were blown down the hallway. My left eye was blinded by debris from the explosion and at this time, when I was getting blown down, I thought this was the third plane ESU was talking about. I had that in my mind, that now the third plane had hit the building and that’s what the event was. At first we were waiting for the heat to come and then we realised it was breathable and we crawled out and you couldn’t even talk. You had so much debris in your mouth.<br />Q. This building was still okay. What happened was 2 collapsed and caused all of this debris and dust everything else. Is that it?<br />A. Actually, the explosion came in through those doors and came up behind the way I had come in. and I realized that, that the explosion came from the way I just left.<br />Q. Did you know what the explosion was?<br />A. No. We never heard, through this whole event, through the collapse of other than – well, 1 World Trade Center I happened to be there. I seen that collapse. We never knew 2 World Trade Center collapsed on channel 3. My men didn’t know it, I didn’t know it. In fact, I didn’t know for a week later the sequence of events until I talked to a chief in the 8^th battalion and he told me I was wrong. I thought the hotel collapsed first.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >At this point, my eyes are now I can see. I squint and I notice that the hotel is in a V-shaped collapse with only the two ends of the hotel – the whole center of the hotel has disappeared into a V-shaped collapse down to almost street level. I realized there was ten to fifteen companies that I had only passed three to five minutes prior to this explosion. That’s about the time I was in 1, was no more than three to five minutes when this occurred, which we found out later was the collapse of 2, but we did not know at this time.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >But there were electrical fires starting on my way out. I could see – I could actually see the electrical arc and it was like the white lights above us. So I was actually using that for reference. Ceiling, floor. That’s how I got reference back on my feet. I was just watching the ceiling and it was arcing.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Q. In the lobby of tower 1, did you notice any elevators, anything unusual about the elevators or the elevator doors? Was there fire in the elevator shaft? Were they blown in, the doors? Anything like that?<br />A. No. they had asked me that, where the explosion came from that I encountered. The explosion came right from the way I had entered. It came right from in back of me.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >FIREFIGHTER STEVE PICCERILL<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110330.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >All of a sudden, I turned away, and I heard a tremendous explosion, and I turned around. That was the second plane hitting the trade center, so that’s when they told us to respond.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >I was walking back up to the front of the tunnel, and I heard like a – to me, it sounded like thunder, and I just saw stuff coming down, and I heard someone. He said, “Run for your life. The tower is falling.” I looked up, and I just saw this thing coming, and we all just ran, ran into the tunnel.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >So Z went back to the rig. He got his stuff and went on to get a flashlight. He was walking from the rig, and he seen – he heard the rumble. He seen guys running. He looked up, and the building was coming down.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >EMT DWIGHT SCOTT<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110332.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >After we met up again, we went back to another command post. Then they said there was a secondary explosion or they weren't sure if it was a bomb or a gas main. But we all started running again. We went north. After that we regrouped and set up another triage station farther from the site.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >PARAMEDIC ROBERT RUIZ<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110333.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >The next thing you know, you hear a loud thundering noise. It sounded like a jet, a big rumble. I start looking around and I'm like, what is that? The next thing I know, I see the cop just take off. I'm like, where's he going? Then I see the things on the floor, like </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Liberty</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > -- you know, just like the movies, bouncing up and jumping and shaking. I mean, not like an earthquake, like a 6 point something or something like that. But you see stuff on the floor shaking from side to side. I'm like, oh, my God. I look up and I was saying, oh, no, the building's going to fall down. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >By now the sound is just getting louder and louder and louder. I said, oh, man, this building is going to fall on me right now. What do I do? I got up, and I just -- this is like a split second. I said I can't keep running straight up, because you have this building right here on </span><st1:state><st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Washington</span></st1:place></st1:state><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >. What is it? </span><st1:place><st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Bankers</span></st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > </span><st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Trust</span></st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > </span><st1:placetype><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Plaza</span></st1:placetype></st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >, </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >130 Liberty Street</span></st1:address></st1:street><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >? It takes up the entire block. So I can't run like in a diagonal. What I wanted to do is I didn't want to run straight up; I wanted to go diagonally to get out of the -- because I figured this building was falling, it was tumbling over. I didn't think it was falling down on top of itself.<br />Q. So you had a feeling the building was coming down right away?<br />A. Yeah.<br />Q. Is that what you first thought?<br />A. Yeah. The sound, it's just loud. At first it's (sound) and then you feel everything around you -- not around you but the floor. You feel the floor trembling and shaking. You look at the floor, the dirt, the sand and everything on the floor shifting from side to side. I'm like, oh, man. Then the cop takes off. He runs. Then I hit the corner, I turn the corner, a few feet I fall. By this time the sound is so, so, so loud, I think oh, my God. I never looked back, because I figured if I looked back that was going to be it, I'd freeze or be hit with something. I said, look, I don't want to waste any time. Whatever it is I'm going to do, I've got to do it quickly. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >All you hear is all this rumbling. The rumbling, the rumbling, the rumbling, that's all you heard. The rumbling and the smoke.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Like things weren't bad enough already, the car that's parked right on that corner catches on fire. I don't mean a little fire, the entire thing. Don't ask me how. The entire car caught on fire. You would think maybe just a motor part or just the engine part. But this entire car just goes up in fire. I'm like, oh, my God, what's happening? I didn't get squashed and I'm going to suffocate here and now I'm going to burn. The smoke was real hot. The smoke was real, real hot. I thought about, oh, man, if I keep breathing the smoke in, my larynx is going to swell and I'm going to suffocate like that, and all attached to crazy things I'm thinking. Forget about it. Now it was the car. Then I can't stand it anymore because it's getting real, real, real hot. I'm like, oh, man, I've got to get out of here. This thing is cooking me. Now thanks to the car fire -- because it was so big, I could see now.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Even before we found that, we found the people. As soon as we found the people, we hear it again, the rumbling. Right, I forgot all about that. We hear the rumbling. I was like, oh, my God, Joe, the rest of the building is falling down. We all run, and we all try to get as much as we can inside this building where we are now. We hide in a closet or something. The walls are all full of glass. So we're thinking that this glass is going to break. All you see is the thing moving. Later on we found out that was the second building that was falling down. We thought and I thought that the first one is still -- the rest of it is falling down.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >EMT KEVIN McLEON<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110334.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >We pulled our equipment out and started to stage in front of the building. We started to distribute equipment for triage. We had one or two patients who had a piece of the building that fell on his shoulder. We started to bring him to ambulance when all of a sudden we heard a large explosion. That explosion turned out to be subsequently the second plane hitting. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >EMT JODY BELL<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110335.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >I figure about a half hour later after we arrived we had a good 20 to 30 people on that corner we were trying to treat. We were just trying to treat them. We then hear this explosion. We hear this explosion, and our first reaction is the plane was lodged in the building and it exploded or parts of it were still in the building and that exploded. Then people were screaming that another plane hit. I'm like, no way, there's no way. From where I was, I couldn't see the other tower. I saw the one tower. I couldn't see the other tower. They said another plane hit. So I'm like, there's no way. More people were starting to say it. Then it came over the radio. That's when I knew it was deliberate. I knew it was deliberate. At first I was thinking maybe it was an accident, human error of the worst kind. But the second plane, I knew it was deliberate. I knew this was an attack. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >I'm not sure how much time passed after that. I lost track of time. You start to hear this rumble. You hear this rumble. Everything is shaking. Now I'm like, what the hell could that be. I'm thinking we're going to get bombed. This is an air raid. You hear this thunder, this rumbling. Then you see the building start to come down. Everybody's like, "Run for your lives! The building is coming down!"<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >That's when over the radio you hear, "Stand fast. The north tower is leaning." I'm like, how is the north tower leaning? See, once I heard the second plane hit, I was thinking the second plane hit one building, both planes hit that one building, and that building had kind of come straight down. So all I saw was smoke coming at me and everything else, and I just ran. I still got bombarded with all of that stuff. When I came back this time, not only was it snowing but I could see the tower, and the tower was starting to break off. It was kind of looking like it was going to tip, and there was a piece of the building coming down right on top of me and Mike. We were holding each other's hands and we were like, "Whoa, look at that." We sat there like for a split second and we just watched it in amazement that this building was coming down, the second building was coming down. The building was hitting other buildings. It was hitting buildings over here. It was crazy. Then we made another U turn, and everything started rumbling again. Another tidal wave blacked out the whole scene. This time it was worse. We were just running. This time we ran all the way back as far as we could to the railing. I was damn near ready to jump in the river.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Oh, wait, another major thing. When that second building came down, as we were running, you hear this thunder in the air. This was a scary part. We hear thunder. That's when I'm like, oh, no, now they're going to bomb us. You hear this thunder. You know it's in the air, but you don't see anything. You just hear this loud sound. It's just getting bigger and bigger. Then you see our fighters in the air, F-14s, whatever they were, F-18s. Everybody just got a new sense of hope. We were all just cheering, like "</span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >USA</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >" and "shoot those mother fuckers down." We knew we were at war. We knew we were at war.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >FIREFIGHTER ROBERT HUMPHREY<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110337.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >At that point between actually – probably before the third engine company came is when the second plane hit, and I was in the middle of the street at the time, and it came -- the plane came from the south, so I saw very little of the plane. I only saw a flash going on the side of the building where the opening is, and then the explosion. That's when I took cover inside the rig, because everything was -- all the metal and stuff was coming down on the rig and in the streets, you know, stuff from the plane, and metal and whatever, and glass, and et cetera. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >FIREFIGHTER KEVIN QUINN<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110339.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Then approximately I guess maybe two hours before number 7 came down, we went into Ground Zero and helped dig around and was there when they located Chief Feehan and one of the Chiefs pulled us all out because they said 7 was going to come down.</span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/36784037-4619309543241352691?l=jay-911.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17951311616880111671noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36784037.post-30868592098625628112006-11-19T15:12:00.000+01:002006-11-26T13:26:10.922+01:00<p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >FIREFIGHTER KEVIN MCGOVERN<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110301.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >We were walking south on </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >West Street</span></st1:address></st1:street><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > back to the command post. Like I said, I had my head down again. All of a sudden I heard like a tremendous thunder. I looked up, and all of a sudden people were just running towards me. I looked up, and sure enough, the south tower was collapsing. It was like a big, huge wave coming at us.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >We were searching around the debris field that ended up on </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >West Street</span></st1:address></st1:street><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > opposite the north tower. We were searching around in there. At that time </span><st1:place><st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Seven</span></st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > </span><st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >World</span></st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > </span><st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Trade</span></st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > </span><st1:placetype><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Center</span></st1:placetype></st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > was burning and was in danger of collapsing. After a while the lieutenant said, “let’s move, let’s get out of here, let’s take a break.” Actually I think at that point just as we were leaving, guys – I don’t know who it was. I guess it was a chief was saying clear the area, because they were worried about number </span><st1:place><st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Seven</span></st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > </span><st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >World</span></st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > </span><st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Trade</span></st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > </span><st1:placetype><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Center</span></st1:placetype></st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > coming down and burying guys who were digging. So we basically went back to the rig, because they were clearing that area out. It took about three hours for </span><st1:place><st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Seven</span></st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > </span><st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >World</span></st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > </span><st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Trade</span></st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > </span><st1:placetype><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Center</span></st1:placetype></st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > to actually come down. So we were off to the side.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >FIREFIGHTER RICHARD BOERI<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110302.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Myself, my whole company, Matt Shannon, Bobby Reeg, the covering officer, and Eddie Kennedy proceeded to walk down. Looking over, I saw 65 Engine hooked up to the hotel, I believe, or the south tower. I don't remember which one because there's a high pressure pump. The officer saw there were several small fires at the foot of the pedestrian bridge right there at </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Liberty</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > and West. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >We had our backs to the tower and under that pedestrian bridge walking south, myself, Eddie Kennedy and the officer, when you heard the crackling. You looked up and you saw the one floor explode on itself and the top start to slide. At that point Eddie just told me to run, and we just dropped everything and ran south towards </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Albany Street</span></st1:address></st1:street><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >I was there for a while with him, when you heard the rumbling again. That's when the north tower came down.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >EMT-D RALPH RAMOS<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110303.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >In the process of treating and organizing the people getting out of there, all of a sudden we heard the rumble of the first tower, and it was just, you know, really just chaotic on the corner that we were at. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >We didn't see anybody, people laying around and stuff, but as far as walking around, there really wasn't anybody. My vehicle exploded. I was heading over to my vehicle to get -- to use the radio, because I had lost my HIP radio. I went inside my vehicle to get on my vehicle radio, but by the time I went over there, the vehicle exploded.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >At that time, then, in the process of doing that, we heard another loud rumble and it was the second tower coming down. We both started -- you know, we hugged, locked arms. Both started running, but we didn't make it too far.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >EMT PATRICK RICHIUSA<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110305.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >There was no noise after 1 Trade Center fell. It was like something out of a movie. It was really loud and then it was -- maybe it was just my hearing from the blast. I wasn't hearing the minor things. In the parking lot across the street, cars were exploding. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >FIREFIGHTER GEORGE KOZLOWSKI<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110308.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >We did see bodies that got pulled out of the elevators because all the elevators fell. Then Kenny and I just thought well, let’s just walk in the main lobby there and maybe try and pry open and see if anybody is left in the elevator itself. We did a quick walk around in that section, but there were only a couple that were closed. We could wedge it open a little and take a look. There were no other bodies. There was about three or four bodies that were pulled from the elevator and they were covered up already.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >At that point, we were -- I can’t remember how long we were on that third floor pushing people through. That’s when we felt a big giant tremble, like a mini earthquake. That was the south tower collapsing.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >The Chief took off. We heard like a lot of trembling and everything. So we better get out of here. This doesn’t look good. There is no more people coming. So we started walking the same way the Chief went, and he was at the other end. He said the same thing. He said we better get our asses out of here. This doesn’t look good at all. As we were walking, we heard – we thought it was another plane coming. It was like a big shhhhh. A thousand times louder than that. It sounded like a missile coming and we just started booking. We took off like bats out of hell. We made it around the corner and that’s when the shit hit the fan right then and there. We heard that loud and then ba boom. I just – it was like an earthquake or whatever. A giant, giant explosion.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >At this point I didn’t even know – I thought it was like a part of the building collapsing.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >FIREFIGHTER ANTHONY </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >SALERNO</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110309.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >We found car fires. We found buses on fire, but we happened to find a volunteer rig from the </span><st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Bronx</span></st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > that was still in there. It was a old LaFrance. I got in the rig, backed the rig out with everybody helping, parked the rig on West Broadway, and found the rig on West Broadway between Barclay and Park, and backed the rig out and hooked up to a hydrant on West Broadway and Warren, and ended up supplying whatever lines we can get off the rig with -- using whatever fittings we could use off their rig, and I remember the water pressure being very low. We ended up putting out as many fires as we could from West Broadway and Warren all the way down to West Broadway and Vesey. Putting out all those fires, in that interim, the second building had come down. I remember hearing a lot of explosions, the street turning completely gray, gray clouds of smoke all over the place. Everybody had stopped what they were doing and ran back up the block.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >FIREFIGHTER CHARLES GAFFNEY<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110310.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >We made our way up to about the 21st Floor. We met up with Engine 65 somewhere along the line there, and we were kind of listening to the officer of Engine 65's radio. We heard like a continuous roar, like a thunder, and the building shook. All in between there was all foggy. I don't remember what happened in between there. Like, all I remember was once the building started shaking, I forgot everything else that was going on. It was like you were being thrown around on the floor. We made our way into the stairway, and there were a few guys from Engine 65 in that stairway. There were no civilians in the stairs at that time. Most of them had -- must have gotten out by then from below the crash, but I remember hearing a radio transmission, "Urgent!" I don't know who gave it, but I remember hearing an "Urgent!" that all inside operations were off. Everybody out of the building, and we all started running down the stairs.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >CAPTAIN PAUL MALLERY<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110312.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >I said it sounds just like this, this is exactly what it sounds like, here’s another one, thinking it was a third plane. Meanwhile the sound to me was four distinct events. The two planes crashes and the two collapses, except the collapses lasted longer.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >As the third sound takes place, it's in fact the collapse of tower two, but I didn’t know that at that time, the dust comes rolling down the hallway, up the stairs through the bunk rooms and I realized the windows are gone.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >There is a cop. There is Captain Kelty now, we are going to package him up and pick him up over the knee wall of coffee shop, when tower one collapses. That was the fourth event in the sound department. The sound was the same thing again. Sounded like a plane to me. Sounded like another plane, but it was the collapse of tower one, which geographically is further away from us, so we said well, we couldn’t run anywhere, because there was debris all over the street.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >CAPTAIN ANTHONY VARRIALE<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110313.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >At that time, other firefighters started showing up, Deputy Battalion Chief Paul Ferran of the 41 Battalion, and James Savastano of the First Division assigned to the Second Battalion showed up and we attempted to search and extinguish, at the time which was small pockets of fire in 7 World Trade Center. We were unaware of the damage in the front of 7, because we were entering from the northeast entrance. We weren't aware of the magnitude of the damage in the front of the building. We made searches. We attempted to put some of the fire out, but we had a pressure problem. I forget the name of the Deputy. Some Deputy arrived at the scene and thought that the building was too dangerous to continue with operations, so we evacuated number 7 </span><st1:place><st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >World</span></st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > </span><st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Trade</span></st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > </span><st1:placetype><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Center</span></st1:placetype></st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >LIEUTENANT MICHAEL HADDEN<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110315.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Q. That's okay. When the north tower came down, just prior to it, was there anything you saw with the north tower that would indicate it was coming down? Did you see anything or it was just coming down?<br />A. No, it just started coming down. Just the noise -- we were heading south on </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >West Street</span></st1:address></st1:street><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >, and Chief Ferran and myself were saying to each other that thing isn't going to come down, not knowing that the south tower had already come down. It seemed like it was in slow motion until it got about a block away, and then it was fast.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >FIREFIGHTER GEORGE RODRIGUEZ<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110317.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >At that point we were supplying the standpipe Siamese. All was going well with that. The operation was growing in intensity. At that point the preliminary sounds of the collapse started, the loud crackling sounds. We all started running, because I think the energy coming down through the cylinders of the building because of the pancake, the energy came out first and then the actual debris started coming. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >At that point that sound came back, and the second tower started to go, which happened to be tower number one. We did everything we could to make it back to </span><st1:state><st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Washington</span></st1:place></st1:state><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > and turn northbound on </span><st1:state><st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Washington</span></st1:place></st1:state><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >. As we turned the corner, the rubble started coming down, but the energy caught us first. I think it was a lucky thing because the energy actually picked us up and threw us about 40 feet.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >FIREFIGHTER FERNANDO CAMACHO<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110318.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >On the morning of September 11th I was on house watch, and it was about </span><st1:time minute="0" hour="8"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >8:00</span></st1:time><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >. A little bit after 8, because I was watching the news, I saw the first airplane or it would seem, an explosion on one of the towers; I believe it was the north tower. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >We went across the lobby of the hotel, going north, and we exited and made a right going towards the second tower, the south tower. We must have walked about 100-200 feet to revolving doors, which led into a hallway to where the mall was. I could see maybe 20, 25 civilians and I believe Ladder 25, which was about another 100 to 150 feet ahead of us. As we came in through the revolving doors, the lights went out. A second or two later everything started to shake. You could hear explosions. We didn't know what it was. We thought it was just a small collapse. The firefighters that were ahead of us and the civilians that were ahead of us totally disappeared. We turned around. We were all pretty much within ten feet of each other: lieutenant, chauffeur, roof, OV, can. As we turned around, I ran probably maybe ten feet and that's when the body of the building or body of the collapse hit, and we were flying through the air basically. I must have flown 30, 40 feet through the air. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >As we approached the rig again, I was being tended by </span><st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >EMS</span></st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > for head wounds. Five minutes after that the north tower started to lean.<br />Q. You saw it leaning?<br />A. Yeah. What happened was that as I was standing there and getting bandaged, somebody said the tower is leaning. So me and Gorman -- he had the irons. We turned around and looked, and we could see the tower leaning. As it started to lean, it just came straight down. Now we're running again.<br />Q. Which way was it leaning? Towards </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >West Street</span></st1:address></st1:street><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >?<br />A. The tower was leaning not towards – it leaned somewhat northwest but not -- it came down pretty straight after it leaned. It didn't really continue to lean. It just leaned a little bit and then came straight down. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >FIREFIGHTER JOHN MALLEY<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110319.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >So we were going in not knowing where this third plane, whether this plane was coming or not. I remember hearing I think it was Ganci asking if we could get confirmation on whether the military can down the plane or not. I didn't hear whether it was or wasn't. All I know is we were going in regardless.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >As we walked through those revolving doors, that's when we felt the rumble. I felt the rumbling, and then I felt the force coming at me. I was like, what the hell is that? In my mind it was a bomb going off. The pressure got so great, I stepped back behind the columns separating the revolving doors. Then the force just blew past me. It blew past me it seemed for a long time. In my mind I was saying what the hell is this and when is it going to stop? Then it finally stopped, that pressure which I thought was a concussion of an explosion. It turns out it was the down pressure wind of the floors collapsing on top of each other. At that point everything went black, and then the collapse came. It just rained on top of us. Everything came. It rained debris forever. I was semiburied. I thought I might be the only one alive at that point, because it was just an incredible amount of debris falling around us. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >There were secondary explosions, I don't know, aerosol cans or whatever. But we're in the darkness. We see basically the glow of a flashlight and still things coming down. The noise, the explosions, whatever it was. I don't know, we just realized we had to get the heck out of there.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >I just remember pretty much at that point hearing on the police radio that the building looked like -- the north tower was going to come down. At that point I didn't know the building came down. I thought I was still in the explosion. I didn't know the whole building had come down. So while I was on the corner of Vesey and West, the police, everybody, started herding everybody north of there, saying that the building was coming down, the building was coming down. So I got to about Barclay and west, and I looked up and I started to see the building crumbling down. That's when I turned around and just started running. I believe I dove in the bushes around </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Murray Street</span></st1:address></st1:street><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > and was engulfed again in the cloud.</span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/36784037-3086859209862562811?l=jay-911.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17951311616880111671noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36784037.post-75860358642518341172006-11-18T21:01:00.000+01:002006-11-19T15:19:22.840+01:00<p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >FIREFIGHTER STEVEN WRIGHT<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110281.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >So I guess it was after about ten minutes, 15 minutes after 13 got their assignment, I remember looking around and I heard this sound and I looked up and it was the south tower crumbling, coming down. We all just took off, turned around and ran straight to the back of the loading dock underneath 2 World Financial Center.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >I remember we were looking for a stairwell so we could get this guy up, and I remember saying how did this happen, me and this other fireman with this 400-pound guy. We couldn't budge. We tried getting him up the stairs. It was like we got him up three stairs, let alone three floors. So I remember looking around for the stairwell and all of a sudden the building started rumbling and the lights went out for about ten seconds. I turned my light on and I'm just thinking, I'm hoping this building isn't collapsing. I thought it was the tower coming down across the highway, but I didn't know for sure. For about ten seconds the building rumbled and then it stopped, and I felt very relieved. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Within a couple minutes we got some more help and we got him up, I think, 43, some guys. The north tower did come down. That's what made that building rumble like that. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Q. Did you see anything looking at the building that indicated --<br />A. No. I just remember seeing just the flames, and when I heard the noise, I was already looking away. But I remember talking to some other guys. They remembered seeing the floors being blown out, I guess, when each floor collapsed on each other. I didn't see that. I heard the sound. I looked up. I saw the building collapsing and just like being pulverized, the smoke, and I probably looked at it for about a second and I just took off, if a second. Once I saw that, I was like, whoa, get out of here.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >FIREFIGHTER VANDON WILLIAMS<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110282.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >So one block north of Chambers, I stopped and turned around and proceeded to count off the companies that came in. I guess I was doing that for about a good five or six minutes, about five minutes or so, and then I heard a rumbling. As I turned around, I saw people and some firefighters coming toward me and I looked up and I could actually see Tower No. 1 coming down.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >It could have been an hour, hour and a half we were doing that before we were ordered to move away from that part of Tower No. 1 because there was an imminent danger of collapse of World Trade Center No. 5 and 7.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >FIREFIGHTER JAMES POWERS<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110284.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >On our way to the building, we had just passed </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Vesey Street</span></st1:address></st1:street><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >, we were near the pedestrian bridge when you heard the rumble and the roar of the building and at which point we all looked up. Nobody really moved for a second. The tower began to collapse and we all ran back up the West Side Highway.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >LIEUTENANT WILLIAM WALL<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110285.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Me and the other guys are still in the lobby and it was weird, because the lights went out before the rumbling started and one of the guys reminded me, just after the lights went out, I made a little remark like “Uh-oh.”<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >So we turned left and we were going on Vesey towards – I guess towards the river where all the ambulances were lined up. That’s the first point where we saw that the building actually came down. You know, where we made the left onto Vesey I looked over my shoulder and to that point we didn’t know that the actual building had come down. Because on the way in there was a Police Officer underneath the Customs building and he told us to come inside because they were tracking another inbound. Which he meant was another airplane. So when the building came down, we just thought – we didn’t know the building came down. We thought it was another airplane that hit. That was the first time we actually saw that the tower came down. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >At that time we heard an explosion. We looked up and the building was coming down right on top of us, so we ran up </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >West Street</span></st1:address></st1:street><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Oh, when we came out of the building and we were walking across </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >West Street</span></st1:address></st1:street><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > and we first got out of the building, we’re walking across the street and all you heard was like bombs going off above your head. You couldn’t see it. It was just cloudy. And we found out later it was the military jets. That was an eerie sound, you couldn’t see it and all you heard was like a “boom” and it just kept going. We couldn’t see 50 feet above our head because of the dust. So we didn’t know if it was bombs going off or whatever, but we didn’t want to stay there.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >FIREFIGHTER JOSEPH SULLIVAN<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110286.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >There was a transmission to go north. I remember a disturbance by the water. I saw a police officer come out to the street and start directing people away from the water, and it turned out there was a gas leak or something, but at the time we didn't know if it was a bomb or -- so we just kept getting orders to go north, go north, go north.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >I was again with Mike Hazel. I stuck with him. He's one of the senior members. I stuck with him most of the day, and we were walking back towards where our captain was, because after the recall he had come in. This is later on in the day, and we heard a rumble that Building 7 was coming down, so we didn't know what to expect, so we wound up doing -- actually a broken window in the door of the theatre. There were two police officers actually walking next to us so I told them, I says, "Duck in there," and we both ducked in there, too, and it really didn't, you know, reach us. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >I just remember after that one came down, there was just an order to move north, and so we moved north. People were trying to wash up again in the hydrants, and then there was the whole commotion by the waterfront, gas leak, a bomb, whatever, you know. We didn't know what was going on. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110287.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >He held us there approximately within three minutes. As we are looking up at the building, what I saw was, it looked like the building was blowing out on all four sides. We actually heard the pops. Didn't realize it was the falling -- you know, you heard the pops of the building. You thought it was just blowing out. We turned -- I turned to take a look where to go, turned around. Several companies, myself and half of my company, ran into a parking garage at 2 – I believe it's 2 World Financial Center. We ran into the parking garage. As I ran into the parking garage, I turned around. I saw the whole side -- the side of the building falling into the street and the cloud of dust coming towards us. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >As we worked our way back to Vesey towards West, we ran into several people that we knew. We tried to get people together. We were going back towards West and Vesey somewhere where we heard people screaming, "The second building is coming down. The second building is coming down." Within ten seconds, the second building started to drop.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >FIREFIGHTER WILLIAM REYNOLDS<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110288.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >After a while, and I don't know how long it was, I was distracted by a large explosion from the south tower and it seemed like fire was shooting out a couple of hundred feet in each direction, then all of a sudden the top of the tower started coming down in a pancake. I remember my jaw dropping and just staring at it and Richard Banaciski, one of the firemen that was there, yelled "Run" and I turned and I started running into the parking garage of the </span><st1:place><st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Financial</span></st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > </span><st1:placetype><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Center</span></st1:placetype></st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >.<br />Q. Bill, just one question. The fire that you saw, where was the fire? Like up at the upper levels where it started collapsing?<br />A. It appeared somewhere below that. Maybe twenty floors below the impact area of the plane. I saw it as fire and when I looked at it on television afterwards, it doesn't appear to show the fire. It shows a rush of smoke coming out below the area of the plane impact. The reason why I think the cameras didn't get that image is because they were a far distance away and maybe I saw the bottom side where the plane was and the smoke was up above it.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >So we kind of just all were walking around dazed and I ran into a Battalion Chief. I don't know who he was. I said to him, I said, "Chief, they're evacuating the other building; right?" He said, "No."<br />Q. You're talking about the north tower now; right?<br />A. Before the north tower fell. He said, "No." I said, "Why not? They blew up the other one." I thought they blew it up with a bomb. I said, "If they blew up the one, you know they're gonna blow up the other one." He said, "No, they're not." I said, "Well, you gotta tell them to evacuate it, because it's gonna fall down and you gotta get the guys out."<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >So eventually this other chief came back and said, "They are evacuating this tower." I said, "Oh, that's great." And sometime after that I watched from the, I guess, by the Winter Garden area, I watched the north tower fall. It was expected so it wasn't as traumatic as the first one to me.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >LIEUTENANT DANIEL WILLIAMS<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110289.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >I turned my face back towards the buildings as -- looking up at the south tower. It seemed like the one floor exploded, but in retrospect I'm thinking that was the compressive force of the building coming down that blew it out. I remember yelling, "Run." <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >I started up the C stairway to retrieve the rest of the members to give a hand with this guy when I heard a deep rumbling, and I felt vibrations. I thought it was the financial center coming down. I was in the stairwell. I ducked behind the stairs. The door was propelled with quite a bit of force, and debris went down the hallway, went flying down the hallway. Then within 15 seconds at the most, it subsided.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >FIREFIGHTER KENNETH ROGERS<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110290.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Meanwhile we were standing there with about five companies and we were just waiting for our assignment and then there was an explosion in the south tower, which according to this map, this exposure just blew out in flames. A lot of guys left at that point. I kept watching. Floor after floor after floor. One floor under another after another and when it hit about the fifth floor, I figured it was a bomb, because it looked like a synchronized deliberate kind of thing. I was there in '93. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >FIREFIGHTER MICHAEL BRODBECK<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110291.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >At this point after we made a thorough search, we located together via the stairwell. At that point, unbeknownst to us, the south tower fell. We didn’t know that the south tower fell. I didn’t have a radio because I had the can. But I heard there was a collapse in the north tower between the 68^th and 70^th floor. When we heard the evacuation, we started our way down. At this point we were still unaware that the other tower went down. We were in the stairwell. We all regrouped at the stairwell before the tower went down. When it went down, like everybody else says, it was like an earthquake. The building went six feet to the right, six feet to the left.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >So up until the point where the north tower went down, we didn’t –<br />Q. You didn’t notice that tower came down at all?<br />A. We didn’t know at all.<br />Q. You didn’t feel that or hear that?<br />A. Oh, no, we felt it. We were in the north tower, and we were in the stairwell. When that tower went down, our tower went six feet to the right, six feet to the left, and we felt the debris falling, but it felt like an earthquake. I’ve never been in a big collapse. I thought –<br />Q. You didn’t know the tower came down?<br />A. No. what I heard over the radio was that it was a collapse from the 68^th through 70^th floors. I thought that’s what was – that much of a rumble and everything else, you know.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >FIREFIGHTER </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >STANLEY</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > TROJANOWSKI<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110292.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >After the collapse of number </span><st1:place><st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Two</span></st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > </span><st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >World</span></st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > </span><st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Trade</span></st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > </span><st1:placetype><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Center</span></st1:placetype></st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >, which I actually thought was a bomb that went off because the north tower was blocking my view, debris and everything started falling, people were running.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >The north tower came down, and I got hit with some debris. I remember getting banged up to the divider by the rig which was in the street. I made my way underneath the scaffolding again and just tried to outlast the collapse, which I thought was just another bomb going off. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >FIREFIGHTER JOSEPH RAE<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110294.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >We put the masks on. We started walking north to just about the second footbridge, which would be 6 World Trade, and all of a sudden we heard the explosion and the building started to come down and I ran up --<br />Q. Which tower?<br />A. 2 World Trade Center started to collapse. We ran and I dove under a rig and I lost sight of Craig Monahan. I don't know where he went. I dove under a rig. I'm not sure what the number was, but I dove under a rig. It came down.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >FIREFIGHTER CHRISTOPHER FENYO<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110295.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >There was an explosion at the top of the </span><st1:place><st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Trade</span></st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > </span><st1:placetype><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Center</span></st1:placetype></st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > and a piece of </span><st1:place><st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Trade</span></st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > </span><st1:placetype><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Center</span></st1:placetype></st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > flew across the West Side Highway and hit the </span><st1:place><st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Financial</span></st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > </span><st1:placetype><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Center</span></st1:placetype></st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >, and Arthur went to hook up with another chauffeur to the </span><st1:place><st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Financial</span></st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > </span><st1:placetype><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Center</span></st1:placetype></st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >About a couple minutes after George came back to me is when the south tower from our perspective exploded from about midway up the building. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >At that point a debate began to rage because the perception was that the building looked like it had been taken out with charges. We had really no concept of the damage on the east side of 2 World Trade Center at that point, and at that point many people had felt that possibly explosives had taken out 2 World Trade, and officers were gathering companies together and the officers were debating whether or not to go immediately back in or to see what was going to happen with 1 World Trade at that point. The debate ended pretty quickly because 1 World Trade came down.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >FIREFIGHTER WILLIAM VAN NAME<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110298.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >By the time we arrived down the end of </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >West Street</span></st1:address></st1:street><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >, around Chambers or so, one tower had collapsed. I believe it was --<br />Q. The south tower?<br />A. -- the south tower. We gave a 1084. We got up to -- we were on </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >West Street</span></st1:address></st1:street><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > between Vesey and Murray, where the rig was positioned. We took all our gear. Everybody that was on the rig -- there was five men on the rig and two on the back step at that time. We manned all our gear. We went down. We started walking down </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >West Street</span></st1:address></st1:street><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > towards the </span><st1:place><st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >World</span></st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > </span><st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Trade</span></st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > </span><st1:placetype><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Center</span></st1:placetype></st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >. When we got to between Vesey and the pedestrian overpass, the north pedestrian overpass, we heard a fantastic rumble. Everybody looked up, and as we observed it, the second tower started to collapse. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >LIEUTENANT ROBERT DORRITIE<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110299.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >I got my guys and started walking across </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >West Street</span></st1:address></st1:street><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >. I guess we got about three-quarters of the way across when we were deciding which way to go into the south tower. That's when I looked up, and the tower started coming down, which at the time I said I thought it was a secondary device. I had warned the guys about secondary devices on the way down and to be careful of that. So when I originally saw it -- and then I realized the building was coming down.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >FIREFIGHTER STEVEN KLEE<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110300.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >We got into tower one, made the turn into tower one started heading I guess either towards the elevators or the escalator. That's when we heard a rumbling. I dove for a wall and it got pitch-black. I just basically rode it out until after the sound and -- how would you describe that one? After the (inaudible) stopped. I don't know what the heck happened then, how best to describe it. I got up. I thought I was by myself, and I then just started calling out for the rest of the company. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Q. Before the second tower came down, did you notice anything, a sign that it might be coming down or anything like that or did you hear anybody give any warning on the radios or anything like that?</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >A. No, I was just trying to find out -- no, there was no -- it was still dusty out there, and you really couldn't see. I didn't even realize that two came down. I thought another bomb or a plane hit the building. That's what I thought it was.</span><br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/36784037-7586035864251834117?l=jay-911.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17951311616880111671noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36784037.post-16522801299896759592006-11-18T18:50:00.000+01:002006-11-19T15:19:37.970+01:00<p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >FIREFIGHTER </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >EUGENE</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > KELTY, JR.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110261.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >I went into the kitchen to make sure there was nobody there when I heard the rumble of Tower 1 coming down. I don't know the time that it happened. I just heard the same rumble I heard when Tower 2 came down, the same thing, and I took cover in our kitchen. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >And 7 World Trade was burning up at the time. We could see it. There was concern. I had gone up to take a look at it, because I knew that the telephone company building, which is 140 West Street, was next to 7 World Trade Center, and there was a concern that if 7 World Trade came down, what would happen to this building? We went in there, we<span style=""> </span>checked it out. There were some people in there.We made them evacuate and I went in the back to see what was happening. The fire at 7 World Trade was working its way from the front of the building northbound to the back of the building. There was no way there could be water put on it, because there was no water in the area. I went back and I reminded whoever the chief was, I don't know if it was Chief McKavanagh or Chief Blaich, that with 7 World Trade Center in danger of collapsing, you had to be careful, because Con Edison had big transformers in the back that supplied the lower half of Manhattan. So we had to be concerned about electricity, that this may be energized or not be energized. We also reminded him about the telephone company, about the equipment that was in there.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >LIEUTENTANT </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >STANLEY</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > RYBAK<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110263.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >We did see a flash, which we didn't know was the second -- at that time, we didn't know if that was the second plane hitting. We were probably on about 23rd Street, crossing </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >23rd Street</span></st1:address></st1:street><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >, when we saw the flash, and we had -- again, crossing </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >23rd Street</span></st1:address></st1:street><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >, I saw the flash of the -- now I know was the second plane hitting. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >I went and walked underneath the pedestrian bridge -- I guess that would be the north pedestrian bridge -- and made my way down to the corner of Liberty, and the corner of Liberty and West Street, and then that's where I heard -- as I was looking up, I was observing people drop from the windows, civilians, and then I heard a noise. I looked up from the corner where I was and saw the building, the ^ inaudible tower, I guess it was the Tower 2 collapsing, the south tower collapsing.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >As I walked – ran through another 5 or 10 feet, dove on the ground, and hit a -- what was a garden wall inside the middle of the lobby, and then the -- then everything just came right through. The dust and the explosion knocked the windows out, and so I was momentarily on the ground. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >LIEUTENANT JOHN CITARELLA<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110264.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >The chief told us, "All right, make your way to the 90th floor in the south tower." I remember Steve started walking right away. I remember I put my arm around Freddie and I said, "Did he say the 90th floor?" Freddie looked at me and said, "Hold on a second." Right as he said that, I heard a loud roar, "boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom," and it was getting louder. I looked around, and we were looking at each other. What is that noise? I just looked out the window of the lobby. I could see stuff out of the window of the lobby hitting the street, and I just dove into the corner of the wall. I got down and put my head down, and nothing was happening. I just heard that noise getting louder and louder. All of a sudden "whoom," everything just went black. You could feel the air rush around. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >I turned, I took maybe a couple more steps, and then I heard another explosion, it sounded like. I looked up, and the north tower was starting to come down. So me and Steve started running. I saw the north bridge, and I said I've got to at least make it past the north bridge. I started running, and I just made it past the north bridge and I got a little bit past that and I felt like someone just hit me from behind.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >FIREFIGHTER ROBERT BYRNE<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110266.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >I remember later on we went up to – I don't know if it was still on the 35th floor and that's when we all dove into the staircase because basically the whole tower shook and we heard the noise of something going on. We didn't know what it was. What it was was the south tower collapsing. We didn't know.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >EMT FRANK PUMA<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110273.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >After we heard the first plane hit and felt the ground shake, I ran down to the corner of Church and </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Park Place</span></st1:address></st1:street><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >, 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 </span><st1:place><st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Trade</span></st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > </span><st1:placetype><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Center</span></st1:placetype></st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >."<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >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. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >EMT CHARLES GSCHLECHT<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110274.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Well, the day started out as usual, you know, sign for the equipment, putting it on the truck, logging on, and going on to our CSL. Traveling up </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >First Avenue</span></st1:address></st1:street><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > to 34 Street, when we got to about 34 Street and </span><st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Park Avenue</span></st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >, I forgot what unit it was, but they said something just hit the </span><st1:place><st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >World</span></st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > </span><st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Trade</span></st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > </span><st1:placetype><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Center</span></st1:placetype></st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >. A few minutes after that you hear other people saying the same thing. Somebody said they thought it was a plane and that there was an explosion.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >So then I heard – I guess – I’m not too sure. I know I heard a rumble and I figured it was the building coming down.<span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >PARAMEDIC ALBERT SINGER<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110275.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >We proceeded out the American Express building and we proceeded to the building directly behind, which was 4 Financial Center, which is the Merrill Lynch building. We remained in that for about 5 minutes before we were told to evacuate because there was a chance that the gas lines had been ruptured and the building was in danger of exploding.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >FIREFIGHTER ARTHUR RICCIO<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/sept11_fdny_transcripts/9110277.PDF">Transcript</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >We went back down to 21, forced the door, we go in and searched all the occupancies. Nobody was in there. It was a little hazy. The bathrooms were charred. I had to use my mask to look in the stalls and make sure no one was in there. I came out. It was like a horseshoe. The last office, I was in there with Lieutenant Meara to and this kid Mike, a proby. All of a sudden we felt wind hitting us in the face. We thought fire was coming in. Every door we went through , we broke the locks so it wouldn't lock behind us. As we go through a door, we would hold the door closed. We would lay on the floor with our feet on the door, holding it. I think 55 Engine was hooked up, and they asked, "Where's the fire? Where's the fire?" No fire. Paulie Howard was saying the whole building shook. I was laying on the floor saying, "Come on, this building -- it's got to shake. Everybody was swaying." He said, "No, this building's going down." I said to him, "There was a bomb in the basement. It's not going to go down." Every window was broken. There was smoke coming down the hall, and I was just in that office. I said, "You know what, I'll go back in there. I know the layout." I go back in, and the proby came with me. We went on the whole outside. Every<span style=""> </span>window was broken. All the blinds were burnt. It was smoky. So we came back out. 55 Engine said, "You need a line?" I said, "There's no fire in there. I don't know what it is. I don't know what happened." We didn't know the building went down next to us.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Over the </span><st1:place><st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Brooklyn</span></st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" > </span><st1:placetype><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >Bridge</span></st1:placetype></st1:place><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >, you saw black coming down the side of the building. It was like drippings. I said, "Lieutenant, what are those windows, plastic? What's melted on them? It looks like plastic going down the side of the building." They said it was the jet fuel coming down the side.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" >FIREFIGHTER LANCE LIZZUL<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-siz