Saturday, September 15, 2018

PART 12: ORAL HISTORIES NYFD FROM SEPTEMBER 11TH,2001

File No. 9110370
WORLD TRADE CENTER
TASK FORCE INTERVIEW
SERGEANT JAMES CANHAM
Interview Date: December 18, 2001  
Transcribed by Laurie A. Collins
Related image
 

CHIEF MALKIN: The date is December 18, '01. The time is 1408 hours. This is Battalion Chief Malkin of the Safety Battalion. I'm conducting an interview with Sergeant James Canham of Fire Patrol 3. We are at Fire Patrol 3. There's nobody else in the room at this time. The interview concerns the events of September 11th, 2001, and what follows is the interview. 

A. I live in downtown Brooklyn. I saw the smoke condition when I dropped my wife off on Joralemon Street. I made my way back home, which is on Sackett and Smith Street. While I entered my dwelling, I heard my brother on the answering machine saying the towers were just hit by an airplane. 

I closed by door, made my way back to Fire Patrol 3, approximately eight blocks. I went into quarters, took my turnout gear out of my locker, which consisted of a Halligan, flashlight, full bunker gear and PBI hood.

I made my way down Dean Street, when I saw a captain of a fire patrol responding from fire prevention. He said, "Are you going over  there?" I said, "Yes." I jumped in the car. I asked him what we had. He said, "I don't know. I just heard a plane had hit the building."

As we got onto the Brooklyn Bridge and we turned where we can get a view of the tower, we saw that both towers were burning. So I made the comment, "Geez, it looks like the plane must have hit one building and careened into the other," because tower one was hit much higher than tower two. So it looked to me like it had hit, dropped and hit the second tower.

Once again, I was off duty, I had no radio, I had nothing. He dropped me off, because of traffic, at the South Street Seaport. I made my way from the South Street Seaport to the corner of Church and Fulton, where I had spotted Fire Patrol 3's rig parked out in front of tower one.

Chief Raymond Cowa was standing in front of the rig, and he had said that Captain Keegan had just made his way inside. I grabbed a mask off of the rig. I told the chief I was off duty and that I would be going in. He said, "Watch your back." I began to make my way into  the building.

I had seen a couple of what I had thought were body parts in front of the building. I didn't pay it much mind. You still had a heavy flow of people leaving the building. I made my way into the building, down an escalator, where I believe I was in the concourse level. I believe that's what it's called.
Image result for images of Keith Roma, 27
Keith Roma, 27
I ran into Sergeant Sheehan and Patrolman Keith Roma. They were escorting people up the escalator. They were standing by it looked like a turnstile or a revolving door; I'm not sure. There were sprinkler heads going off on the concourse level.

John said something bad really happened. He said the overheads popped. There was a lot of heat here before. There's nothing happening now. He's going to stand fast.

I told him that the chief was looking for him and he wanted to coordinate all the fire patrol units, get them all together, and begin some type of operation coinciding with the Fire Department.

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.

I went back to where I saw Sergeant Sheehan and Keith Roma. There were two firemen, two truckers. One was an officer. I believe they were from 10 Truck. I can't be sure. I told them what I had. They came with their tools. All three of us tried to pop the door with the Halligans.

A member from the building maintenance crew came up with a Port-A-Power. He said, "I've got this. I can pop the door. I've got it." So  with that we had all left. They had gone back to where Sergeant Sheehan and Keith Roma was. I had made my way up the stairwell.

On my way up the stairwell, I began encountering a lot of people on their way down, very calm, and they were filling out. It wasn't a panic. You could see that they were from upper floors. I had asked what floors. I believe the first floor I heard was the 26th floor, 27th floor. Given the time, it seemed this is how much time it's taking to get down. Very narrow hallway, stairwells going up.

I got up about four flights, found an open door onto the floor. I believe it was the fourth floor. I took a quick peek inside, saw no occupants, started making my way back up. Once again I was beginning to get respiratory now. I was beginning to get winded. I had come from South Street Seaport to this point and getting winded.

I made my way up to the eighth floor and did the same thing, stopped myself for a moment, found a water cooler, doused myself with some water, continued to make my way up.

I got up to the 13th floor, when there was a large man blocking the stairwell, people climbing over the top of him. I scooped him up onto my shoulder, and I began half dragging, half carrying him down the stairs.

I got to the 11th floor, and there was a woman sitting on the stairwell crying. I yelled, "Ma'am, you've got to move. You're blocking the stair. You've got to --" She said, "But there's a police officer laying on the floor." I took a peek into the doorway. I saw a police officer -- I believe it was Port Authority -- prone on the floor.

I had taken the man that I was carrying and passed him to two other civilians of large size. They were on their way down. I said, "Look, take this guy." They were very agreeable, no problem. One guy took the woman. The other guy grabbed this large man. They continued down.

I went over to the police officer. He said, "I was just trying to catch my wind. I'm very winded." I gave him my mask, get a couple of breaths. With that, two other police officers came, a sergeant and another officer. I'm not sure if they were Port Authority or city PD. They said they're going to take care of their man.

I asked them if they had a cell phone. I want to call my wife. She works in downtown Manhattan. She works right in the neighborhood. He said, "No, but I saw an office down the hall that had phones that were still operating." They were up there making searches, popping doors, et cetera, they had a ram through with them.

I dropped my mask there in the hallway. Air quality was fine. Very dim as far as lighting. But the air quality was good. So I dropped my mask, made my way down to the far end of the corridor, popped open an office door, called my wife, told her this is real bad, I'm going to be here awhile, go home, get the kids, stay out of Manhattan, it's going to be a zoo, not realizing what was going on.

When I came back out to the hallway, I saw the sergeant once again, that police officer. He looked at me and he said, "Are you aware of what's going on?" At this time I did not. I didn't have a radio, and I just assumed it was  one plane. He said, "This was a hit. They hit the Pentagon. They hit the White House. And we have another inbound coming at us now."

I looked at him kind of queer and I said, "You have another one coming at us?" He said, "Yeah. The other tower was hit also." He called on his radio, and his dispatcher said that, yeah, you have another one inbound, watch your back.

With that, they had started to go down the stairs. I went back and called my wife again. I figured I'm on the 11th floor of this building. If there's a plane inbound now and these guys were bailing out -- excuse my language, I'm done.

So I called my wife and left a message on her machine. I said, "Baby, I love you. I don't think I'm going to make it home. Just take care of the kids. I'll be back."

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.

Had thrown my mask on, took a couple of breaths. You could breathe it. Then I had gone right into the stairwell. There had to be 20 people piled up, I mean actually in a pile.

So I started peeling them off. I said, "Can you stand?" "Yes, I can stand." I'd stop them. I'd tell them to hold the railing. I grabbed the victim behind them, told them to grab the belt loop of the person in front of them. If it was a woman, I grabbed the bra strap. I actually grabbed the bra and told them, "Hold the bra, the other hand hold the railing," and make your way down. I started a train.

The people, once again, even as panicking and crying as they were, they were listening and they were making their move. They were on their way down. They were coughing and disoriented. I said, "Hold onto the railing and hold onto the person in front of you and just keep moving, just keep moving down the stairs." 

After I cleared those people out -- it had to account for maybe 30, 35 people by the time the last one had gone by me. Once again I felt very comfortable on the floor now. The shaking had stopped. The ground was very solid. The wall seemed solid. The sound was gone. It was just a matter of people coming down the stairs.

I heard clanking from tools and masks banging against the wall, so I figured the brothers were on their way down.

I began to make my way down the hallway to look where the other police officers were that had passed me in flight. I got to the end of the hallway. I found no one. I went back to the phone and called my wife's office again. Each time I was just leaving a message. As I picked up to use the phone, the phone was dead. I wasn't able to use the phone.

I took out a window, about four windows, because now the quality of the air in the room I was in is in question. It was starting to get charged. So I started taking out windows. When I looked down, I saw ladders that  were twisted and cantilevered. I saw light bars that were just -- it looked as if you had a blinking light under a thin layer of dust is what it looked like. It was the top of rigs.

Now I assumed that's where the tower -- I believed that the fascia or the upper floors had slipped from the building and dropped off, not realizing at all that the tower had fallen. I began to make my way back into the hallway, when people started to come up out of the stairwells. They were coming up from the lower floors, saying that the second and third floors were gone, you can't get out that way, what are we going to do, in a panic.

Other firefighters had also now entered the floor. They were coming from above, and a couple were coming from down below. A battalion chief, a large man -- I don't know who he was -- he came in. I asked him if he was aware of what was happening. He said, "No."

I brought him over to the window where I was, and I showed him out of the window. I said, "Look, this is what we're up against." We both looked at one another like "We're screwed." 

There were some firemen that were yelling "Bail out." They gave a bail out, everybody bail out, and they were making their way out of the building, down the stairs. Some civilians were panicking when they heard that, because they saw firemen leaving and saying bail. 

The chief and I and two other firemen stayed with the civilians. We didn't go down the stairwell that they were coming up, we moved halfway down the hallway. We found another stairwell and started filing people down that.

We did almost a leap frog. I went down to a landing. I held my light until all the people came by. The chief and this other fireman had passed me. When the last person went by me, I made my way down the next level, relieving that fireman, and it was a leap frog to just try to keep the people moving and just make our way down.

I got down to what I believe is the lobby level. I believe it was the lobby level. It was a gray level, so if that's the lobby, it was the gray level. There were filing all the civilians to the left, which would have been south.

I was exhausted at this time, physically drained, trying to (inaudible). I was really wiped at the time. 

Oh, excuse me, let me go back to the 11th floor. I have to do this. I'm sorry.

Q. Go ahead.

A. I had passed a Lieutenant Ed D'Atri from Squad 1. He saw me. He said, "Jimmy, where are my guys?" This is on the 11th floor after the tower had fallen. He had made his way up. He had said, "Jimmy, did you see our guys?" I said, "No, Eddie. Some bad shit just happened." He said, "Yeah, I know. I don't know where my guys are." He had gone up, and I had made my way back down the hallway.
Image result for images of Capt. James M. Amato, 43
  • Capt. James M. Amato, 43
  • Image result for images of Lt. Edward A. D'Atri, 38
  • Lt. Edward A. D'Atri, 38
  • Image result for images of Lt. Michael Esposito, 41
  • Lt. Michael Esposito, 41
  • Image result for images of Lt. Michael N. Fodor, 53
  • Lt. Michael N. Fodor, 53
  • Image result for images of Brian Bilcher, 37
  • Brian Bilcher, 37
  • Image result for images of Gary Box, 37
  • Gary Box, 37
  • Image result for images of Thomas M. Butler, 37
  • Thomas M. Butler, 37
  • Image result for images of Peter Carroll, 42
  • Peter Carroll, 42
  • Image result for images of Robert Cordice, 28
  • Robert Cordice, 28
  • Image result for images of David J. Fontana, 37
  • David J. Fontana, 37
  • Image result for images of Matthew David Garvey, 37
  • Matthew David Garvey, 37
  • Image result for images of Stephen Gerard Siller, 34
  • Stephen Gerard Siller, 34
This is after the last civilians had gone by, just prior to me going back to look for the cops. I believe Eddie stayed on the floor with me for a minute. We gave a quick search. Then he made his way up. After that I didn't see Ed anymore. 

Going back down to the lobby level. I got down to the lobby level. There had to be six  to what I believe were maybe ten companies in a staged area. They were standing there. They were talking with one another. Once again, a very relaxed mode. 

The civilians were minimal at this time. There was a dark haze in the lobby, I guess from the settling dust from the prior collapse. 

I had made my way out on the West Street side. Once again, I passed these companies, and even a couple of the guys joked. They said, "Hey, Patrol, what are you doing?" I said, "Yeah, we're going to be here a while." We all snickered and laughed, and then I had exited the building.

As I entered the building, a body fell maybe three or four feet from me and hit the ground. I got my back up against the wall and scooched along the building going north up tower one, going along. Two or three more bodies had impacted.

I ran over to what I believe is Eight --

Q. Yes, that's Eight. 

A. Eight World Trade Center. I made my way along that wall and up and to the first bend. When I saw I had a pretty clear area, I made it over to this side. It's an L shape going on -- I don't know how to describe that area.

I ran into Patrolman Paul Curran. He saw that I was pretty taxed. Paulie looked wiped out. I said, "Paulie, what are you doing?" I said, "Where are the guys?" He said, "I really don't know. I'm going to go up and take a look for them." I said, "All right, look, I'm going to try to find out where our guys are, and we'll regroup back in front of the building." He said, "Okay."

He had left and gone north. I began to go up north and I said, let me turn around and go back the other way, because I was thinking to scoot down which would have been Vesey Street. So I ended up here. I started to make my way back down Vesey, and the building began to rumble. It was a very quick time between when I saw Paul.

As it started to coming down, I darted right back to the building which was eight World Trade Center, dove next to a concrete traffic barrier and a truck and just covered up, because at the speed it was coming down, I saw that there was no way to run.

I didn't want to run north, because I just didn't think I could outrun it, as taxed as I was, equipment I was wearing. I just didn't think I was going to make any time. So I ran maybe six to eight feet, dove, and I just ended up between this barrier and this parked truck, covered up. 

After this it gets a little gray. I have no recollection of time. I remember making my way back down West Street, and I came upon an engine. There was a chauffeur and another guy next to the rig. He couldn't get his breath. I had gone through the same thing as Patrolman Curran, puking up the dry dust, trying to clear your throat, nothing was happening.

I gave the chauffeur my mask. He used it for a bit. I made my way over to the hydrant and started splashing my face, trying to drink down some water to clear this debris out of my throat, the dust was -- visibility was maybe five, ten feet.

I got back to the chauffeur. He said he was doing better. I splashed him with some water. We steam at the hydrant. I said maybe we can get the stang open or set up a fog pattern and try to knock down some of this dust to make a path for anybody that might have been this way. We tried that. We got no -- the pump didn't engage. I believe that we lost water pressure somehow. The chauffeur believed the same.  
I told the chauffeur I'm going back over to the tower. I made my way back down north again. I remember hearing all pass alarms. Visibility was nil. There was heavy smoke. There was a lot of fire, a lot of car fires.

I realized at that time I had no strength. I physically just couldn't do anything. I saw no one. I saw no firemen. I felt I was alone. I had just lost Paul, who was my chauffeur when I worked with him. I figured he's gone. I remember turning and walking away.

An off-duty member from 105 Truck grabbed me and dragged me to a diner. There were other members from the Fire Patrol there. They cleaned me up. It was air-conditioned. They took my stuff off, flushed my face, my eyes, washed me down. I began to recollect what was going on now.

I immediately went to a phone. The proprietor gave me a phone, and I called the house watch here in Brooklyn. I gave them a head count of who was in the diner with me. There were Fire Patrolmen, and I believe there was one firemen.

I gave everybody's name. I told the guy on house watch, "Take the names down, mark the time. This is who is alive right now. I'm very unaware of who else is around."

I had commandeered a radio from one of the members from Fire Patrol who was in the diner at this time. When I had gotten the radio, I turned it on. It was futile. There were a lot of maydays. There were a lot of searching for people. The radio was useless as far as any kind of command. There was none.

I made my way back towards West Street, where I ran into Captain Greco, another member of the Fire Patrol, a couple of firemen that were wandering around aimlessly. Everybody was in shock. Anybody that was in that area was just mentally, physically gone.

After that it's really gray. I remember we made our way back. We tried to make a sortie back into the building. Physically nobody had anything. We started seeing a lot of incoming companies now, inbound companies.

Our supervisor had ordered us back to 40 Fulton, and we made our way back to 40 Fulton Street, where we regrouped, came back to Brooklyn, got cleaned up, got a little something to eat and made our way back to the towers to search. And that went on for days after.

Q. You thought about going back into the building. About a minute ago you said that. Which building were you going to go back into?

A. Tower one.

Q. Did you get a good view of it? It was just a pile of rubble.

A. It was a pile of rubble. All you heard were pass alarms.

Q. You heard pass alarms.

A. There were no firemen. All the guys  that I had left -- there were ten companies in there, I'm sure, as far as the number goes. They were all in that lobby area. This lobby swung around. There were guys down this end. There were guys over there.

Once again, they were escorting the people -- when I came down, it was -- it was just a small doorway. It was an access doorway that we had come out, and they had filed everybody to the left. I had gone to the right. After that it's just gray.

I had believed at first, looking at the map, that I was here, which would have been 40 feet from Vesey Street, 20 feet from the building. It was six of one, half dozen of the other, because either way I was in front of this building, either here or here. I really can't remember.

I believe it was here because I remember there was a truck parked into it. There was a truck parked into it. I remember going back days later. I saw West Street directly in front of tower one was buried. Vesey Street and the top of this building, some debris had fallen  this way. I remember I was right in this one little void, which the command center I believe was set up here.

Q. Right.

A. So that's --

Q. You're talking about adjacent to number eight World Trade Center, just west of the building called number eight. When you went into the lower level of One World Trade Center, the sprinkler heads were going off.

A. Right, they were heads off.

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?

A. What I believe set those heads off is when those elevators had dropped --

Q. Why did the elevators drop?

A. They were sheered.

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. 

A. Right.

Q. The elevators were sheered?

A. They were sheered.

Q. What did the elevator doors look like?

A. They were buckled, cantilevered. The one woman was -- how she was standing up, I didn't know.

Q. She was standing up? She was alive?

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.

But when the guy pulled up with the Port-A-Power, he was very confident. He was like, "Don't worry. I've got her." It seemed almost like he had done this before, like he was here working. Once again, I had come off duty. So this maintenance man had enough muster to get that tool and begin to work on the doors right away. It just led me to believe that he had things under control. 

So myself and the lieutenant from whatever company that was were confident he could do it, and we had moved on.

Q. I wonder where he is now.

A. Exactly. He was ten feet from Sergeant Sheehan and Keith Roma.

Q. You're the first guy that told me that they saw D'Atri. I know D'Atri. Nobody else told me that they saw him.

A. When you speak to the others from Squad, they should tell you, because I had spoken to them immediately after that.

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. You just didn't --

Q. You reacted or you didn't survive.

A. You just moved. You just ran. You knew you were dead. I knew I was dead. As I thought of my children, life flashing before your eyes, true. You see it, you see it, you see it. I saw my boys, I saw --

Q. That's about it?

A. Yeah.

Q. Good. 

CHIEF MALKIN: I thank Sergeant Canham for this interview. The time is now 1633 hours, and this concludes the interview. 

File No. 9110419
WORLD TRADE CENTER
TASK FORCE INTERVIEW
FIREFIGHTER RICHARD CARLETTI
Interview Date: January 2, 2002
Transcribed by Nancy Francis 

LIEUTENANT CHIAFARI: Today's date is January the 2nd, 2002, the time is now 7:35 p.m., and this is Lieutenant Joseph Chiafari of the Safety Command of the New York City Fire Department. I am conducting an interview with the following individual, Richard Carletti of Engine Company No. 5, about the events of September the 11th, 2001.

Q. If you can for the record state your name and location of where you were working at the day of the incident.

A. Richard Carletti, Firefighter 1. I was working at Engine 5. I was assigned for a 24-hour tour assigned at 9:00 a.m. that morning.

Well, here's how my morning starts. I usually come in around 8:00 like everyone does, but I went to vote, so I was late. I was coming up Allen, which turns into First. When I was crossing Delancey Street, I saw a jet in front of me, which was the first jet. He was pretty low. He was probably about 30 stories. Now I'm heading north and crossing Delancey Street on Allen and I see the jet make a move toward the Trade Center. It made a southwesterly turn from that point. [Here is another eye witness account of the 1st plane for you no planes nutters out there making fools of yourselves with your doctored video's D.C] 

I proceeded up First Avenue, left on 14th,  parked in front of the firehouse. Fireman Lynn was there. He said they were out on a box, they wouldn't let him on because they thought they had a good job, and right then he told me a plane just crashed into the Trade Center. It was the same exact plane I just saw.

I proceeded upstairs. I got dressed. We left here about five to 9:00. We made a left going west on 14th Street, left on Second Avenue. I was in my personal car. We started taking the lights on First Avenue. We got to about 2nd Street and Second Avenue and we saw Ladder 7 was on a gas leak. We asked them if they were going to the Trade Center. They said no, they weren't assigned yet. We were on the east side of the street. We went to make a right on Houston, and right when we were making the right on Houston, we saw a fireball in the sky, which at this point was the second impact, so that puts it 9:06, turning right onto Houston.

We went down -- I figured I was in my personal car, we wouldn't make it down Broadway. We thought it would be backed up. I made a left on Lafayette, which is a one-way north. I was going south. I stopped in front of 20 Truck. There was one guy there. He said everybody already left. We  proceeded down. We went on the side of I guess Lafayette, right down by City Hall, we made a left and we parked over by 6 Engine on Beekman, parked the car on the sidewalk, grabbed our gear and proceeded to walk up Beekman to Park Row, down Park Row to Broadway. We stopped in front of a building, left our boots inside the building on Broadway, got dressed and proceeded west on Liberty. 

When we turned the corner west on Liberty, figure it was probably about 9:15 at this time, there was a good 20 floors of fire in the south tower. I mean, it was pushing red on at least 20 floors from what we could see. I turned to Tommy and I said, Tommy, this building is in danger of collapse. In my opinion, I didn't think there was going to be a catastrophic collapse, but from the fire load, there was no way. 

When we passed 10 and 10, there's a bridge that runs I guess into one of the buildings directly south of Trade Center No. 2. There's a pedestrian walkway. As we passed that, we came into the debris field. It was jet parts and body parts. I distinctly remember seeing a woman's hand. It was cut off at the wrist. She had wedding ring, so it had to be a left hand, and then I looked to the left and I just saw the rib cage with nothing in it and there was just debris.

At that point we stopped for a second and we heard impacts, which I guess was jumpers hitting the pavement. To our right, there was a parking lot right on West and Liberty. There were about seven cars on fire. We just walked -- there was a line there just dropped. We walked across West Street, found an engine company, and they said the command post is just north of here in front of World Financial Center. 

We walked up there and we told a Chief we were two from 5 Engine. He told us go in the street, secure masks, irons, whatever tools you can get, and he ordered us to not go into the buildings, to come back to the command post. So most of the rigs were stripped in front of the Trade Center. There was nothing in them. The equipment was already taken. 

We walked up West Street, past the Verizon, one block north of Vesey, and we found our engine, 5 Engine, parked there. I guess the chauffeur's radio was on step. I guess when he changed, he forgot to put it back on. I took his radio. We looked in the rig. There was nothing in there. All the doors were open. It was pretty much empty. I found a mask on 91 Engine. We looked for about another five minutes. We didn't find any other equipment. So all we had was one mask between the two of us. 

We went back to the command post. We met a captain from 91 Engine, told him who we were. He walked over to the command post, told them who we were, and that's when we saw Paul Mitchell. He just got made out of Ladder 110. He was a covering officer here, covering lieutenant. I figure at this point that was probably about quarter to, ten to 10:00. So I saw all the Chiefs there. The officer from 91 took our names, told us to stand over there.
Image result for IMAGES OF Lt. Paul Thomas Mitchell, 46 
  • Lt. Paul Thomas Mitchell, 46
There was a driveway there that went into, I guess, one of the World Financial buildings. We went over and we stood on the burn in front of the Winter Garden room. We were just south of the north bridge standing on the grass area. I think EMS was setting up their command post behind us. When I saw Paul Mitchell, I was joking because he had a firefighter's helmet on instead of a lieutenant's, so I guess he grabbed equipment from 110. He got off that morning.

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. As I went through the revolving door, I was in with an EMS guy and I either tripped her up or knocked her over. I remember picking her up. We went back around to the back. Everybody started going into the Winter Garden room. I remember the floor rumbling and the lights went out at this point in that hallway. Everybody started to go into the Winter Garden room. It's got a glass roof, so I told them to move north.

We went to the American Express Building. We ran north. So this was about five after 10:00. We proceed to go back out on the north side of the building. The dust was just too intense. You couldn't see more than five feet at this point. So we went back in. We waited about another five minutes. We went out. The Captain from 91 Engine was covered in dust. We looked in two more rigs for any equipment. There was nothing. We went to the corner. We saw Tom Manley, sergeant at arms of the union.

We stood on that corner. A Chief came over and ordered us to go north. He wanted everyone to go north. I said, Tommy, let's go back to 5 Engine. When we walked back to 5 Engine, we found Lieutenant Bohack, Firefighter Jim Andruzzi, Firefighter Eddie Mecner backing the rig up and Eddie was all over the road with the rig. They came out of the seat and I got in the seat. We backed into a side street, turned the rig around and proceeded north and we parked on Warren Street one block south of Chambers. I guess now this was about 10:25. We stood there for another four minutes and the south tower collapsed -- I mean the north tower collapsed.

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.

We ran about one block north. The dust settled. We went back to the rig, threw the equipment back on the rig, what was on the sidewalk, our jackets and radios. We took the rig. We went east. We made a left on Greenwich and we proceeded north. We came back around in front of Stuyvesant High School. They were setting up a command post there. I mean, you could listen to the monitors. Basically they wanted engines was booster tanks to come down and extinguish the car fires then going.

We stood there for about another 20 minutes. That's when we figured out who we were missing. We were missing Manny Delvalle, Gerard Gorman and Brogan were now missing at this point, and Eddie Mecner confirmed that Brogan was put in an ambulance, and about ten minutes later Gerard Gorman came walking up. He was covered in dust and pretty shocked. So he proceeded to get in an ambulance and go to the hospital at that point.
Image result for IMAGES OF Manuel Del Valle, Jr, 32
Manuel Del Valle, Jr, 32
We got the rig cleaned up and we proceeded from -- when we were on Chambers Street, we were blocked out. We went over, down to Chambers Street, we went across behind City Hall, made a right. We made a U-turn past City Hall along the Brooklyn Bridge. We went over to the east side, completely around Manhattan. We came up Broadway from the south, made a left on Exchange and a right on Broadway, and we came up to Thames and we shut the rig down and there was absolute silence. There were only six firefighters at this point over there. It was about 15 minutes after the collapse, the second collapse.

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. At this point it was Bohack, Lieutenant Bohack, Andruzzi, Mecner, Lynn. They proceeded to walk north up Broadway. I stayed with the rig. I eventually moved the rig forward where I ran into my brother's Lieutenant and he had a spare rig. He was going to go down Dey Street and I was going to augment him, but another engine decided to augment. I came back around. I parked on Liberty and Broadway and I proceeded to augment 247, which was on Church and Liberty, and we stayed there until about 6:00 o'clock that night. 

We went back to the house, we got our eyes washed, we went back down at 11:00 p.m. with 3 Truck, with the rest of the battalion. We went to 10 and 10 command post. We went to about the middle of the pile, but we were just -- at this point we extinguished fires most of the night almost in the center of the complex and just west of what was left of building No. 4. We were on the pile just with three hand lines putting out fires until 9:00 o'clock in the morning.

Q. So that was during the nighttime, then, you were putting fires out on the pile?

A. Yes. And that was it.

Q. So you had mentioned about repositioning your rig just prior to the second collapse?

A. Our rig was parked -- I don't know the name of the street. It's one block north of Vesey. It was on the northbound side facing south. They came and they were parked on the hydrant. When I got there, Eddie was backing the rig up and he was having a hard time with it and so I got in the seat. We backed into a street and then we proceeded to go north.

Q. Had any of the guys that were working with the rig, had they returned back to the -- the guys who were working in Engine 5 that day, had they returned back to the rig?

A. Yes. At that point it was Lieutenant Bohack, Firefighter Andruzzi, Firefighter Mecner, and at that point we were missing Firefighter Brogan, Firefighter Delvalle and Firefighter Gorman. That's when we went up to Warren Street and we parked. Then when the second collapse happened, that's when we brought the rig --

Q. Around?

A. We went up to Greenwich, made a left. Greenwich is a southbound street. We went up, came past I think it was Manhattan Community College. We made a left. We came back down Stuyvesant. From this point we just went like a complete circle back down to Stuyvesant High School. Then they told us there was a bomb scare and we had to move the rig north from there.

Q. You said you were wearing a handy-talky. Were there any significant handy-talky transmissions that you did hear at any point prior to, during, or after any of the collapses?

A. About 10:15, 10:20, I finally heard the Maydays for the north tower, to evacuate the north tower. Prior to that I didn't hear any Maydays. I mean, I heard a lot of chatter, nothing of really any significance. I didn't hear any Maydays or anything. It was mostly command post instructions of the Chiefs being moved around. I didn't hear anything else. That's the first time I heard the Mayday.

Q. About 10:15?

A. Yes. We also started repeating the Maydays on our radios because we were on the corner of Vesey and West Street. We were on the southwest side, that's when we were standing with Manley, and they were also blowing the air horns.

Q. Besides Lieutenant Mitchell that you had seen, any other individuals that you had seen that you're aware of that did not make it out of the collapse debris?

A. No, he's the only one I can remember. I don't think I saw anyone else at the command post. I remember seeing Hayden and I saw Ganci.
Image result for IMAGES OF  Chief Ganci
Q. At the command post you saw Chief Ganci?

A. Yes. I saw Von Essen there.

Q. This is the command post that was on West Street?

A. West Street. It was on the garage ramp in front of I guess that's -- I think it's 2 World Financial Center. There's a south building in the World Financial Center complex. 

Q. Right. On the same side as the Winter Garden?

A. Yes.

Q. So you never entered any of the tower buildings? 

A. No.

Q. So, primarily, when you came around from the Liberty Street side, you walked on West Street?

A. Yes. We were across the street.

Q. Oh, on the west side of West Street?

A. Yes.

Q. Okay.

A. Because when we stood in front of -- right past 10 and 10, past that north -- we were really underneath the bridge. There's a pedestrian bridge that used to cross Liberty just south of 10 and 10. Is that a Bankers Trust building there? I don't know what the name of it is.

Q. I'm not sure of the name of the building.

A. Blockbuster.

Q. There's a south walkway, though, that goes across West Street.

A. When we got past there, that's when we entered the debris field and you heard shotgun blasts,  and when I looked -- I don't know if Tommy looked, but I could see what was lying on the ground. It was just a pile of meat, red. So I said to Tommy, let's get out of here. There's too many humans coming down from the building. I figured that had to be about 9:15, 9:20, and there was a good 20 to 25 floors of fire. 

But, see, there were no Chiefs on that east side of that building. When we walked down Liberty, we were the only two firefighters on Liberty. There was no observation on that side.

Q. Nobody was on the Liberty Street side or the --

A. No. 10 and 10 was empty. The doors were open and there wasn't a soul in the building. I don't know if they were open. I think they were open. We looked and there was no one in there.

Q. So, actually, on the Liberty Street side there was no apparatus that was parked there?

A. There was apparatus parked on the corner of I think it was -- or it probably might have been Ladder 10 that was parked on -- Liberty's got two lanes in each direction. It's got an island in the middle of it. They blocked off -- there used to be two ways in each direction. I think it was Ladder 10 that was parked there. I'm not sure. I don't really remember. I remember when I seen the body hit the ground, I thought I saw Ladder 10 parked there. I mean, I don't remember.

There were engines parked across the street. I don't remember who they were. They were across on Liberty, across West Street. I don't remember seeing any other -- in truth, I don't remember seeing any apparatus but that one on the corner.

Q. Otherwise everything else was in the middle of Liberty or on West Street?

A. West Street, yes.

Q. Okay, Rich. Anything else of significance that you'd like to add to this interview that you feel it's important?

A. No. Just that when we walked down Liberty, I found that we were the only ones there and that was odd to me. There was no observation on that side of the building.

Q. Okay.

A. When I got to the command post, what was I going to say? I mean, I've got seven years on the job. I remember telling the Chief I think this building is in dire need, it's going to collapse. There was one point at the command post, I mean, I don't know about the battalion, but I felt I could have just walked away and no one would have known, but I didn't.

Q. You did what you thought was right.

A. Yes. I mean, I ran ten minutes later, but that was self preservation.

Q. The intentions were well at that time to do what you had to do to go down there. Okay. So if there's nothing further? 

A. No.

LIEUTENANT CHIAFARI: This now concludes the interview with Firefighter Carletti. The time is now 7:54 p.m



File No. 9110237
WORLD TRADE CENTER
TASK FORCE INTERVIEW
FIREFIGHTER OWEN CARLOCK
Interview Date: December 5th, 2001
Transcribed by Laurie A. Collins  

CHIEF BURNS: Today's date is December 5th, 2001. The time is 4:17 p.m. I am Battalion Chief Robert Burns, Safety Battalion, FDNY. I'm conducting an interview with Firefighter Owen Carlock, Ladder 122, detailed on the day of the incident to Engine 220. This is in reference to the events that occurred on September 11th, 2001.

Q. Owen, if you would, just tell us in your own words exactly what happened that day.

A. We took the Brooklyn Bridge, which was closed. We had trouble getting there from here with all the traffic. We took the Brooklyn Bridge, which was emptied at Chambers Street, a lot of traffic, obviously, in Manhattan.

We went to West Street, turned left on West. We picked up a straggler, John Jermyn, from the -- he used to be here in 122. He works in the Fire Department Museum. We picked him up and drove around to -- as near as I can figure out, I think it was between Murray and Barclay Street, where we left the rig on the southbound lanes.

We walked down the southbound lanes to I guess it was the command post. Captain Grabher went over there, and they told him to go to the south tower. So he said he wasn't going to take Liberty because of the jumpers. 

So we went to some building on the corner of Albany and West Street that's under construction. It's being renovated. We went that way. We took Albany past Washington, and then we were on our way to Greenwich? No, it was at Washington when the tower came down on us. Somebody yelled "Oh, shit, here it comes." It was coming towards us.

So we dove behind the Deutsche Bank, and the five of us -- three went back, four went ahead, the seven of us. Four of us laid behind that building, waiting. We thought we were going to die.

After that we tried to take a window in the back of the bank. We did take a window, but behind it was a steel wall, corrugated tin or whatever. We couldn't get into the window.

They followed me. I had the light. They followed me, and we went into Deutsche Bank into the side entrance, got our wits about us, and we went across the street to get Eddie and George and Mike Schroeck.

Then we were going to make our way back to the command center when the north tower came down. We ducked into some hotel. I don't know what hotel it was. It was on West Street south of Albany.

After that came down and the stuff cleared, the officer said, "Listen, we're not going to go back to that area. We're going to come around, because we don't know what else is going to come down, what else could come tumbling down."

So we went over to the water, and from there we helped Marine 6 put it into -- I think it was Captain Fuentes. They dug him out. He was banged up pretty good. We helped put him on the boat.

At that time Captain Grabher told Eddie Plunkett and myself, "Go find a rig and back it up to the fire boat, Marine 9, which is already there." He said, "We're going to at least get water as best as we can to the towers."

Eddie and I found I don't know whose rig it was. We backed it up to the fire hose, took the three and a half off of there and went as far as we could. Then another rig came, and they stretched their three and a half off the rig we were on, and then they left.

I went back to find Captain Grabher, Mike Schroeck, George and Dean. They were nowhere to be found. Later on I found out they were on the ninth floor of one of the apartment buildings on the west side of West Street, fighting the fire on the ninth floor. That's why I couldn't find them. I had no radio. I had no clue where they were.

So I hooked up after a while with Chief Congiusta of 48. He and I went down with a couple other guys from 240 into the parking lot of the Vista to look for 6 Truck, which was missing at the time. We were standing there and waited for him to come out, and he never came out. He took an underground passageway and came out on Barclay Street.

After that I hooked up with four guys, recall guys. I hooked up with 220 and stayed the rest of the night until 11:30 and went to the hospital. I had my eyes cleaned out. 

As far as the companies, somebody said 205 was right in front of us, and I don't remember seeing them. That's the best I can tell you where we were, where everybody is, that's what we did the day of the attack.

CHIEF BURNS: That concludes our interview. The time is 4:22 p.m. 



File No. 9110505
WORLD TRADE CENTER
TASK FORCE INTERVIEW
FIREFIGHTER CRAIG CARLSEN
Interview Date: January 25, 2002
Transcribed by Laurie A. Collins 

CHIEF KENAHAN: Today is January 25th, 2002. The time is 1:50 p.m. This is Battalion Chief Dennis Kenahan from the Safety Battalion of the Fire Department of the City of New York. I'm conducting an interview with Firefighter Craig Carlsen from Ladder 8 in the quarters of Ladder 8.

Q. Craig, just tell us the events as you recall them from September 11th.

A. We were down at the medical office going for our annual medical. We got into the medical office. We heard that a plane had hit One World Trade Center, the north tower. When we got into the medical office, of course the TVs were on and everybody was focused on it.

It was approximately five minutes to 9. As we were watching the events unfold, we realized our company was down there for it. That's when we saw the second plane hit. At that point we decided to find out from -- we had our medicals, and find out if we were supposed to leave or stay for our medicals, which we got permission to leave, and we left the medical office.

We went out into the street and commandeered a couple of cars. Some people went in one car, and another person and myself had gotten into an ambulance along with another lieutenant that was down at the medical office, and we proceeded over to my firehouse to pick up gear, we realized we had to pick up the gear to go down to the job.

We pretty much got over into quarters of Ladder 8 at approximately 10 after 9 or so. We picked up our gear and proceeded down to the Trade Center. We almost caught a ride from Engine 235, and they had no room on their rig. They proceeded down, and we caught the next -- just a van that was going downtown. 
Image result for IMAGES OF  Lt. Vincent Gerard Halloran, 43
Lt. Vincent Gerard Halloran, 43
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 One World Trade Center 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.

So the lieutenant and I went out to look for forcible entry saws. Of course most of the rigs that were around the area, the first few rigs, there was really no tools even left on the rig at that point. So we had to go to -- I couldn't even tell you how many rigs we looked in before we actually found the saws.

On my way back in towards coming back to Ladder 8's rig, coming around the rig, I had found a saw. I don't remember exactly what rig was from. I came to a complete halt because something came down and hit the street, and I didn't realize what it was until I looked up further and saw that there were bodies coming down, quite a few of them, which had to stop me in my place because I couldn't really get back into the building because of it.

At that point the other officer that I was with, the lieutenant, decided -- we hooked up together, and we decided that we found where the command post was now I guess relocated across the street on West, straight across from One World Trade Center.

We decided that before we went back in the building let's see if we could pick up some masks and a radio before we got into the radio, and also check in with the command post. By this time I guess it was probably 20 to 10 or so. So we went over to the command post, which at that point my company that was at the medical office had just gotten there also. We all decided that we should just team up as a team before we went in to keep as a unit. Of course we checked in with the command post, and we were told to stand by. We checked in with Chief Ganci and a few other officers at the scene.

As we were waiting around, they told us to just stand by. They were doing something with the eight track system. They were trying to find out if they can figure out how they can control it. So they just us to stand by.

We waited around I guess 10, 15 minutes. As we were standing there looking up, we were getting an idea of -- doing like a size-up and you could see there were numerous people hanging out of the windows. Of course other parts of bodies dropping.

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 Two World Financial Center 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.

I don't remember -- time is now -- I don't have a clue with it. It seems like when it finished collapsing I heard somebody scream that we were trapped. We figured that the whole building came down on top of us and that we were trapped inside underneath the garage.

I decided to just crawl out to see how far, if anything was actually up against the building and what-have-you. I just crawled out and did a search of the area of the command post and whatever else as far as you could go. At that point, that's when we realized that we actually weren't trapped into the building.

We just waited for the dust to clear and did a search. I found a police officer lieutenant that needed help and took her out. I took her through the building and just her off on Vesey and West Street to other police officers, making my way through the building.

I started heading back down towards number One World Trade Center just from Vesey and West, going towards the north bridge. On my way back down, I was just looking, and I saw my company coming out of the building or actually from underneath the north bridge, 8 Truck coming out. One, two, three, four, five guys. I was happy to see them, that they got out. I knew they were in the building, but I wasn't absolutely sure what building they actually went into.  
As I ran into them, we just started heading back up north on West Street. We made it to approximately Vesey and West, which is just north of the bridge. Then the second building started to come down.

At that point everybody just took off in all different directions. As far as I know, we just went north up West Street. I would guess we made it up to Barclay, maybe, and whatever it was knocked us down, the force of the wind or maybe pieces -- I had a Scott pack on. It knocked me down. I had lost the face piece. I just crawled underneath a DOT truck, one of the trucks, and just waited it out. This time I thought we were so close that I was not going to make it.

Pretty much the same thing, when it all started to clear a little bit -- you had a hard time just worrying about breathing. Same thing, when it started to clear, you did your searches, you picked up who you could, and just traveled northward.

Of course everything was covered up and you didn't really -- I don't recall what members that you picked up because it was pretty chaos. You did what you could, and that was about it.

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?

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. Everybody was on their own, I guess. 

Q. All right. Thank you, Craig.

CHIEF KENAHAN: The time now is 2:04 p.m., and this concludes the interview.



File No. 9110430
WORLD TRADE CENTER
TASK FORCE INTERVIEW
FIREFIGHTER JOSEPH CASALIGGI
Interview Date: January 9, 2002
Transcribed by Laurie A. Collins 

CHIEF CONGIUSTA: Today's is January 9th, 2002. The time is 1430 hours. This is Battalion Chief Frank Congiusta of the Safety Battalion of the New York City Fire Department. I'm conducting an interview with the following individual. Please state your name.  
FIREFIGHTER CASALIGGI: Joseph Cassaliggi, firefighter third grade, Engine 7.

CHIEF CONGIUSTA: Who is assigned to the New York City Fire Department. We're conducting an interview at the quarters of Engine 7 regarding the events of September 11th, 2001.

Q. Joe, if you would please state what happened.

A. On the morning of September 11th we were operating a box up on Church Street Near Canal. There was an odor of gas in the area. While we were out operating, we heard the first plane coming in. I turned around and I watched the plane crash into the north tower.[Another eyewitness for you batshit crazy no planes trolls DC]

I got back on the rig. We raced down there. We were actually one of the first companies on the scene. We pulled up right in front of One World Trade Center, 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. The captain said we were going to walk up the stairs. At that point my mask had started leaking air from the high pressure coupling, and I had to go out and change my cylinder.

I left my rollup and my standpipe kit in the lobby. I went outside to the rig, changed the cylinder. While I was changing the cylinder, I was keeping an eye because the chauffeur was hooking up to the standpipe. I was keeping an eye, making sure he didn't get hit with anything.

It was at that time when I saw the second plane hit the building. I called a mayday. I told them the second plane hit the south tower of the building. I wasn't sure which floors it was, but I knew it hit the upper floors of the south tower.

Debris was falling, body parts were falling. We ducked for cover inside Engine 7, but the rig was getting bombarded with debris from the building, debris from the plane. We saw bodies crash landing right next to the rig. So we couldn't stay there.

We abandoned Engine 7, and we headed north. We couldn't make it back into the building at that point. We headed north. We got up to Vesey Street. We stayed on Vesey for a little while. Another firefighter had come over asking us if we had a radio. So the Engine 7 chauffeur gave him his radio, and I was control so I had mine.

I radioed the Engine 7 captain, did he   want me to stay with the chauffeur or did he want me to meet him in the building, because the Engine 7 chauffeur didn't have a radio. His response came in broken up. I thought he said give him my radio and meet him on the 15th floor. I found out later he said don't give him the radio and meet him on the 15th floor.

So I gave the chauffeur my radio, and I went into the building. I saw Chief Pfeifer. I told him, "I don't have a radio. I'm going up to meet Engine 7 on the 15th floor." He told me I wasn't going up if I didn't have a radio and I didn't have a partner.

I stayed in the lobby. I didn't know at that point if he was getting me a partner or if he was getting -- I thought I was going to stay there, I wasn't going up. I didn't know what I was doing at that point.

So I stayed around, waiting to be told what to do. I was in the lobby for about 40 minutes. Finally I took Chief Pfeifer aside again and I said, "Chief, if you're not going to send me up, I'm going to go out by the rig and I'm going to help the chauffeur." He told me a   good idea, go out and stay with the chauffeur.

I stood by the blown out windows. I was looking for clearance, trying to get somebody's attention to tell me that I wasn't going to get hit with something as I was running out. I couldn't get anybody's attention in the street.

I saw another body crash down through the canopy. At that I just said screw this and I just ran. I ran to the street, just hoping I wasn't getting hit.

I met up with the Engine 7 chauffeur. We stayed together at least for a few minutes more. They were trying to clear the area. So we were getting pushed back up to Vesey. I think we got as far as almost Barclay.

As I was leaving the building, I heard them at the command post talking about moving the command post to the other side of West Street. I suggested to the chauffeur we make our way back to the command post, let somebody know who we are and where we are and that we're okay.

So we started making our way back. When we were about -- we were on the opposite side of West Street now on the west side, making our way down. As we were standing underneath the foot bridge that connects Three World Financial Center to the World Trade Center. We were standing under there, and we watched -- throughout the whole time being outside, we must have watched 50, 60 people jump.

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 Trade Center toward us. I never even looked up. We just turned around and started running. It was me, the chauffeur, and there were two plain clothes cops running next to us. 

We just started running for the Financial Center. I saw a Fire Department lieutenant in the Financial Center. He was holding the door open for us. He yelled to us to get down, we weren't going to make. I guess I don't know what I was running from.

We grabbed the two cops, threw them on the ground behind one of the support columns for the pedestrian bridge and just dove on top of them. We got hit with the debris from the building. It felt like I got hit by a car. It knocked the wind out of me.

Gasping for air, I got a mouth full of dirt. I spit that out. I gasped again and got another mouthful of dirt. My mask was on. I had it turned on. My face piece was swinging behind me. It was an effort to reach back to grab my face piece. I held it up to my face and purged it.

After that I got a little bit of air from that. I couldn't even give any of it to the chauffeur or to the two cops. I just kind of held it in front of my face. 

Everything just got deadly silent. I opened my eyes, I couldn't see a thing. I leaned up. I kind of sat up, so I knew I wasn't pinned under anything. I didn't know what happened. I thought a plane hit the Financial Center and part  of the building came down. I really didn't know what happened at this point.

I sat up, and I thought to myself, okay, I'm not pinned. We're just underneath something and they have to find us. I made sure the other three guys that were with me were okay. The officer that had seen us duck yelled to us, "Is everybody okay?" We yelled back, "Yeah. How do we get out of here?" He came in and got us, took us out through the back of the Financial Center.

At that point somebody handed me a bottle of water, gave me some oxygen. My chest was killing me. I was having difficulty breathing. I found an ambulance, got into an ambulance. They were going to take me to the hospital.

We tried radioing Engine 7. We couldn't get them on the radio. We weren't getting any transmissions on the radio at that point. We couldn't hear anything. So we didn't know what happened. We tried raising Engine 7. Nothing.

I got into an ambulance. I told the   chauffeur I was going the hospital. I suggested he come with me, but he stayed. We got separated at that point. I was in the ambulance. We got a few blocks, and the ambulance got stuck in gridlock. We sat there for a few minutes. 

Finally the driver of the ambulance turned around in this little window and just yelled to the back and told everybody to get out and start running. I popped open the back door of the ambulance, and there was a crowd of people running in the direction the ambulance was facing. 

I jumped out, and I just ran with the pack. I didn't know where I was running. We ended up by the water a block north of Chambers, at Stuyvesant High School and the elementary school there. I ended up by the water. Then everything calmed down again.

I figured, okay, let me figure out where I am. Now I have no radio. I have to figure out where I am, where I've got to be, just get my bearings. So I looked up, because when you're in downtown Manhattan and need to get your bearings you look for the Trade Center.

I looked up and I'm looking around and saying where am I, but I can't even see the towers. I didn't know what happened at this point. A person was walking past me talking to somebody else. I just overheard him say, "I can't believe they fell."

As he was saying that, I'm looking at the spot where the towers should have been, and I realized I saw the outlines of the other buildings. That's when I realized and I thought everybody in my company was dead. I'm the only one. I don't know where the chauffeur is, but we're the only ones that made it.

I wandered around West Street for a while trying to find a radio. I was jumping in rigs and trying to find a fireman, and I couldn't find anybody. Finally I found a fireman from I think it was Engine 5. He said he thought he had a heart attack and had just came out. He was sitting on the curb. He didn't have a radio either. I figured the two of us will stay together, and we'll find an ambulance, we'll get to the hospital.

I must have passed 50 people and said,  "Will you let somebody downtown know" -- I gave them my name and my company and said, "Let somebody downtown know where I am and that I'm okay and that I was taken to the hospital." I got into an ambulance and ended up at Cabrini Medical Center. I stayed there for about six hours, maybe a little less than six hours.

I got back to the firehouse. A police sergeant offered to give me a ride back down to the firehouse after I was released from Cabrini. I got back to the firehouse about 3:00 in the afternoon. They told me that they were looking for me and the chauffeur, that we were the only two from the company not accounted for.

Q. All the other guys got out?

A. Yeah, everybody from our company -- I don't know how. That's when I heard that Engine 7 got up to the 30th, 35th floor, somewhere in there, and they had gotten out just before the building came down, before the north tower came down. Basically --

Q. That's it?

A. Basically that's it. That's what I remember.

Q. Anything you want to add?

A. Just that I've had a cough since then.  

No comments:

Part 1 Windswept House A VATICAN NOVEL....History as Prologue: End Signs

Windswept House A VATICAN NOVEL  by Malachi Martin History as Prologue: End Signs  1957   DIPLOMATS schooled in harsh times and in the tough...