story4015.xml
Title
story4015.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2002-09-11
911DA Story: Story
I work in Valdez, Alaska, which is 4 hours behind New York Time. I left my apartment for the Alyeska Pipeline Marine Terminal at 5:30 in the morning and heard the breaking news on the car radio that the Twin Towers had been hit by an airplane. I felt shock, but don't recall having a concern for my safety.
I arrived at the Operations Control Center (OCC) and called the Duty Officer at home to start the chain of notifications to upper management in the company.
The Emergency Operations Center (EOC) was manned, and they had CNN on, so we were being given updates. We were told it was considered a terrorist attack.
Later that morning, the Coast Guard called the OCC and directed us to notify the 3 vessels alongside the berths to depart immediately for sea. Suddenly, the threat seemed closer to home. The decision was made to continue to
operate the Pipeline.
The incident commander came to OCC from the EOC. He said that a KAL commercial flight had been reported possibly hijacked, and it was not responding to radio calls and inbound to Alaska. He said not to worry, the
military would shoot it down before it got to Valdez. Strangely, I still didn't feel worried. I felt horror at the possibility of more civilian lives being lost, but I truly did believe that we would be protected in our
fjord. Management notified the Terminal that all non-essential personal should depart the terminal. The OCC is essential and 4 of us stayed.
Suddenly, there was the sound of a large helicopter directly over our building. We are used to company helicopter surveillance flying in front of us, over the berths. But this was different - low and loud and way to close to the roof. I called Security and asked if they could identify the helicopter. They said no - and suddenly, I did feel fear.
We're taught to respond to earthquakes in AK - get in a doorway, under a desk, away from glass. But there was no desk that was going to protect us. There was nothing we could do but wait. It seemed like forever.
Security called back and said that it was a Coast Guard helicopter. It had come up and over the mountains behind the terminal, instead of up the inlet over the water as the usual flight path.
I felt a sense of relief.
I arrived at the Operations Control Center (OCC) and called the Duty Officer at home to start the chain of notifications to upper management in the company.
The Emergency Operations Center (EOC) was manned, and they had CNN on, so we were being given updates. We were told it was considered a terrorist attack.
Later that morning, the Coast Guard called the OCC and directed us to notify the 3 vessels alongside the berths to depart immediately for sea. Suddenly, the threat seemed closer to home. The decision was made to continue to
operate the Pipeline.
The incident commander came to OCC from the EOC. He said that a KAL commercial flight had been reported possibly hijacked, and it was not responding to radio calls and inbound to Alaska. He said not to worry, the
military would shoot it down before it got to Valdez. Strangely, I still didn't feel worried. I felt horror at the possibility of more civilian lives being lost, but I truly did believe that we would be protected in our
fjord. Management notified the Terminal that all non-essential personal should depart the terminal. The OCC is essential and 4 of us stayed.
Suddenly, there was the sound of a large helicopter directly over our building. We are used to company helicopter surveillance flying in front of us, over the berths. But this was different - low and loud and way to close to the roof. I called Security and asked if they could identify the helicopter. They said no - and suddenly, I did feel fear.
We're taught to respond to earthquakes in AK - get in a doorway, under a desk, away from glass. But there was no desk that was going to protect us. There was nothing we could do but wait. It seemed like forever.
Security called back and said that it was a Coast Guard helicopter. It had come up and over the mountains behind the terminal, instead of up the inlet over the water as the usual flight path.
I felt a sense of relief.
Collection
Citation
“story4015.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed December 12, 2025, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/12852.