story10998.xml
Title
story10998.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2004-09-13
911DA Story: Story
My name is Patricia M. Cubas. I was exiting a southbound #6 train at the City Hall/Brooklyn Bridge subway station. I smelled smoke while aboard the train & had a very eerie feeling as the train pulled in. The S/B #6 train always slows down before pulling into that station but that morning I knew something was different.
The smell of smoke was more intense and people were in a panic running towards the trains. I went into panic mode myself. As I exited the stairwell on Frankfort Street I walked into total hysteria. A man from my job was using a Bull horn annoucing that the WTC had just been attacked by terrorist & for everyone to leave the lower Manhattan area.
I walked around the newspaper stand and I saw the gaping holes in both towers. I saw people walking as fast as they could over the Brooklyn Bridge. I saw a woman who's skin was charred in front of City Hall park. I saw people jumping from the building. My first response was my husband is in that building. He was my ex-husband but I knew he was there. He was a NYC Firemen. His name was Peter Alexander Bielfeld.
He had just left my apartment the morning before, September 10th, 2001. He wanted me to go with him to the rededication of his firehouse on Prospect Avenue. Ladder 42 Engine 73. His firehouse was closed for about a year & a half for renovations.
I just watched in total desperation as the black smoke billowed from the higher floors. I felt like I was in a semi-conscious state. The whole thing was surreal. Peter & I had been divorced for years but were never out of each others lives. We would date each other, argue with each other break up for a short while and go back with each other. It's just how we were together. We both had different relationships. No one that seemed to be worthy of either one of us. He even had a daughter with an ex-girlfriend. That was a very difficult time in his life.
I can't take back that horrible day. If I could I would remove it from history. I will love Peter up until I take my very last breath. I know so many people that lost loved ones. Death is a part of life as well as tragedies but when it affects you personally, it feels so overwhelming.
The smell of smoke was more intense and people were in a panic running towards the trains. I went into panic mode myself. As I exited the stairwell on Frankfort Street I walked into total hysteria. A man from my job was using a Bull horn annoucing that the WTC had just been attacked by terrorist & for everyone to leave the lower Manhattan area.
I walked around the newspaper stand and I saw the gaping holes in both towers. I saw people walking as fast as they could over the Brooklyn Bridge. I saw a woman who's skin was charred in front of City Hall park. I saw people jumping from the building. My first response was my husband is in that building. He was my ex-husband but I knew he was there. He was a NYC Firemen. His name was Peter Alexander Bielfeld.
He had just left my apartment the morning before, September 10th, 2001. He wanted me to go with him to the rededication of his firehouse on Prospect Avenue. Ladder 42 Engine 73. His firehouse was closed for about a year & a half for renovations.
I just watched in total desperation as the black smoke billowed from the higher floors. I felt like I was in a semi-conscious state. The whole thing was surreal. Peter & I had been divorced for years but were never out of each others lives. We would date each other, argue with each other break up for a short while and go back with each other. It's just how we were together. We both had different relationships. No one that seemed to be worthy of either one of us. He even had a daughter with an ex-girlfriend. That was a very difficult time in his life.
I can't take back that horrible day. If I could I would remove it from history. I will love Peter up until I take my very last breath. I know so many people that lost loved ones. Death is a part of life as well as tragedies but when it affects you personally, it feels so overwhelming.
Collection
Citation
“story10998.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed December 17, 2025, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/13503.