story400.xml

story400.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-04-13

I m a firefighter for the fdny,I had gotten off the night before..My friend woke me up early that morning to borrow my car to take his sick cat to the vet...I was up so I went to my local bagel store for my coffee and paper...when I heard a lady scream a plane had hit the trade center...I thought since it was a beautiful day that perhaps a cessna with the pilot having a heart attack had accidentally done this...I ran home to put the tv on...as soon as I saw what damage was done I knew this wasn t any cessna...my god people were jumping...phone rang it was a fellow ff from my station and he hadn t turned his tv on yet...i screamed to him to turn his #*#* tv on...when the second plane hit...I said goodbye and told him i was going in...now calling the vet to get my car back asap...my pal pulled around the block and I jumped in my car and was off to the races...the highway was closed..but open for us...I had the gas pedal to the floor as im headed toward the city looking out my window i see both towers burning ...when i hear a rumble and see the south tower #2 fall...i couldn t comprehend what had just happened...did it fall?...how many people just died?...i have to get my gear so i pull off highway going down the on ramp...traffic was a mess and i decided to go up 1 way streets the wrong way until i got past the park...arriving at the firehouse everyones in shock and we know we gotta get there now to help...as we re getting ready to leave the 2nd tower fell#1...we commandere a bus and we re off...we arrived at a staging area and then finally got the ok to go in...we report to another staging area...whos in charge?...all the chiefs are dead?...7 is burning i see 5 burning...shoes papers and dust are everywhere...we wait til 7 collapses...what a mess...chief gets us into the site by going thru the financial center and bam there we are...10 truck upside down burnt to a crisp...pieces of the outside wall sticking out of the highway...debris up against the finalcial center about 2 floors up...all windows broken...cars on fire...buses gutted...is this the end of the world?...do we live in beirut?..those bastards got us...caught us flatfooted...i saw numerous acts of courage that day both civilian and uniformed...the looks on the faces of the people coming out of the city that day will haunt me forever...everyone was the same color...dust white...women crying...men crying...men cry?..wow...we must never forget the men and women that died that day...their sacrifice will live on for generations to come...was assigned to the task force for the first month and we recovered a few bodies...then last month (march)..we recovered over 40 firefighters,cops and numerous civilians...we got the job done...lets never forget what our flag stands for...freedom and loyality to the greatest country on the planet...fly it proudly...lets be nicer to one another and this will be a better place to live....god bless america...