story989.xml

story989.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-08-08

I'm a member of the FDNY. I was at the firehouse that morning, I was the ECC (engine co. chauffeur) for Eng.166 on Staten Island. We were doing commitee work when we heard on the radio that a plane hit the WTC. We dropped what we were doing and went into the kitchen to watch the news. We were talking on how to attack the fire and what gear we would need if we were called when all of a sudden you saw the second plane hit. We scrambled out of the kitchen and started to re-check all our tools and gear and putting extra tools on the rig. We were in the middle of doing this when we were turned out for the staging area at the S.I. Ferry. We were barely out of qtrs. when we were re-directed to form up on the Brooklyn side of the Battery Tunnel. We just about got to the Verrazano Bridge when traffic stopped. They had to clear the traffic off the highway so we could get to the bridge. While they were doing this, all the off duty guys that were trying to get to their firehouses in Bklyn, Man, or Qns started to ditch their cars on the shoulder and were jumping up in the hosebeds of our rigs, there were about 8 - 9 other fire companies with us. They finally cleared a lane and we screamed over the bridge. I remember looking to my left and seeing the two towers, heavy black smoke pushing from both of them, and my Lt. just saying to me that this was going to be the worst day this job has ever seen. I told him we'll get the fires out (the FDNY, not just us) but yeah, that it was going to be a real shit day. We got to the tunnel and it was like driving into a blizzard. When we pulled up, a Chief informed us that the first tower had collapsed. We were looking up to see if we could see anything but it was just ash, soot, sheets of paper falling from the sky. So thick, that if you held your hand out it would fill up in a few seconds. They turned us around and told us to form up on the Brooklyn Bridge. We got to the bridge and they started sending us over 1 company at a time. When the company in front of you got to mid-span the next company started out. The reason for this was we were told another plane was inbound and if they hit the bridge they did'nt want a bottleneck of us on it. We were just past mid-span when the second tower collapsed. I look back at it now and that half hour we were stuck in traffic probably saved a few lives. We definately would have been there if we were'nt delayed. We got to the staging area at West and Vesey streets, the Chief told us to dig out the satellite unit (it carries high volume hose) and to start stretching the line up Vesey street to the water. A fireboat was moored there and we had to hook up the line to it so it could start pumping water into the site. All the water mains were broken and fires were burning everywhere. All the buildings, all our rigs, the cars parked in the street, the paper on the ground, it looked like hell. After this was done we tried to find a way into the wreckage, we were hearing Maydays on our radios that there were some of our guys trapped in a stairway, but we had no idea where it was. We stretched lines into the rubble to try and put some of the pockets of fire out so we could start looking for people. We eventually got word they wanted everybody out because 7 WTC was going to collapse. We backed out and waited. I guess around 5:30 it finally came down. After, we just dug. I don't know how long. We got back to the Firehouse around 1:00 AM. We walked in and we had a company from Roselle NJ in qtrs. We thanked them for coming. We took showers, had something to eat, and watched the news. Went back up the next morning and dug all day. It was a rough few months, you were at 1 of 3 places, the firehouse, the WTC, or at a funeral or memorial. It was real rough on the family. My son was only three months old and my daughter just started nursery school, my wife works. It was hectic, but my wife held us all together. I was a wreck. I knew 63 of the guys, my first firehouse (I transferred to S.I. in 99) lost 7 guys, one of them had 10 kids. I don't know how she's doing it, alot stronger than I am. We lost too many good people that day, and I'm proud and humbled to say I knew, worked with, and learned from some of the best people who ever walked the planet.