story10544.xml

story10544.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2004-04-20

I had just got home and went to bed around 7:15am, as I had worked a 24-hour shift with the County EMS the day before, September 11th. My mom had surgery on the 11th at the local hospital, and my grandparents were geting ready to go see her. I was the only one home at the time of the attacks. Around 8:50am, the phone rang.....and I answered it....it was my grandmother (she had that concerned tone to her voice). Immediately I had thought something had ahppened to my mom during surgery. My grandmother simply stated, "Turn on the T.V. to CNN.......a plane flew into the World Trade Center..." (I thought she was joking, sometimes she would call and get me up out of bed early in the morning)So, I turned the T.V. onto CNN......and dropped the phone. I could not believe what I saw.....it was just terrible....I told my grandmother I'll call her back. I immediately called the Chief at the Firehouse, and he said, "get your butt down here, all units have been recalled". So, I grabbed a few things and went to the station. The Governor's office had called and said, "Be ready to go anywhere, at any time, with little or no notice." We stayed on standby at the Firehouse for 3 days, just watching the images from NYC and D.C. I could not believe that someone would do such a thing. All of the brothers that we had lost in the Towers.
Then the call from the State....and FEMA, they're looking for volunteers to help with the rescue/recovery at Ground Zero. Some from the area went...others stayed...to protect our own homes. It was the worst week for all of us as Firefighters.