story6517.xml

story6517.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-12

My name is Scott Perkins. I am a Professional Firefighter/ Paramedic and a member of Ohio Task Force-1 Urban Search and Rescue FEMA. When I heard of the attacks, I was enroute to my in-laws to cut their grass. I watched in horror on television the first tower collapse. I knew that we had just lost a large number of people in that building. I told my Mother-in-law I had to go. I called my wife on the way home to let her know what was going on. It takes me 45 minutes to drive home from my in-laws. In that time the 2nd tower had fallen. I checked my equipment to make sure I was ready to go. By 11AM we got the call from F.E.M.A. that we had to go to New York. I called my wife to come home from work. Due to traffic she wasn't going to make it. We met at a gas station so we could say good bye. I told her I loved her and I would be o.k. I called my kids at school and told them that I had been deployed to New York, and I would see them soon.
We had all of our equipment packed on the trucks, and started for New York by 5:50 pm on the 11th.
We worked 13-15 hours a day for 10 days on the "pile"


Scott Perkins
Kettering Fire Department
Ohio Task Force 1