September 11th Witness Censorship

8/14/2019 September 11th Witness Censorship

1/96

WITNESS STATEMENTS FROM

EMERGENCY PERSONELL

CONCERNING 9/11

OK, in a nutshell, I combined these statements for a very

important reason - while I was reading through them Istarted coming across weird double dashes in sentences,looking closer I started seeing that where they were putbetween words some of the sentences before & afterdidn't tie into each other.......

WHICH WITH HOW IT READ LOOKS LIKE STUFF WASDELIBERATELY CUT OUT OF THE STATEMENTS!That's in addition to the statements with blacked outsections!

I'll let you judge for yourself - am I right & stuff WAS cutout, or am I seeing things?

word -- word = possible deletion of sentence or wholeparagraphsword -- word = definate deletion of sentence or paragraphs


2/96

F i l e No. 9 11 08 4

WORLD TRADE CENTER TASK FORCE INTERVIEWFIREFIGHTER PETE GUIDETTI

I n t e r v i e w D a t e : O c t o b e r 1 2 , 2 0 0 1

T r a n s c r i b e d b y L a u r i e A . C o l l i n s


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MR. McALLISTER: I'm Kevin McAllisterfrom the office of administration. It'sOctober 12th, 2001. We're on the eighthfloor at Fire Department headquarters. Itis 9:41 hours, and I'm here with FirefighterPete Guidetti, who is going to recount hisexperiences from September 11th.

A. We'll start out I was in Ray Goldbach'soffice, the executive officer to the firecommission, discussing the things that had to bedone that day around the office. Ray got aNextel message that a plane went into the WorldTrade Center, and we both more or less thought itmight have been a Piper Cub, a Cessna orsomething like that. We had no idea it was acommercial plane.

With that I look out the window, and Isee the World Trade Center, I see the hole, I seethe black smoke, and I just yelled for my boss,Commissioner Feehan. He came over. He saw it.He said, "Oh, my God. Let's go."

With that Ray says, "Do you want tocome with me?" to Commissioner Feehan.Commissioner Feehan said, "No, I'm going to go


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w i t h P e t e , my d r i v e r . He h a s a l l my g e a r a n ds t u f f i n t h e c a r . " Then Ray s a y s , " A l l r i g h t ,t h e n I ' l l come w i t h y o u . " Wi th t h a t TomF i t z p a t r i c k a n d Tom McDon ald we re n e a rb y . Th eya s k e d C o m m i ss i on e r F e e ha n i f t h e y c o u l d comea l o n g a l s o . He s a i d a b s o l u t e l y .

I w ent down i n t o t h e g a r a ge f i r s t t o

g e t i n t o t h e c a r a nd g e t i t r e a d y f o r th em , a n d ac o u p l e m i n u t e s l a t e r t h e y came down a nd t h e y g o ti n t h e c a r w i t h me.

Q . A l l f o u r o f t he m?A. F o ur o f t he m , F ee ha n i n t h e f r o n t ,

M cD onald, Ray G ol d ba c h a n d F i t z p a t r i c k i n t h eb a c k .

We e x i t t h e g a r a g e . We go o v er t h eB r o o k l y n B r i d g e . One l a n e w as o p e n a n d c l e a r e df o r u s . The o t h e r two l a n e s t o t h e r i g h t o f mew e re j u s t b um pe r t o bu mp er c a r s . I h ad t h i s on ec l e a r s h o t o v e r t h e B r oo kl yn B r i d g e w i t h n oi n t e r f e r e n c e o f t r a f f i c .

Q . C o ul d yo u s e e t h e T r a d e C e n t e r a s y ouw er e d r i v i n g o v e r t h e b r i d g e ?

A. I d i d n ' t l o o k t o s e e i t b e c a u s e ,d r i v i n g k i n d o f f a s t , my e y e s w er e g l u e d t o t h e


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road. If they got glimpses of it - - we sawenough of it initially in Ray's office to knowwhat we were heading into.

My plan of action was to take ChambersStreet over to West Street and down West Streetto the World Trade Center. Exiting off theBrooklyn Bridge, heading towards Chambers Street,

Ray Goldbach said, "Pete, don't take ChambersStreet. Make a U turn right here." With that Imade the U turn, and now I'm heading past CityHall. With that a police ESU vehicle pulls fromPark Row South in front of me. CommissionerFeehan says to follow him. So I got right on histail and went right down to Broadway.

We got as far as Broadway and DeyStreet, at which point I pulled the car half onthe sidewalk, half in the street, because of allthe people, the emergency apparatus coming in,rigs as well as ambulances and cop cars. Sothere wasn't an easy way to position the carother than to position it that way.

I popped the trunk. The four of themget out. Commissioner Feehan grabs his helmetand puts his fire coat on. There was a fire coat


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i n t h e r e t h a t I b e l i e v e Tom McDo na ld p u t o n , o rF i t z p a t r i c k , I ' m n o t s u r e .

I s la m me d t h e t r u n k d o wn . I t u r na r ou nd an d t e l l t h e p e o p l e , "G et o u t o f h e r e .T he b u i l d i n g ' s coming d o w n ." Why I s a i d t h a t , Id o n ' t k n o w . I j u s t r e a l l y f e l t s t r o n g l y ab o uti t . T a l k i n g t o t h e u p pe r e c h e l on i n t h i s j ob ,

n ob od y t h o u g h t t h e b u i l d i n g w as c om i ng do wn .Q . So you s a i d y ou t o l d t h e p e o p l e .A. P e o pl e . T h er e w er e p e o p l e a l l o v e r t h e

p l a c e . P eo pl e w er e i n a p o s i t i o n t h e y j u s tw a n te d t o w a t c h . I s a i d t o the m, " T hi s b u i l d i n gi s co mi ng dow n. G e t o u t o f h e r e . " A few womans c a t t e r e d , " L e t ' s g e t o u t o f h e re , l e t ' s g e t o u to f h e r e . " P e o pl e j u s t s t a y e d t h e r e . Boom, t h es ec on d p l a n e h i t s .

Q . So y o u ' r e r i g h t o n Br oa dw ay when t h es ec on d p l a n e h i t .

A. R ig h t o n B roadw ay w hen th e se co n d p l an eh i t . S h i t a n d d e b r i s f l y i n g a l l o v e r t h e p l a c e ,p e o p l e s c re am in g, r u nn in g f o r t h e i r l i v e s , m y se lfi n c l u d e d . W h e r e I r a n , I r a n f i v e f e e t u n de r a naw ning i n f r o n t o f a s t o r e .

When a l l h e l l c a lm e d down f r o m t h a t , I


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got into the car to reposition the car and get itout of the way. More ambulances were coming in.I went down Broadway to Liberty and made a lefton Liberty. I parked the car about 20 or 30 feetoff the corner.

Q. You're by yourself?A. I'm by myself. These four guys - -

Feehan, Fitzpatrick, McDonald and Ray Goldbach - -once I slammed that trunk and I turned to tellthe people this building is coming down, theywere already in motion. They were running downDey Street.

Q. So you were by yourself when the secondplane hit?

A. Yes.Q. Okay.A. My understanding with them was Feehan

went one way, the other three went another way.When you have a mass exodus of people coming atyou, it is very easy to see how four people couldnot stay together and would be separated.

So anyway, after repositioning the carand locking it up, I start heading down Libertytowards 10 and 10, not knowing where the command


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post was. I figured let me go and hook up withFeehan - - he's my boss - - in case he needsanything.

I have no gear. I'm LSS. I was neverissued bunker gear, helmets or any of that stuffbecause there's no need for me to have that.

Commissioner Feehan, First Deputy, went

to major incidences. Most of the time I neverhad to take him to third or fourth alarms andthings like that. He would let his chief ofdepartment run it, his chief of operations. Inthis particular case he wanted to go to this one,so we took him.

I was just going to go and hook up, tryto find him, stay by his side: "Boss, do youwant me to go get your phone? A glass of water?"In my capacity as an aide to him.

Q. At the command post?A. At the command post. Wherever he is.

Sometimes he's remote from the command post. Ifhe happens to say, "Yeah, let's take a ride tothis third, Pete," we would take a ride.Sometimes he stays in the background and sees howit's going.


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My theory was let me go find my bossand see if he needs anything. I was glad to getthe car out of the way. I didn't want it to beburied. I didn't want it to be inaccessible orin a position where we couldn't get it out ofthere should Commissioner Feehan five hours fromnow from that point want to go back to

headquarters, get a change of clothes, whatever.That's what made me get that car out of therealso.

So I get that car out of there.heading down Liberty towards Church.

Q. Onfoot?A. On foot.

I stop before Church, look up -is the second tower that got hit - - and I

I 'm

thissaid,

"Pete, don't go any further. This fuckingbuilding is coming down." I'm sorry I cursed.

Q. That's okay. This is yourrecollection, your words and your observation.

A. With that, within two seconds I hear arumble. I'm still looking up. I didn't doanything. I'm still more or less - - not frozenbut I'm standing there in awe how this building


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is still staying up.Q. You're on Liberty. Are you west of

Church or east?A.

Church.

Q.A.

Q.A.

UP.

I'm before Church. I never made it to

You never got - -Never made it to Church.

In between Broadway and Church?Between Broadway and Church, looking

I stopped. Not that I froze, but Istopped. I said, "This fucking thing is comingdown." With that I heard the rumble within acouple of seconds, and then I saw the brown,thick, malted milk dust cloud and smoke andwhatever else coming down. It was rolling downwith a roar like you couldn't believe.

I turned around and I start fuckingrunning. Everybody's running for their fuckinglives. Somebody runs by me, knocks into me, Ifall down. The last thing I needed running awayfrom a falling fucking building is to fall down.

But I manage to get up, start runningagain. By then the building had pancaked down.


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P. GUIDETTI 10

The force of it just hit me in the back and blewme like ten feet into a police van.

Q. Was it just the air, the force of theair? The debris?

A. Air, dust, dirt, debris. Not heavydebris. It felt like I was shot in the back witha shotgun, pellets. All these pellets were

hitting me, the force. The dust engulfed me,pushed me, literally - - I guess I was off my feetfor ten feet. Then I banged into the police van,dropped down to the floor, scrambled to getaround the building that was on the corner forprotection.

Q. Now you're on Broadway and Liberty, doyou think?

A. Yes.Now I can't see anything. I'm huddling

on my knees. I'm trying to feel if I'm bleeding,because I am on blood thinners.

Q. Did you hear anything at that point?A. A lot of screaming, a lot of screaming.

I was a little disoriented. I couldn't seeanything. I was in the thick of it as far as thedust cloud was concerned. Day turned into night,


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literally.I started wandering, not knowing where

I was heading, because I couldn't see streetsigns, I couldn't zero in on what fucking streetI was on. But anyway I was heading east towardsthe seaport.

Q. Okay.

A. Midway in that trip from the west sideto the east side, I hear more planes coming. Idid not know it was our jet fighters. That wastold to me later on by Dr. Hittman.

Q. Okay.A. I just huddled up against the side of

the building. There's no place to hide. Youcouldn't see anything. There is a buildingthere; that I can determine. I just stayed upagainst it while I thought there was anotherplane coming in. But it wasn't. It was our jetfighters. That went overhead. I continued towalk.

I get to the seaport. That must beWater Street there.

Q. Yeah.A. I see the blue sky for the first time.


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So I start walking north. Somebody gave me abottle of water. All I can remember saying tomyself is, "I can't find Feehan. I can't findFeehan. They're all dead. They're all dead,"meaning the four I took.

Q. Yeah, sure.A. I look up at the Brooklyn Bridge,

loaded with people, mass exodus coming out offucking Manhattan.

Q. Onfoot?A. On foot.- keep walking, keep walking. I walked

to the Manhattan Bridge, which had less people onit. Naturally people are going to go for thenearest thing that they can get out of theborough.

Q. Sure.A. So the Manhattan Bridge wasn't bad to

walk over. I got to the Manhattan Bridge, walkedover.

Q. Did the second building come down while


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P. GUIDETTI

you were there?A. The second building had come down when

I was midway - - I wouldn't even say midway. Iwould say after I started - - after I regainedsome composure, got off my knees from thishuddled position, I started walking. Then thesecond building came down.

Q. This is before you got to the ManhattanBridge?

A. Oh, way before. Way before I saw theblue sky.

Q. Okay.A. Then as I'm walking up to the Manhattan

Bridge, there was a car bomb. A car bomb wentoff in some car, because the cops were saying,"Come on, people, shit is happening. Let's go.Keep moving, keep moving.

You could see another plume of smoke.Somebody yelled, "It's a car bomb, a car bomb."I kept fucking walking towards the ManhattanBridge. I got over the Manhattan Bridge. Someheavyset black lady just put her arm around meand walked with me and just talked to me and saideverything's going to be all right and you'll be


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okay.I don't think I looked too good from - -

Q. I saw you when you returned. I was atheadquarters when you returned, and you werecovered in dust and you were clearly disorientedand we got an EMT to look after you.

A. That I remember, yeah. They were very

nice. I was sitting up front at Corey's desk. Iknow I had been crying a lot. I really thoughtall four of them were dead.

Basically they calmed me down. Theytold me I had to go and decontaminate in theshower, get rid of all the clothes. I got somespare clothes from Roy Katz, and I went and tookthe shower. Then they said, "You should go infor debriefing." That was on the seventh floor,I believe

So I go. I get off and go on theseventh floor. I come in an office like this, aroom like this. I sit at the head. There's sixpeople: a marshal, a couple of EMTs, Ken Cox, acouple other people. I sit down. This one EMT


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P. GUIDETTI 15

says, "If you want to talk, you can talk. If youdon't want to, you don't have to. Whenever youfeel like it, you can talk if you like orwhatever."

I'm just sitting there. Then there wasquiet. There was silence. They're all staringat me, six people staring at me.-

o he EMT girl says, "Okay.That's perfectly okay if you just want to sit awhile.

"Okay. ThaL's fine. Ifyou want to come back later, you're more thanwelcome to. We're here to help you. We'rehere." I understood all that, but maybe had theyasked me questions I would have been responsiveto each question rather than six people staringat me, waiting for me to start talking.

Q. Right.A. I didn't want to relive what I just

did, what I just experienced, at that time. I'mdoing it now, and I've done it quite a few timesin telling friends and loved ones what I


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experienced. At that time with six peoplestaring at me, I said, "You know what, I want togo upstairs." And they let me go upstairs.

I just went back to my office. I satdown. One of the light duty guys got me a glassof water. Basically that was it. I stood arounduntil around 4:00, I believe it was, 3:30. Then

when I had the moment, I just left without sayinganything to anybody, and I got in my old pickuptruck and I headed home. That's all I wanted todo was go home.

Q. Sure.

The next day I didn't come to work. Ray calledme at home. A couple of people called me at

Q. Sure.A. I said, "I've got to go back to work.

I can't do this. I can never not go back." Sothe very next day I came in.

Basically I would say that's the wholething in a nutshell. Was I as close to the


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building as a lot of people were? Absolutelynot. I was out of harm's way. The most thathappened to me was the force of air, dust andpieces, tiny pieces, of concrete, plaster thatjust engulfed me, knocked me to the ground. Igot a little scrape on the arm.-

. Yeah. You were disoriented, but it wasunderstandable after what you'd experienced. Isaw you that afternoon.

A. Yeah. I felt I had all my facultiesbut yet something was missing. I couldn'tpinpoint it. I wasn't hurting. I wasn't like,"Oh, my shoulder is killing me. My arms arebleeding. I'm cut." No physical pain. I justfelt I wasn't right. I knew I wasn't right. DidI think I was in shock? No, again, because, as Isaid, I made it back here on my own.

What else could I add to it? Otherthan the fact that I saw one distinguished


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P. GUIDETTI

jumper; several others, but the position I was inwhen several others were jumping, I didn't reallyget a good look at them, but the one I did.

I don't know what more to say otherthan I don't know what companies were where. Icouldn't tell you if Engine 33, which was mycompany, was on Church and Vesey Street. I

couldn't tell you that. It all happened so fast.We got there, the second plane hit within acouple of minutes. That just totally confusedall these people even more, as well as myself andI'm sure firefighters and Feehan and the rest ofthem.

Basically that's it. I didn't see anyfirefighters get injured. I didn't see any rigsin position that I can say, yeah, Kevin, Iremember 33 engine being on the corner of Churchand Vesey. As I started to run, there was anempty rig. I didn't see any of that.

Q. Okay.A. I didn't get close enough.

As far as getting Feehan closer, maybeif I would have went Chambers Street to West,maybe I would have gotten him closer rather than


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h im h a v e t o w a l k f r o m Br oa dw ay a n d D ey t o t h ecommand cen te r .

Q . R i g h t .A. I m i g h t h a v e come i n t h e o t h e r w ay a n d

m i g h t ha ve g o t t e n hi m t h e r e - - I d o n ' t k n o w .T he se a r e t h i n g s I q u e s t i o n m y s e l f , why d i d I gos o f a s t .

Q . He made i t t h e r e o n f o o t . He m ade i tt o W est S t r e e t , a n d h e was o n t h e w e s t s i d e o fW est S t r e e t . So e i t h e r way - - h e d i d n ' t g e t h u r tb e f o r e h e g o t t h e r e . He was h u r t a f t e r h e g o t t ot h e w e st s i d e of West S t r e e t .

A. A l l r i g h t .A g a i n , I s a i d I t h i n k I d ro v e t o o f a s t .

I g o t him t h e r e t o o f a s t . I d i d n ' t h a ve somen e ed l e , l i f e - s a v i n g s y r i n g e h e r e t h a t I h ad t o g os o f a s t t h a t we ha d t o g e t i t t h e r e . I wast a k i n g a 7 2 -y e ar - o ld man t o p r o b a b l y on e o f t h em o st h o r r e n d ou s t h i n g s t h a t h e w ou ld e v e r s e e - -h ad s e e n i n h i s c a r e e r o r wo uld e v e r s e e , h ad h eb e e n s t i l l a l i v e . I q u e s t i o n m y se lf a b o ut t h a t .M aybe i f y o u w o ul d h a v e j u s t t a k e i t e a s i e r al i t t l e b i t y ou w ou ld n 't h a v e g o t t e n him t h e r e s of a s t . Ray c hi me d i n w i t h , " Di d you e v e r s t o p t o


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P. GUIDETTI 2

think by getting him there that fast he saved 200lives by giving an order here or giving an orderthere?"

Q. Right.A. That kind of made me feel a little bit

better. But I do question why wasn't I with him.I normally am in the few times we do go to

scenes. Unless it's something like, "Pete, justsit in the car. I'll be back. I'm just going togo check in." Then I would just stay with thecar.

But I had this sense of - - I don'tknow, is it guilt or is it - -

Q. Some people describe it as a survivor'sguilt.

A. That's what I've been experiencinglately. A couple of times it entered my mindthat I was pissed off that I wasn't one of them,which is - - I don't like to even say that. Butkind of like - - I don't know. I think thesurvivors suffer more than the instant impact ofdeath, you know.

I'm assuming and hoping and prayingthat as Feehan was running as well as all the


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o t h e r g u ys t h a t t h e r e w as a b an g on t h e h ea d,k n oc ke d t h em u n c o n s c i o u s a n d t h e n w h a t e v e rh ap pe ne d a f t e r w a r d s h e d i d n ' t f e e l . T h a t ' sq u i c k . O kay ? T h a t ' s k i n d o f a q u i c k way o fg o i n g .

T he p e o p l e who s u r v i v e d t h a t now, t h a tw alk away f ro m t h a t , i s t h a t s u r v i v o r ' s g u i l t ?

I s t h a t , "Why w a s n ' t I t h e r e t o o a n d why w a s n ' tI - - s h o u l d i t b e a l o t e a s i e r i f I w a s f u c k i n gd ea d t h a n t o g o t hr o ug h l i f e d ay i n a nd d ay o u tl i k e t h i s , q u e s t io n in g ? "

Q . Why b y a n a c t o f f a t e d i d I s u r v i v e a nda n o t h er guy i s d ea d .

A. Ri g h t . Oh, y e a h .Q . P eo p le a r e s o r a ck e d by t h a t .A. L i t t l e t h i n g s t o o t o make a p e rs o n n o t

b e c au g h t up i n t h a t c o l l a p s e , l i k e Ch i ef G an cig i v i n g N ig r o a n o r d e r , "Go ch e ck t h e s i d e o f t h eb u i l d i n g . T e l l me w h at w e ' v e g o t , Dan. T e l lS t e v e M o s i e l l o , ' S t e v e , g e t me tw o g oo d t r u c k so v e r h e r e . "' So t h o s e t w o g u ys h a d a d i r e c to r d e r . T he y l e a v e G a n c i . T he y s u r v i v e . G a nc ii s d e a d .

My b o ss , w i t h t h r e e of h i s c l o s e


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people, all four going down the block at the sametime, same rate of speed, because people comingout and you can only run so fast or walk so fast,they went one way, Feehan went by himself anotherway. Feehan eventually got to the command post.Where these guys went I'm not too familiar with.I think Ray tried to hook up with the

commissioner, rightfully so. Fitzpatrick andMcDonald, I don't know where they were headed.

To make a long story short with thatparticular statement, why Feehan goes this way,these three go that way, these three live, Feehandies. Feehan goes this way, his aide moves thecar this way, starts heading towards hooking upwith him, he lives, Feehan dies.

Q. There's no explanation for it.Everybody experienced the same thing, and why oneperson got hit with something that ended upkilling him and another person didn't, I don'tknow what the explanation is.

A. When you get in that thought process ofthinking about all that, you probably justransack your brain for answers when you can'tcome up with them. Even discussing it with other


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people, nobody is going to say, "Well, this iswhy" and give you a direct answer. There'sprobably just a lot of things involved with it.

I don't understand why nobody - - when Isay "nobody," the people I spoke to, the upperechelon, your Fitzpatrick, your Ray Goldbach.These are knowledgeable guys. They're fire

officers. They told me, "We did not think thebuilding was coming down."

The first words out of my mouth when Islammed that trunk lid was to tell these people,"Get out of here. This building's coming down."I always felt those World Trade towers were afirefighter's nightmare. I always told my wife Ido not want to be working when we have a fire inthere.

About 20 years ago when I was fullduty - - I was full duty for 16 years before I gothurt and became high duty LSS. So about 20 yearsago I'm in front of the firehouse. It was aFriday night. I'll never forget this.

Q. In Manhattan?A. Manhattan, 33 Engine, which is buried

under the rubble. I'm standing in front of


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quarters. It's the 12 to 3 watch, summer night,beautiful night. A civilian is walking by, stop,he's looking in, the apparatus doors are up. Istart talking to him. He turns out to be anarchitectural engineer. He builds high-risebuildings, skyscrapers.

I said, "Let me ask you a question.

Can I ask you a question?" He said, "Yeah,sure." I said, "The World Trade Center - - " Hesays, "Yes." These are my words, Kevin, on myfather's grave and my mother's grave. I said,"Let me ask you a question. If a 747 out ofNewark topped off with jet fuel crashes into the80th story of one of the stories, will it topplethe top 30 stories?" "Oh, no, it's not designedto do that. It's not designed to do that the waywe constructed this. We took things like thatinto consideration in the building of it. Thatwould not happen."

It didn't topple.Q. Right, well, that's true.A. At that time when I ask this guy this

question, I'm picturing a plane going in, blowingout loads of floors, fully loaded, 747 I quoted,


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topped off with jet fuel, would it topple the 30stories. He said no.

Did I think when I said that day thesebuildings are coming down, I didn't think theywere going to pancake all the way down. I'mlooking up at that second building saying how arethose stories above it staying up. The hole was

huge. It looked like toothpicks, four toothpicksin the corner were holding the rest of thestories above it up.

In me saying that these buildings arecoming down, I thought it was going to collapse,it was going to topple.

Q. From above?A. From above, like 30 stories, 20.

Whatever was left above the plane crash in eithertower would just give way and go this way andcome down into the street. I did not think thewhole building would pancake down. They weredesigned, from what I understand, to do that. 20years ago the guy didn't tell me that. He didn'tturn around and say, "Oh, no, you don't have toworry about the building toppling. However, youhave a strong possibility of it pancaking down on


27/96

P. GUIDETTI

itself because it's primarily steel construction.Steel expands one inch for every thousand degreesrise in temperature. So you're popping rivets,you're twisting beams."

But again, he didn't say that. He justsaid it's not coming down.

Q. And they spoke a lot about impact.

Apparently the building was designed to withstandan impact from a 707, which was the plane of theday. But it doesn't appear anybody consideredthe impact of a fire with all that combustiblematerial added to it.

A. Right, that fireball, that massiveamount of jet fuel burning instantly. It allgoes instantly.

That's it. I was amazed at why Ithought they were coming down, and I was amazedat that question the way I worded it 20 yearsago, was the truth. The reason why I used the747 in asking this guy that question back thenwas because 747 was the biggest plane we had.Topped off with jet fuel, it's going to have themaximum amount of fuel. Right out of Newark,you're not going to burn much to hit the World


28/96

P. GUIDETTI

Trade Center.Q. A flight to Europe or somewhere else.A. I didn't think of terrorism back then

either. I'm just saying an accident, the fog,something, a plane is going to go into the WorldTrade Center. I'm going to give you a scenario,what do you think, you're an architectural

engineer.So I found that kind of strange as well

as that day looking up at them saying they'recoming down, saying it to people, saying it tomyself with the second one, and then actuallyseeing it come down, looking up at it as it'sstarting to come down.

500 feet to the base of the building,maybe, 600 feet, I would say I was, going by themap and the schedule in the map, one inch equals600 feet, on one of the maps I have. I wastrying to find out where I was. I used that. Iwould say about 600 feet from the base of thebuilding.

Q. Sure.A. Which to me 110 stories up, it's coming

down, is a little too close for me.


29/96

P. GUIDETTI

Q. Right.A. If somebody told me, "you want to stand

600 feet away from the base of the World TradeCenter when it starts to collapse?" I would say,"Absolutely not. Get me ten fucking blocksaway."

But anyway, again, I was out of harm's

way, because I wouldn't be here now. It's just,all of it, the hearing of the second planeexploding, people jumping, losing my boss, losingfriends, my company's buried, just puttingeverything all together, I have no words todescribe what I feel. I'm sure a lot of peoplefeel most of what I feel. Some feel worsebecause of being closer, seeing a lot more worsethings than I did, like body parts. I reallydidn't see any body parts. Some people saw that,who witnessed that, who were closer. Thatcompany that was in the stairwell, what was it, 6Truck, 9 Engine.

Q. Yeah.A. I mean, talk about questioning fate and

everything; right?Basically I guess that's my whole day


30/96

P . G U I D E T T I

t h a t d a y .Q . I a p p r e c i a t e t h a t .A. I d o n ' t know i f I w as o f h e l p . I hope

I w as o f h e l p .Q . Y eah , a b s o l u t e l y . E v e r y b o d y 's

r e c o l l e c t i o n s a r e u n iq u e , a nd we a p p r e c i a t e t h ef a c t t h a t you s h a r e d yo u r s w i t h u s .

A. Do y ou h a v e a n y s p e c i f i c q u e s t i o n s y ouw ant t o a s k l i k e - - I n e v e r ma d e i t t o 1 0 a nd 1 0 .T he command c e n t e r w a s n ' t t h e r e a n yw ay .

Q . S u r e .A. T h a t ' s n umb er o n e , h a d I g o t t e n t h e r e .

Had I b e e n a l i t t l e f a s t e r , I p r o b a b l y w o ul d h a vebe en by 10 and 1 0 and God knows wou ld I b e h e r enow. I d o n ' t k n o w .

A l l t h e s e q u e s t i o n s you r u n t h r ou g hy o u r m i n d . I ' m t h a n k fu l t o be a l i v e . I d o t h i n kmy c a r e e r w i t h t h e F i r e De pa rt me nt i s o v e r , a f t e r3 1 y e a r s a nd l o s i n g a b o s s o f 11 y e a r s a n d myco mpa ny b e i n g b u r i e d , a g a i n , a n d me c om i ng c l o s et o e i t h e r b e in g k i l l e d o r s e r i o u s l y i n j u r e d . It h i n k I w an t t o s p en d some t i m e w i t h t h e w i f e a ndt h e f a m i l y a nd t h e g r a n d c h i l d r e n .

Q . S u r e .


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P. GUIDETTI 3

A. You've got to remember something, I'mlight duty LSS. Okay? For a light duty LSS guyto come close to buying it at the scene of afire, I mean, that's a little scary. I have noequipment. Most aides to like the chief ofdepartment, chief of operations, they'refull-duty guys. They get out of their car,

they're throwing helmets on, coats, boots,they're going with their boss, they're staying bytheir side.


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P. GUIDETTI

S O guess ha^ helps me in he f a c ~that I wasn't by Feehan's side, because in asituation like that I don't think anybody who's

w i ~ h o equip men^ and ashort-sleeve shirt should be at the base of abuilding that parts of planes are coming down,debris is coming down, bodies are coming down,eventually the whole building is coming down.

So maybe I helped my own guilt of notbeing next to my boss's side with that. I feelit's a pretty legitimate excuse, if that's theword I want to use, "excuse." I don't even knowanymore.

But basically that's it. What else? Icouldn't find Feehan's car. Dismay held themarshals for days. Then eventually they did findit.

Q. Yeah.A. That's it, I guess, Kevin. I don't

know what else.


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P. GUIDETTI

Q. Okay. That was great.A. My whole story.Q. That was very detailed, and that was a

good account. I appreciate that.A. Okay. Thank you. If there's anything

else you need, you think of, one single questionor something.

Q. Let me wind it up?MR. McALLISTER: It's 1013 hours on

October 12th, 2001, and we're going toconclude the interview now. Thank you.


34/96

File No. 9110137

WORLD TRADE CENTER TASK FORCE INTERVIEWDEPUTY CHIEF CHARLES R. BLAICH

Interview Date: October 23, 2001

Transcribed by Elisabeth F. Nason


35/96

C. BLAICH

MR. CASTORINA: The time is 0910 hours. Weare conducting an interview. We are at the WorldTrade Center Task Force on Duane Street. I'm RonCastorina.

MR. McCOURT: I'm Tom McCourt.MR. CASTORINA: Sir, your name and your

title.DEPUTY CHIEF BLAICH: Charles R. Blaich,

Deputy Chief.Q. Chief, can you tell me on September 11, 2001

the events that took place that day.A. Yes.

. I received a call from mybrother that the World Trade Center was burning. Hiswife drove both of us to the ferry, Staten IslandFerry. We live on Staten Island obviously. And we gota boat that departed approximately 0930 hours in themorning. On board that boat were various policedetachments and vehicles and a number of volunteerfirefighters taking the boat over to volunteer.

At some time off the Battery, off theWhitehall ferry terminal, the first tower collapsed andthen it appeared after that the second one collapsedand in between that time frame, the boat finally got


36/96

C . BLAICH

i n t o t h e s l i p . We w or ked o u r way o f f t h e b o a t . Myb r o t h e r w ent t o t h e e a s t s i d e t o t r y t o work h i s way upBroadway t o g e t t o t h e Duane S t r e e t f i r e h ou se t o g e th i s g e a r .

Q . Who i s y o u r b r o t h e r ?A . W i l l i a m .Q . W i l l i a m B l a i c h ?A. I w ork ed t o t h e w es t s i d e w i t h t h e p e o pl e

f r om S t a t e n I s l a n d who h a d v o l u n t e e r e d . We s t o p p e d f o ra few m i n u t e s . T h er e was a t r a f f i c s u p e r v i s o r t h a tk i n d o f d i r e c t e d u s t h r ou g h t h e subw ay a t W h i t e h al lS t r e e t t o s e e i f we c o u l d work o u r way up n o r t h t h a tway a n d t h e r e we re j u s t t o o many n o n -a n s we rs . Wed e c i d ed t o p r oc e ed t o t h e w e s t away f r om i n t h e d u s tc l o u d a s much a s we c o u l d . We wo rk ed o u r way u p a ro u n dt h e B a t t e ry .

I n t h a t r o u t e , we bumped i n t o - - t h e f i r s tF i r e D e p a rt m en t a c t i v i t y we bum ped i n t o was a m o b i l ecommand p o s t , whic h was - - a p p a r e n t l y h ad j u s t come o u to f t h e B a t t e r y T un ne l an d was t r y i n g t o s e t up , I g u e s sB a t t e ry Pa rk P la z a t h e r e , t h a t s t r e e t j u s t n o r t h o f t h eB a t t e r y .

I w en t on b o a r d t h a t v e h i c l e a n d r e c e i v e d ar a d i o , t r i e d t o f i n d o u t wh at was go i n g o n . T h e re was


37/96

C. BLAICH

really little or no information. I got my volunteerstogether. We had a contractor giving us an assortmentof shovels and picks and whatever and we proceededfurther up to the west. I bumped into Dr. Prezant, wholooked like he had just been put in a bag of flour andshaken up and down several times. He was verydisoriented, but he was able to give me a little bit ofinformation of what was going on. We commandeered, orwe asked actually, one of the volunteer ambulances thatwere there, gave us some face masks to wear at thatpoint.

We grabbed a pile of those and proceededfurther north. I eventually arrived at Liberty andWest Street, where basically I was - - Rescue 2, whoserig was there. There was an engine company behindRescue 2, although I don't remember the number of it.That was on the north side of Liberty Street and on thesouth side there was a commercial van of some sort.

I grabbed a Lieutenant Ryan, who I believeworks in the - - he used to work in the Medical Divisionand I believe is in Staten Island now. I designatedhim as my aide and we attempted to establish a commandpost. We were attempting to establish it on top of theroof of the van. People were coming in asking


38/96

C . BLAICH

d i r e c t i o n s . The s c e n e a t t h a t p o i n t wh ere t h e r e we renum erous f i r e s b u r n i n g t h ro u g h t h e p i l e . We w er et e n t a t i v e l y d i r e c t i n g t h e v o l u n t e e r s t o s t a r t f an n i ngo u t o n t o p o f t h e p i l e t o s e e i f we c o u l d make a ny s p o tr e s c u e s , i f a ny on e was a l i v e .

A t t h e s am e t i m e we we r e in f o r m e d t h a t t h e r ewas n o w a t e r i n t h e h y d r a n t s y s t e m a n d w ha t e n g i n ec om p an ie s we ha d t h a t we re s t i l l r e m ai n i ng , t h e y w e reb ac k t ow a rd s t h e we s t e nd of L i b e r t y S t r e e t t h e r e , Ig u e s s s o m et i me s c a l l e d t h e S o u t h End A ve nu e o r S o u t hEnd S t r e e t , w e re r e p o r t i n g t h e y h a d no w a t e r .

A t some p o i n t d u r i n g t h i s , t h e d i f f i c u l t p a r twas p e o p l e we re t r y i n g t o make r e s c u e s o f v i c t i m s t h a tt h e y c o u l d s e e i n t h e p i l e a n d we h ad t o f o r c e thema w a y b e c a u s e p e o p l e h a d I b ea ms t h r o u g h t h em a n d t h i n g sl i k e t h a t . We j u s t d i d n ' t h a v e t h e t im e t o i n v e s t i nb r i n g i n g o u t d ea d b o d i e s . We w ere t r y i n g t o f i n d l i v eb o d i e s . We w er e g e t t i n g r e p o r t s , t o t h e b e s t o f myk no wl ed ge , t h e y w e re c a u g h t l i k e t h a t , I b e l i e v e i t wa s58 E n gi ne . They w er e r e p o r t i n g t h e i r o f f i c e r wasm i s s i n g a n d t h e y w e re d i g g i n g t h e m s e l v e s o u t f r om Ce da rS t r e e t , w h ich i s t h a t s t r e e t j u s t s o u t h o f t h e h o t e l .

And I k e p t h e a r i n g 65 E n g i n e , b u t I ' m n o ts u r e w he re t h e y f i t i n t o t h i s . I n e v e r d i d c o n f i r m


39/96

C. BLAICH

where they were. We did confirm we had lost the 58Engine officer, because so me of their people came out.I was informed that we had gotten word that people hadgo^ up and goLLen-y aide, we k e p ~ ~ ~ e m p ~ i n gO make a l i s ~of where we were putting these casualties.

I know it was at that point that Ladder 131members were being thrown on a boat and either sent tothe Statue of Liberty or to New Jersey. There weresome ambulance rep there who said we couldn't moveambulances north o r south and the only way out was byboat.

At some point there, Chief Hayden came on thescene with basically slits for eyes. I tried to tellhim to go to the ambulance, but he remained on thescene and we attempted to operate a command post. Here-established it on the back of the pumper. KevinCully from OEM surfaced at some point. He also lookedlike he had been shaken in a bag of flour. Then weattempted to establish a command post.

At that point a member of the FireDepartment, in a blue uniform, informed me that the


40/96

C. BLAICH

fire boat Harvey was on the scene. I stopped indisbelief, half knowing that the Harvey was sold awhile ago, but he said it was here, had no equipmentand an hour's worth of fuel, so OEM attempted to getfuel but apparently the fire boat flagged down apassing oiler and got fuel.

We were able to get a couple of enginecompanies back in service and they stretched from thefire boat. That was our only source of water at thatpoint. I was also informed at that point that therewas a fire, of all hands proportion broken out in thesouth end apartments. All I could dispatch was onegroup of firefighters to work on that.

Chief Mosier from Staten Island, 8thDivision, arrived on the scene. This is how weestablished the sectors at that point. I looked as farnorth as I could see and called that the Liberty Streetsector. I believe Chief Visconti was somewhere on theother end, on the north side of that pile in the middlebetween West - - on West between Liberty and up to wherethat bridge had collapsed up further and we said, allright, you will be the Vesey Street command. At somepoint Chief Haring came on the radio and he designatedhimself as Church Street command. He had numerous


41/96

C. BLAICH

fires going on his side. We had a tower ladder. Forsome reason, 15 truck was still in service, but withoutwater. When the boat finally got the water going, wehooked up the water to the tower ladder. We stretchedseveral hand lines, proceeded to search the pile ineven more detail.

Chief Mosier's building now, the twentystory, number 90 West was becoming fully involved. Hehad approximately 40 firemen without any equipment. Ibelieve Marine One eventually supplied water to him andthat's what he operated. That was a sector, sort of anadjunct sector to the Liberty command post.

I proceeded to direct operations. At somepoint Chief Hayden was removed, I believe to try to getsome sort of first aid. I remained in command untilapproximately midnight and I was relieved by anotherDeputy Chief, who I relieved the next morning when Icame back and that just sort of flip flopped back andforth till Friday.

That's basically what I recollect. Somewhereduring the - - time was totally condensed here. I don'tremember exact hours. We received several reports.One from Ladder 6, reporting talking to Chief Cruthers,but he was calling Car 4 Charlie and I realized there


42/96

C. BLAICH

was no command above the Sector Chiefs at that point soI answered and asked him what his situation was.

The Captain was reporting that he was trappedin the B stairway and I said we are noting yourposition. What is your situation. He said, well, weare here. We have a civilian, but did he have anyimmediate danger, people crushed. He said no. I saidI have no access to help you. I said I have notedwhere you are, as soon as I get some help, we will tryto work on that.

My brother came on the radio at some point.He was up at Vesey Street, trying to work his way oneway or another into the Trade, probably into a garageor something. He had, I think, 43 Truck or somebodywith him. I relayed that information. I don't believehe ever got the 6 Truck. I believe 6 Truck eventuallygot themselves out.

The only other report I got was there wassome confusion. They thought my nephew Peter was afireman in 9 Engine and located him, and they told methat.

That's all I have to say, unless you have anyparticular questions.

MR. CASTORINA: Okay. The time now is 0920


43/96

C . BLAICH

h o u r s . T ha nk y o u , C h i e f .


44/96

File No. 9110237

WORLD TRADE CENTER TASK FORCE INTERVIEW

FIREFIGHTER OWEN CARLOCK

Interview Date: December 5th, 2001

Transcribed by Laurie A. Collins


45/96

O. CARLOCK 2

CHIEF BURNS: Today's date is December

5th, 2001. The time is 4:17 p.m. I am

Battalion Chief Robert Burns, Safety

Battalion, FDNY. I'm conducting an

interview with Firefighter Owen Carlock,

Ladder 122, detailed on the day of the

incident to Engine 220. This is in

reference to the events that occurred on

September 11th, 2001.

Q. Owen, if you would, just tell us in

your own words exactly what happened that day.

A. We took the Brooklyn Bridge, which was

closed. We had trouble getting there from here

with all the traffic. We took the Brooklyn

Bridge, which was emptied at Chambers Street, a

lot of traffic, obviously, in Manhattan.

We went to West Street, turned left on

West. We picked up a straggler, John Jermyn,

from the -- he used to be here in 122. He works

in the Fire Department Museum. We picked him up

and drove around to -- as near as I can figure

out, I think it was between Murray and Barclay

Street, where we left the rig on the southbound

lanes.


46/96

O. CARLOCK 3

We walked down the southbound lanes to

I guess it was the command post. Captain Grabher

went over there, and they told him to go to the

south tower. So he said he wasn't going to take

Liberty because of the jumpers.

So we went to some building on the

corner of Albany and West Street that's under

construction. It's being renovated. We went

that way. We took Albany past Washington, and

then we were on our way to Greenwich? No, it was

at Washington when the tower came down on us.

Somebody yelled "Oh, shit, here it comes." It

was coming towards us.

So we dove behind the Deutsche Bank,

and the five of us -- three went back, four went

ahead, the seven of us. Four of us laid behind

that building, waiting. We thought we were going

to die.

After that we tried to take a window in

the back of the bank. We did take a window, but

behind it was a steel wall, corrugated tin or

whatever. We couldn't get into the window.

They followed me. I had the light.

They followed me, and we went into Deutsche Bank


47/96

O. CARLOCK 4

into the side entrance, got our wits about us,

and we went across the street to get Eddie and

George and Mike Schroeck.

Then we were going to make our way back

to the command center when the north tower came

down. We ducked into some hotel. I don't know

what hotel it was. It was on West Street south

of Albany.

After that came down and the stuff

cleared, the officer said, "Listen, we're not

going to go back to that area. We're going to

come around, because we don't know what else is

going to come down, what else could come tumbling

down."

So we went over to the water, and from

there we helped Marine 6 put it into -- I think

it was Captain Fuentes. They dug him out. He

was banged up pretty good. We helped put him on

the boat.

At that time Captain Grabher told Eddie

Plunkett and myself, "Go find a rig and back it

up to the fire boat, Marine 9, which is already

there." He said, "We're going to at least get

water as best as we can to the towers."


48/96

O. CARLOCK 5

Eddie and I found I don't know whose

rig it was. We backed it up to the fire hose,

took the three and a half off of there and went

as far as we could. Then another rig came, and

they stretched their three and a half off the rig

we were on, and then they left.

I went back to find Captain Grabher,

Mike Schroeck, George and Dean. They were

nowhere to be found. Later on I found out they

were on the ninth floor of one of the apartment

buildings on the west side of West Street,

fighting the fire on the ninth floor. That's why

I couldn't find them. I had no radio. I had no

clue where they were.

So I hooked up after a while with Chief

Congiusta of 48. He and I went down with a

couple other guys from 240 into the parking lot

of the Vista to look for 6 Truck, which was

missing at the time. We were standing there and

waited for him to come out, and he never came

out. He took an underground passageway and came

out on Barclay Street.

After that I hooked up with four guys,

recall guys. I hooked up with 220 and stayed the


49/96

O. CARLOCK 6

rest of the night until 11:30 and went to the

hospital. I had my eyes cleaned out.

As far as the companies, somebody said

205 was right in front of us, and I don't

remember seeing them. That's the best I can tell

you where we were, where everybody is, that's

what we did the day of the attack.

CHIEF BURNS: That concludes our

interview. The time is 4:22 p.m.


50/96

File No. 9110239


FIREFIGHTER GERARD CASEY

Interview Date: December 5, 2001



51/96

2

CHIEF BURNS: Today is the 5th of

December, 2001. The time is 3:59 p.m. I

am Chief Robert Burns of the Safety

Battalion conducting an interview with

Firefighter Second Grade Casey from Ladder

122 in regard to the events that took place

on September 11th, 2001.

Q. If you would, just tell me in your own

words what happened at the World Trade Center

fire.

A. We received the alarm about a quarter

to 9. We responded to the tunnel with 132, 105,

101 and 131. 101 might have made -- I think 131.

We got stuck in the tunnel for ten minutes.

There was a car with two firefighters. They

cleared out the left lane, and we finally made it

through the tunnel.

We were last in line because we were

getting into the tunnel via the service lane, and

105 and 132 were closer in, closer to the tunnel

portals than we were, because we were in the

service lane. So we ended up behind them. 105

took the front of the north tower. We went with

132 and I believe 131 or 101, I'm not sure.


52/96

3

We had to pull the rig out. We had

spots in front of the rig where there were a lot

of bodies and debris in front of us, body parts.

We were in front of the north tower where the

staging area was.

We positioned the rig up around --

passed the north tower at Vesey Street and we

proceeded to walk towards the north tower at the

staging area, which is in front of the north

tower. There were two garages directly across

the street from the north tower.

The incident commander and Ganci,

Feehan was standing there too, divided up the

trucks and the engines, engines on one side of

the garage, trucks on the other side. We

couldn't go through the front of the north tower

because there were too many bodies on the ground.

So he wanted us to go to the south

tower, all the truck companies that were in that

garage bay front area, about five truck

companies. We grabbed extra bottles, proceeded

to the overpass that is next to the Marriott, I

believe, on West Street, and we had to go

underneath the overpass to avoid debris falling


53/96

4

from the south tower and bodies. People were

jumping.

We made it across there in time to get

into the building. 132, 105 and 101 I saw. When

we were in the lobby, I saw them. We were

standing fast in the Marriott lobby. Close to

the doors where the elevators were in the south

tower was a doorway that leads into the lobby.

That was the last known positions I

know that I saw them, those companies I mentioned

that were next to us. I spoke to Vinny Brunton

on the Brooklyn Battery's Brooklyn side. We

thought we were going to be there all day. They

were giving us water. Guys were cooling off. We

knew we were going up. We didn't know if we

could take any elevators at that point. Later on

we found out we were going to go up and walked

up.

We got the order to move, to go ahead

and go forward. We started putting our gear on.

Other companies moved up ahead of us maybe 20

feet, 25 feet ahead of us. There was a short

distance between us, and 131 was behind us,

waiting on us to move. We were just moving up in


54/96

5

the line going in. I believe 24 Truck was behind

131. So it was us, 131 and 24 Truck. In front

of us was 132, 105 and 101.

We put our gear on, started going

moving forward, and that's when we heard the

rumbling. Somebody screamed, "The building's

coming down." I had one shoulder strap on, I

dropped my mask and I turned around and made it

to -- I tried to run towards the restaurant to

get out.

I didn't get any more than one step and

everything just turned black, and I got pulled

into a corner in there that was still standing.

My helmet came off. I had a concussion, I

believe. That was it. At that point I didn't

think I was going to make it out alive. I

thought that was it.

I made noise at the door. I banged on

the door really loud before guys came to me. One

guy from 24 Truck was bleeding really bad. He

had no face piece on his regulator. I said,

"Let's get this door open." I put my light on

and I started banging and making a lot of noise.

Other guys came and started lifting up the door.


55/96

6

I heard a guy from my company screaming, "I've

got the way out. It's over here." I followed

his voice with two other firemen. I followed his

voice.

That's pretty much what I remember as

far as locations and locations of the companies

that I saw that were operating.

Q. Which tower were you operating in?

A. South tower.

Q. South tower.

From there where did you go? Did you

go to EMS?

A. I came out. I came out of the crater.

The street was gone, the restaurant and

everything was gone. I saw Koyles and Vitiello.

They were alive. I saw them and then I turned

around and I couldn't see them. Walker had come

out. I turned around and Koyles was gone. I

don't know where he went.

I told Vitiello, I said, "Follow me,"

because he's a proby. Then I turned around and

he was gone. He walked another way. I walked up

-- by the overpass was a fire truck there. There

was a fireman crushed. There was another guy who


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7

was screaming, going crazy. I walked another 50

feet and there was another guy that was dead.

There were bodies everywhere.

I walked another like 50 feet. I was

limping. I hurt my knee, my back. My eyes were

closing. I couldn't see. I bumped into a guy on

the floor. I helped him. He was hurting. He

was injured bad. I started walking with him.

Another fireman came over and helped me.

We just kept walking, and we ended up

at the water marina. A boat came over, and they

pretty much threw us on the boat. They said,

"You guys are banged up. Get on the boat." And

that was it.

Q. Okay, Jerry, thanks for the interview.

CHIEF BURNS: It's 4:06 p.m. This is

the end of the interview.


57/96

File No. 9110248


FIREFIGHTER STUART BAILEY


Transcribed by Nancy Francis


58/96

2

S. BAILEY

BATTALION CHIEF KING: Today's date is

December 6, 2001. The time is 1715 hours and this is

Battalion Chief Stephen King, Safety Battalion, FDNY.

I'm conducting an interview with Firefighter Stuart

Bailey from Engine Co. 224, and this interview is

concerning the events of September 11th, 2001.

Q. Stuart, you can start the interview. Just

tell me what position you had that day.

A. I actually didn't have a position that day.

I was one of the guys that took the run-in being off

duty.

Q. Okay. Tell us your story of what you saw

that day.

A. I worked that night in Ladder 101, the night

before, and got relieved there around 8:20, came here,

got in the house around 8:30. We responded shortly

after that on the first plane, took the run-in, jumped

on a rig with another kid, Joe Sullivan, a proby. We

both took the run-in, both were off duty.

We got to the staging area by the Battery

Tunnel. Before we were going into the tunnel, we were

pretty much just watching it, just watching the first

plane. I believe the second plane hit as we were going

into the tunnel, or possibly as we were going to the


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S. BAILEY

staging area, the second plane wound up hitting.

At that time we realized -- the kid in the

back, the proby, said it was a terrorist attack. No

one even realized what actually was going on. We just

thought this plane accidentally hit, until that second

plane hit, then we realized what was actually

happening.

Maybe ten minutes after being at the staging

area, they started moving the rigs into the tunnel. As

we were going into the tunnel, one of the kids that was

actually walking with his gear -- I can't even recall

his name, but there's a big article. The guys know his

name -- actually asked Tommy Smith, who was the

chauffeur, if he could jump on the back of the rig. I

didn't even realize that he jumped on, neither did

Tommy or anyone else, until maybe later on, then we

realized the kid actually did jump on the rig. I

believe he was lost. He was missing.

When we pulled out of the tunnel, the way I

saw it, they couldn't keep us really right there by the

tunnel. We had to proceed past the building because of

all the rigs that were behind us. I guess it would

have delayed them from getting in. We would have been

backing up the tunnel pretty much. So they kind of had


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4

S. BAILEY

everything blocked off and we kind of swerved around

debris from the plane, body parts pretty much

everywhere. That's the first time I've ever seen

anything like that. I'm sure no one did.

Then I believe we went to get a hydrant. We

had a pretty close hydrant to the Trade Center itself,

pretty much almost right out in front, and a Lieutenant

started screaming at Tommy Smith that he wanted the rig

moved. He wanted to stand out front, I guess, to relay

water or to help out with that, getting water over

there. So that guy actually moved Tommy from pretty

much in front of the Trade Center to a little bit

further where we wound up being on Vesey and West

Street, over there.

At that time both buildings were going, both

planes had already hit the building, and we were just

standing there. I looked up, realized the

transmission, our transmission, from riding over the

rubble that was on the ground, the remains of the

plane, ruptured our transmission tank, so transmission

fluid was leaking. Tommy noticed that. So we kind of

spent an extra five minutes or so kind of trying to

plug that in. I guess the guys rendered it useless at

that time, it would have been useless if we didn't do


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S. BAILEY

that, you know, just another story out there of how you

get saved. But the guys got off their gear.

Guys all had their gear. I didn't have any

gear on me. I didn't realize. I was just going in for

the ride. I thought it was just a regular fire, a

little bit bigger than regular. But as we're standing

there, the guys had all their tanks on. I didn't have

anything. Tommy didn't have anything. So we were kind

of like maybe even a step back from everyone else,

realizing what's happening, jumpers. You didn't

realize, until you actually looked and saw arms and

legs waving, exactly what was happening, you know, one

after another. There must have been three or four

dozen that jumped out right there while we were

standing there, just in amazement, exactly what

actually was happening.

Then all of a sudden, the further tower, the

south tower, I think it is, the first one that went

down, the south tower went down. We really didn't

realize that it was actually the whole building going

down. It looked like just maybe a side or something

because you couldn't really see because the other one

was in the way, and then you realized exactly what

happened because, as you saw on the TV, all the smoke,


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6

S. BAILEY

that pretty much came up ten stories high, 15 stories

high, pretty much just came right at us.

Asses and elbows, you know, we just started

running every which way. I think I might have actually

ran a little bit further than everyone else being I had

no gear on me or anything like that. I couldn't take a

knee and just let everything blow over me. So I was

kind of out in the front. I might have even ran an

extra block or two before I turned around and just

realized there was nobody even with me.

I would say it was 15, 20, 25 minutes before

that cloud kind of dissipated even a little bit. I

started working my way back slow, relaxing, just taking

it easy, realizing what's happening. I would say about

a half a block away from there, I came back with my

company again, not even knowing what happened to them

because they weren't even near me, the second one came

down. I ran again. It might have even been another

block I ran.

At that time jets were coming over your head

and you didn't know what was happening. Is that our

guys? It didn't even dawn on me that it was our guys.

It was just this happened here, big buildings are all

around, they're still hitting us.


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7

S. BAILEY

It must have been another half an hour until

I kind of got on my feet and just was like, okay, let

me start working my way back. At that time guys from

other companies were kind of there also, so I wound up

hooking up with some kids from different companies. A

kid from 20 Truck was there, a Lieutenant from 34,

Lieutenant Winkler was there. I hooked up with them

and I actually wound up not even seeing my company

until maybe 11:00 o'clock that night, you know, working

without anything. I wound up getting gear later on.

Maybe a couple hours later I was able to get gear on

the side, no bunker coat, no helmet, just pants.

I just pretty much worked through the whole

night. I wound up finding out that they were actually

alive from one of the guys from 202 that was actually

on our side. Somehow or another I wound up being on

the other side of the building. I wasn't even on the

side where we were. I wound up being on the other

side. I saw a kid from 202 and he showed me a way how

to get to the other side to where 224 was. He let me

know that the guys were okay. That was at 11:00

o'clock at night maybe I hooked up with them.

Then we went back to the house by bus like

1:30 in the morning, you know, finally taking the bus


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S. BAILEY

in. That's pretty much it. I went back to work the

next day.

BATTALION CHIEF KING: Okay. Thank you,

Stuart. The time is 1723 hours and I'm concluding the

interview with Firefighter Bailey.


65/96

File No. 9110253


FIREFIGHTER RICHARD BANACISKI




66/96

2

R. BANACISKI

BATTALION CHIEF KENAHAN: December 6, 2001.

The time is 3:30 p.m. This is Battalion Chief

Kenahan of the Safety Battalion of the Fire

Department of the City of New York. I'm

conducting an interview with Rich Banaciski of

Ladder 22.

Q. Please tell us the events of September 11 as

you recall them?

A. We got the alarm for us to respond, just, I

would say, a minute after the second plane had hit the

tower. Then they actually came over the voice alarm.

Actually told the companies to respond outlet. We

responded in and it was all the west side companies

were actually all running down together, down the West

Side Highway, because it was closed going northbound.

So we could see what was going on, the two towers, both

of them burning pretty good and then we got into, down

to the site. We were at the corner of West and Vesey.

That's where we parked the rig, in front of the Verizon

building.

We were told to bring extra cylinders. We

each brought our extra cylinders and we brought our

rollups, the whole thing, and we reported in to the

command post, which was in front of -- I think it was


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3

R. BANACISKI

the Merrill Lynch building. There was a parking

garage. There were two ramps that went in that parking

garage.

Q. On West Street?

A. On West Street. We reported in to there and

I remember they had the command post set up. They were

telling the engines to the one side, all the trucks to

the other side, put your cylinders in the middle. We

were there. They were getting the command structure

going. I just remember we were -- initially we were

out by the street and they started having jumpers, so

they all kind of moved back towards the parking garage,

towards the building, so nothing would come down on

us.

We were there I don't know, maybe 10, 15

minutes and then I just remember there was just an

explosion. It seemed like on television they blow up

these buildings. It seemed like it was going all the

way around like a belt, all these explosions.

Everybody just said run and we all turned around and we

ran into the parking garage because that's basically

where we were. Running forward would be running

towards it. Not thinking that this building is coming

down. We just thought there was going to be a big


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4

R. BANACISKI

explosion, stuff was going to come down.

There was just a tremendous cloud that came

into the parking garage. Somebody actually laid out a

search rope, I think it was the officer of 76 Engine

too, Lieutenant Farrington. He laid out a search rope

so some of the guys could find their way to a back

door, set up a back staircase in the Merrill Lynch

building. We followed that up and we ended up coming

out behind the building where the Marina is. Back in

there. A lot of guys made their way out there.

We kind of -- from there we kind of regrouped

together because we lost each other when the building

came down. We all ran, so we kind of regrouped there,

got ourselves together. Then there was a lot of people

not knowing what to do, do you know what I mean.

I said to the officer, I'm going to go look

for our chauffeur and I knew he parked the rig right in

front of the Verizon building. I went up there. I

started looking for him. He had moved the rig, not

knowing now -- now I know, but he had moved the rig.

I'm not exactly sure where he put it, but I went to go

look for him because I couldn't get him on the radio

due to the amount of radio traffic. People looking for

this guy, this guy, companies looking for their own


69/96


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R. BANACISKI

bit of time, maybe an hour or so, they actually started

telling us to go here, go there. They moved us from

one spot, they moved us on to Vesey again. Because

then they were worried about -- we actually searched

the Verizon building, because there was reports of

firemen there. Basically our whole house searched that

building.

They told us to get out of there because they

were worried about 7 World Trade Center, which is right

behind it, coming down. We were up on the upper floors

of the Verizon building looking at it. You could just

see the whole bottom corner of the building was gone.

We could look right out over to where the Trade Centers

were because we were that high up. Looking over the

smaller buildings. I just remember it was tremendous,

tremendous fires going on.

Finally they pulled us out. They said all

right, get out of that building because that 7, they

were really worried about. They pulled us out of there

and then they regrouped everybody on Vesey Street,

between the water and West Street. They put everybody

back in there.

Finally it did come down. From there -- this

is much later on in the day, because every day we were


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R. BANACISKI

so worried about that building we didn't really want to

get people close. They were trying to limit the amount

of people that were in there. Finally it did come

down. That's when they let the guys go on. I just

remember we started searching around all the rigs.

That was basically the rest of the day, the

rest of the night. We were searching around rigs

looking for men. That was it.

BATTALION CHIEF KENAHAN: All right.

Q. Do you have anything else to add?

A. No.

BATTALION CHIEF KENAHAN: Okay. Thank you

very much for your cooperation. The time now is

3:45 p.m. This concludes the interview.


72/96

File No. 9110254


FIREFIGHTER RICHARD BATTISTA




73/96

2

R. BATTISTA

BATTALION CHIEF KENAHAN: The time is 4:49

p.m. This is Battalion Chief Dennis Kenahan, the

Safety Battalion of the New York City Fire

Department. I'm conducting an interview with

Richard Battista of Engine 76.

Q. Richard, explain to us what you remember on

September 11.

A. Well, September 11, the day started out

normally just like any other day. The men had gotten

up for breakfast and I turned on the channel, I turned

on the news TV and we saw that one of the World Trade

Center towers had been struck by an airplane. At that

time we thought it was an accident. Shortly after, the

second plane struck the second building. We started

receiving our alarms and everybody came over the voice

alarm telling us exactly what to do.

Members started to turn out and we made our

way downtown. We took a route along the West Side

Highway and on our way down there you could see both

towers in flames and you could see a lot of smoke in

the immediate area. On arrival we got there, the

Lieutenant had - Lieutenant Farrington, told us

basically what we needed to do as to - just start

getting to a staging area and while he was receiving


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R. BATTISTA

his orders from the Battalion, we pretty much kept a

wait in front of what is now -- I think was the

American Express building.

At that time he just told us basically to

prepare, getting extra water, whatever else we might

have needed for the flight up. I think he was getting

reports of possibly going up to a building, one of the

floors in the second tower.

Q. North tower or the south tower?

A. Sorry, the north tower. At this time, I had

just been waiting for a while, and all I could remember

from my vantage point was seeing civilians jump out of

the buildings in the west side of the tower and landing

around the surrounding streets. At that time, to be

honest I didn't really focus too much on what was going

on around me because I was sort of fixated on what was

happening up above, so I didn't really get too much of

a time to notice what was happening immediately around

me. I know there was a lot of people running back and

forth and there was havoc, but it didn't really dawn

upon me at that time that I should be aware of my

immediate surroundings.

Once they started falling, we got a report of

a firefighter being injured, from someone maybe


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R. BATTISTA

falling, so we decided to move back further away from

the tower. I remember specifically the command post,

which may have been, I don't know, maybe 40 feet in

front of us, something in that nature. When I saw

that, Lieutenant Farrington told us to move back so we

were sort of underneath a garage area when we first

heard reports or guys yelling that one of the towers

was coming down. I was able to stick my head out and

look up a bit and once I saw that I just immediately

turned around and ran into the building.

Within seconds everything was pitch dark. I

remember something actually hit me on my shoulder, what

it was I don't know. It could have been a helmet, it

could have been something that hit me on my left

shoulder. Even though we weren't immediately in front

of the south tower, in that vicinity, because I wasn't

able to see what was coming down around me, I thought

maybe it was a piece of the building or something, so

at that point I just ducked into a corner and put my

-- rolled up in a fetal position, just balled up and

waiting for the worst to be over.

Once things settled down I heard firefighters

asking for help. Someone actually stated oh, I have

asthma. I can't breathe, whatever. So I was one of


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R. BATTISTA

the few firefighters that I remember who actually had

my cylinder on my back, because some of the

firefighters had actually put them down to rest,

because we had been waiting for a while.

At this point I turned on my flashlight and I

tried to look for anyone that I might be able to assist

within the garage area, keeping in mind I didn't know

how badly affected the building I was in was. I just

knew it was pitch black in front. I couldn't see out

where I came in from originally, so I thought who

knows, maybe we are underneath or trapped as well.

After some of the haze started clearing, we

started seeing bits of light, but we couldn't exactly

see the entrance. Lieutenant Farrington had the

forethought of getting a search rope tied off to a

bannister and made his way out to the back of the

building heading towards the west river. He started

calling out to the members of the 76 and other

companies. We found the line and made our way out the

building and back down under some steps and coming out,

surfacing on the other side.

At that time I really don't remember too many

other faces, because myself, I have a little over a

year on the job, so I really don't know too many other


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R. BATTISTA

people from surrounding companies, just a few familiar

faces.

I do remember once we made it out the back of

the building, running towards the river and I saw

several members of our truck company, 22 Truck. Those

were the only distinguishing faces I could make out.

Not only was it hard to see, but a lot of helmets were

covered with soot at that point after we made it out

the back, so it was difficult to even see some of the

numbers, even if I did look for it.

At that point we waited by the river and

tried to gather everyone because all the members who

were in the Engine that day, I think two of the members

might have gone a different way, so we were waiting to

catch up with them and then we were waiting to make a

voice communication with them over the handy talky, but

there was just so much confusion that that wasn't able

to happen right away.

Eventually we did meet up with them and we

started walking up north when the second tower

collapsed. At this point that walk turned into a run

very quickly and we made our way to, I believe it's

Vesey or on West Street, and started going up West

Street until we were able to come to another meeting


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R. BATTISTA

point.

Other than that, that's pretty much all I can

recall at this point.

Q. The point that you are just talking about

now, had the second tower come down yet or not?

A. No.

Q. What happened after you met at that point,

did you go back at all or did you stay up there when

the second tower came down?

A. Once we made it out to that meeting point

where the Chiefs were trying to get a head count over

on West Street, I was (inaudible) for a message from

the Chief's aide and found out that we had to go back

in eventually to find -- to see how many members we

could find. This took some time, because like I said,

everything was out of whack. People -- whole companies

weren't together, so it took some time for us to not

only gather the men but gather our bearings, because

you could imagine once we were waiting we also got

another report of a plane in the area, so we thought

possibly at that time that another building around us

might get struck.

I remember sitting down and drinking water

and trying to get a bite of an apple or something by


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R. BATTISTA

that time. When we finally did get our job duties,

what we were supposed to do, we started gathering up

again and we were told we had to turn out on a

spreading fire in what I believe is 6 World Trade

Center or the customs building, possibly a bank.

At that point, this was later on, closer to

the afternoon maybe, maybe 12, but I'm not exactly

sure, during that time --

As I was saying, once the afternoon came

around, 12 or 1, by that time I think a new officer had

met up with our company, we had Captain Jirak take us

into that fire on that 6 World Trade Center where we

helped extinguish some fires on the back of that

building.

Prior to that, earlier in the day, just to

backtrack a little bit, when the second tower

collapsed, I remember we were all by the water way, by

the river, right on the river's edge, and we were

looking in the general direction of the towers, but you

couldn't see much, because I believe the other

building, maybe 4 World Trade Center or the American

Express building, was blocking our view. We couldn't

really see nothing but what was up in the sky.

Once we finished extinguishing the fires, we


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R. BATTISTA

once again met up on West Street with Captain Jirak and

we just waited for further orders to go out and start

making searches. That's about it.

Q. Okay, anything else you would like to add?

A. No.

BATTALION CHIEF KENAHAN: Thank you Richard,

for all your help. This concludes the interview

it's now 5:05 p.m.


81/96

File No. 9110266


FIREFIGHTER ROBERT BYRNE




82/96

R. BYRNE 2

CHIEF KEMLY: Today's date is December

7th, 2001. The time is 1645 hours. This is

Battalion Chief Ronald Kemly of the New York

City Fire Department. I'm conducting an

interview with the following individual:

Firefighter 6th grade Robert Byrne, assigned

to Engine Company 24 of the Fire Department

of the City of New York.

The interview is taking place at the

quarters of Engine 24, in the company

office, regarding the events of September

11th, 2001.

Q. Fireman Byrne, would you please tell me

what happened on September 11th.

A. September 11th I arrived for work early

to do my probationary firefighter duties so I was

square with everything. When we got the call to

go, I was able to -- I had to beg the nozzle man

to let me take up on him, which I did. The call

came in around 8:46, so we responded immediately.

So I had the knob.

En route to the World Trade Center, it

was myself as the nozzle man, Marcel Claes was

the backup, Dan Sterling was the doorman, and


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R. BYRNE 3

Rich Billy had control, Lieutenant Hanson was my

officer and John Ottrando was our chauffeur.

While going to the Trade Center, I'm

really doing my size-up and saying, oh, my God,

there's like ten floors missing. Everything is

blowing out fire. I remember looking how high it

is and saying, oh, my God, how are we going to

get up there with all of our equipment.

We parked on, I'm pretty sure it was

the West Side Highway by Vesey. I'm almost sure

it was over in that area. I remember John parked

the rig. We headed to the north tower at that

time.

When we were going there, I remember

seeing debris and whatnot falling. When we got

to the staging area inside the lobby, I remember

seeing other companies. I remember vividly

seeing it looked like the core elevators of the

building were blown apart as if a giant had

punched through tinfoil.

I remember seeing some bodies. I

remember looking out into the courtyard and

seeing some mutilated bodies. Debris was

everywhere. I remember we were just waiting for


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R. BYRNE 4

our assignment.

From there we headed up, I believe it

was behind Ladder 20, and we headed up to the

staircase A. We got as far as, I'd say, the 13th

floor initially. We had to take our first blow

because we were carrying a lot of equipment.

There were civilians jamming the

staircase. There was water flowing down the

staircase; I remember that. People saying,

"Thank you, guys." I remember another unit

behind us. I don't remember what company they

were with. One of the senior guys was saying

basically, "You're almost there, folks. You're

almost there." Then I started joking around with

the people. I said, "Yeah, all this for 32

grand." People thought it was funny. That was

my way of trying to make them feel better, tell

them a joke.

On the 13th floor we took a break. I

remember hearing radio calls then, by other

units, some maydays, members down with chest

pains. I don't know what floors they were on.

I kept going up. I remember seeing

people coming down in the stairs. We had to make


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R. BYRNE 5

way for a couple of people that had their skin

hanging off their bodies, basically. They were

pretty burnt up.

I don't remember what floor it was, but

we were with a woman who had an asthma attack and

a man was helping her down. We were trying to

help her. We didn't have too much CFR stuff with

us, but some EMT I guess it was -- popped out of

nowhere. He had an oxygen tank with no proper

rebreather mask, but he was able to give her a

Documents

September 11th Witness Censorship