William Jimeno: Christopher Amoroso, someone that we had worked with and really liked—good, good cop—said, “Sarge, can I hook up with you guys?” Sarge said, “Yeah, Chris, you can.” Christopher had an injury over his left eye, and we asked him what happened. “Something hit my eye, probably a piece of concrete. We’ve got to keep working.” Sergeant McLoughlin had asked another officer, Anthony Rodrigues, to meet us up at Tower Two. Unfortunately for Anthony, one of the victims that fell from the building hit too close to him—he had human remains on his body. He said, “Sarge, I can’t work in this.” Sarge told him, “Go change your uniform and meet us up by Tower Two.” At that point, we became five.
* * *
Inside both towers—each now fatally stricken, their seemingly impregnable structures burning, melting, and weakening under temperatures that reached 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit—thousands of evacuating office workers rushed to exit their building, even as firefighters and police officers worked their way inside to provide aid.
Richard Eichen, consultant, Pass Consulting Group, North Tower, 90th floor: I got to a neighboring office and met Charlie Egan—their systems administrator—and he was annoyed because the explosion knocked off his servers. He was going to stay until midnight, bringing his servers all back up. I remember going with Charlie into the server room and saying, “Look, if it means anything I’ll stay with you, and together we’ll get these things back up.” He was really annoyed. Then he said, “I better call the building.” He called down there and goes, “Hi this is so-and-so, Clearstream Banking.” I think he gave his name. “There are five of us here, we’re on the 90th floor.” The office building said, “Stay there, we know where you are.” Meanwhile, we’re looking out the window, and we can see large chunks of the building falling. Huge chunks of the building—the size of like trucks falling—and it’s like, Well, I really don’t think that’s a viable option.
Herb Ouida, World Trade Centers Association, North Tower, 77th floor, and father of Todd Ouida, Cantor Fitzgerald, North Tower, 105th floor: I thought my son Todd was on the stairs. Todd called his mother immediately when the plane hit. He said to her, “Mommy, don’t worry. You’re going to hear there was an explosion at the World Trade Center. I’m going to the stairs.” She said, “What about Daddy?” Todd said, “I just spoke to him. He’s all right.” Todd had not spoken to me. Here was a kid who had suffered as a child from anxiety disorder, panic attacks, and at the moment of greatest danger, he’s protecting his mother. He was 25 years old.
Judith Wein, senior vice president, Aon Corporation, South Tower, 103rd floor: I was literally walking over bodies. So many people died at that moment of impact—the way they landed maybe, they broke their necks or something. Some other guy came up—we later found out his name was Welles Crowther, and he had been a volunteer fireman upstate—and he asked where there was a fire extinguisher. I pointed to where it was, and he went to get it. He was running different places and trying to put out fires. He had a red bandana on his face. He was calm and commanding: “This is what we have to do. This is what needs to be done.” He directed people to the only open working staircase—the only one that went all the way down. He stayed up there and helped and didn’t make it out.
Bruno Dellinger, principal, Quint Amasis North America, North Tower, 47th floor: Suddenly I felt the urge to go, and I dropped everything and left.
Stanley Praimnath, Fuji Bank, South Tower, 81st floor: I crawled the entire length of the loans department, the lounge, the computer room, the communication room. That’s as far as I can go. I can’t go any further because one lousy sheetrock wall stood firm.
Brian Clark, executive vice president, EuroBrokers, South Tower: Our offices occupied the entire 84th floor. Everything was destroyed. I started down with this group of six people following me with my flashlight. We only went three floors, down to the 81st floor, [when] I was distracted by this banging noise. I heard, “Help, I’m buried. I can’t breathe.”
Stanley Praimnath: This man behind the wall was saying, “I can hear your voice! Bang on the wall, I’ll know where you are.” He said, “Climb over the sheetrock wall.” I said, “I can’t.” He said, “You’ve got to think of your family. If you want to live, you must do it.”
Brian Clark: Suddenly he said, “Can you see my hand?” He was waving his hand down by the floor. I shined my flashlight on it and followed it up the arm to see his two eyes through this hole in the wall. He scrambled up, I missed him the first time, but the second time he jumped I caught him and heaved him up and over the wall. We fell back down on the ground, him on top of me. He gave me this big kiss. And I said, “I’m Brian.” He said, “I’m Stanley.”
Stanley Praimnath: He said, “Come on, buddy, let’s go home.”
* * *
More than 1,100 people were trapped above the impact zones across both the North and South Towers. As conditions worsened and smoke and fire permeated the upper floors, they dialed 911, emergency services, and the Port Authority’s World Trade Center command post, hoping to speed rescuers to their aid, not realizing how dire their situation actually was. For 24 minutes, 32-year-old Melissa Doi—trapped on the 83rd floor of the South Tower—spoke to a 911 operator, waiting for a rescue that would never come.
Melissa Doi, financial manager, IQ Financials: It’s very hot, everywhere on the floor.
911 operator: Okay, I know you don’t see it and all, but I’m, I’m . . . [stumbles over words] I’m gonna, I’m documenting everything you say, okay? And it’s very hot, you see no fire, but you see smoke, right?
Melissa Doi: It’s very hot, I see . . . I don’t see, I don’t see any air anymore!
911 operator: Okay . . .
Melissa Doi: All I see is smoke.
911 operator: Okay, dear, I’m so sorry, hold on for a sec, stay calm with me, stay calm, listen, listen, the call is in, I’m documenting, hold on one second please . . .
Melissa Doi: I’m going to die, aren’t I?
911 operator: No, no, no, no, no, no, no, say your—ma’am, say your prayers.
Melissa Doi: I’m going to die.
911 operator: You gotta think positive, because you gotta help each other get off the floor.
Melissa Doi: I’m going to die.
911 operator: Now look, stay calm, stay calm, stay calm, stay calm.
Melissa Doi: Please God . . .
911 operator: You’re doing a good job ma’am, you’re doing a good job.
Melissa Doi: No, it’s so hot I’m burning up.
* * *
Christine Olender, assistant general manager of Windows on the World, in a phone call to the Port Authority Command Center: We’re getting no direction up here. We’re having a smoke condition. We have most people on the 106th floor—the 107th floor is way too smoky. We need direction as to where we need to direct our guests and our employees, as soon as possible.
Officer Steve Maggett, PAPD: Okay. We’re doing our best. We’ve got the fire department, everybody, we’re trying to get up to you, dear. All right, call back in about two or three minutes, and I’ll find out what direction you should try to get down. Are the stairways, A, B, and C all blocked off and smoky?
Christine Olender: The stairways are full of smoke—A, B, and C. And my . . . and my electric . . . my fire phones are out.
Officer Steve Maggett: Oh, yeah, they’re . . . all the lines are blown out right now. But everybody is on their way, the fire department . . .
Christine Olender: The condition up on 106 is getting worse.
Officer Steve Maggett: Okay, dear. All right, we are doing our best to get up to you right now. All right, dear?
Christine Olender: But where . . . where do you want to [inaudible] can you at least . . . can you at least direct us to a certain tower in the building. Like what tower . . . like what area . . . what quadrant of the building can we go into, where we are not going to get all this smoke?
Officer Steve Maggett: Unless we find out what exactly . . . area is
the smoke . . . where most . . . most of the smoke is coming up there, and we can kind of direct that. As I said, call back in about two minutes, dear.
Christine Olender: Call back in two minutes. Great.
* * *
Back inside the stairwells of the North and South Towers, civilians and rescuers mixed in single-file lines, each group tired and sweaty from the exertions behind and ahead. As one group descended to evacuate, the others continued to climb, determined to help anyone still trapped.
Richard Eichen, consultant, Pass Consulting Group, North Tower, 90th floor: The five of us went out. My coworker Lucy sat down and said, “I’m not going anywhere.” I said, “Lucy, we’re not leaving anybody behind. We’ve got to get out of here. We’re starting to burn.” I put her hands on my shoulders. She stood behind me, I put her hands on my shoulders, and held her hands so she wouldn’t let go. I said, “Come on.” I said, “I’m hurt. I need help. I don’t want to die by myself. I need help.” I did that to get her to go. Then together we went out. We actually caught stairwell A, which it turned out was the only viable staircase up there.
Lt. Mickey Kross, Engine 16, FDNY: We were ordered to the 23rd floor [in the North Tower] to report in to some other command post. We entered Stairway B, which was the core stairway in the building. As we were going up, the people in the building were coming down and, actually, it was very smooth.
Stephen Blihar, officer, Emergency Service Unit, Truck 10, NYPD: We made it to the ninth floor [of the North Tower], and I remember filling a coffee pot with water and grabbing some plastic cups for everybody, because by that time, we were hot and sweaty, and I knew we were going up at least another 70 floors.
David Norman, officer, Emergency Service Unit, Truck 1, NYPD: There were people waiting on floors on the way up. We were informing them, “You need to leave. You need to continue flowing down the staircase. Don’t obstruct the staircase flow. Continue to move.”
Capt. Jay Jonas, Ladder 6, FDNY: You had a row of firemen going up the stairs, and you had a row of civilians coming down the stairs.
Lt. Mickey Kross: We carry a lot of equipment. We carry 60, 70 pounds of equipment with us, on average. It’s a little slow going up the stairs, and it was hot that day. We stopped about every five floors and took a little breather.
Peter Bitwinski, assistant manager, Accounts Payable, Port Authority, North Tower, 69th floor: We encountered maybe 20 to 25 firemen. It’s one of the sadder memories I have of that day. They were walking up with full equipment, these big metal picks, and they were sweating like crazy.
Cathy Pavelec, administrator, Port Authority, North Tower, 67th floor: As they walked past us—both of my brothers are firemen in New Jersey—I was very careful to say “Hello, thank you, God bless you” to every single one of them. They were huffing and puffing, and these were big strong guys.
Herb Ouida, World Trade Centers Association, North Tower, 77th floor, and father of Todd Ouida, Cantor Fitzgerald, North Tower, 105th floor: The stairways were much better lit this time than in the ’93 bombing, and unlike ’93, there was no smoke coming up because the explosion was above us. New Yorkers were very brave that day—people helped each other. We were saying “Déjà vu.” We were trying to encourage each other and say, “Oh we’ve been through this before.” We didn’t realize this was different. None of us realized the building was going to collapse.
David Norman: When we got to floor 31, we found probably about a half dozen or more firefighters, one or two civilians on that floor dealing with chest pains, exhaustion, and stuff like that. We looked at each other and said, “We already have a triage set up here for us. This was our mission. Why don’t we stay here?”
Sharon Miller, officer, PAPD: We stopped on the 27th floor. That’s when I said to my supervisor, PAPD Captain Kathy Mazza, “Hey, Kat, I really love my job but this is getting bad.” I said, “I’m really not ready to die yet.” She goes, “Oh, don’t worry about it. We’ll be fine.” I said, “Well, how about a hug?” And we hugged! Then she goes, “All right, that’s enough of that!”
Judith Wein, senior vice president, Aon Corporation, South Tower, 103rd floor: I walked down with another man. He actually had a severed arm, which we didn’t know about because he was wearing a suit. It kept his arm in. He was holding onto the lower part of his arm, but I didn’t think anything of that.
Bruno Dellinger, principal, Quint Amasis North America, North Tower, 47th floor: The heat was quite intense in the stairwell. There were some people who took their shirts off. The intensity of the warning signs—the fire alarms were in full force—like stroboscopic lamps and the fire alarm’s sound was pounding you all the time.
Judith Wein: We’re walking down the stairs, and around [floor] 40, some rescue workers came in, and they said we should sit and rest. The two others went to sit on the stairs, and I went to sit down. I had my tush sticking out, getting ready to sit, and something inside me said, Don’t sit. It almost felt like somebody had an arm or a hand on my back, pushing me up. It was a weird feeling, just Don’t sit. I said, “Look. If you guys are tired, you sit, but I can’t sit.” Because I didn’t sit, they got up and we walked. The rescue workers walked us through somebody’s office to an internal elevator which was working, and so we went from about 40 down to the lobby. I was told, later, that we were the last group of people to go down in that elevator.
Elia Zedeño, financial analyst, Port Authority, North Tower, 73rd floor: Most of my journey down the stairs was in this complete state of non-emotion. I saw people injured, but I had no reaction. I remember moving to the side and letting them walk in front of us. I remember a woman who was screaming and screaming and screaming. I couldn’t really completely understand what she was saying, but there was a man helping her, and he had blood on his forehead, and all he kept saying to her was “We were the lucky ones, we were the lucky ones.” He kept repeating that. I was thinking, What in the world did this woman see?
Peter Bitwinski, assistant manager, Accounts Payable, Port Authority, North Tower, 69th floor: We started to make our way down the staircase with John Abruzzo in the evacuchair. We had to get a routine going, so we decided two people on the bottom would hold the evacuchair, with two people at the top. We had eight people who were actively taking him down, four people at a time.
John Abruzzo, staff accountant, Port Authority, North Tower, 69th floor: We wanted to make time, but they were not absolutely sure how the chair worked or how it would handle. I don’t think the manufacturer even thought about the chair going down 69 flights.
Peter Bitwinski: We kept switching our team. The two guys holding the handles on top of the evacuchair would move to the bottom of the evacuchair after five flights. Then after you were on the bottom, you would move off the chair, and two other guys would take your place. You’d be free of chair duty for five or 10 floors.
John Abruzzo: The firemen cheered us on, encouraging us. “Keep on going,” they said. “You’re doing a good job, keep going.”
Marcel Claes, firefighter, Engine 24, FDNY: I just kept climbing. I knew it was going to be a hard day, but I kept thinking about putting water on the fire.
Bruno Dellinger: While I was walking down, they were going up to their deaths. And I was walking down to live. I will never forget this.
Lila Speciner, paralegal, Port Authority, North Tower, 88th floor: That will stay with me forever. They were going where we were running from.
Despite the fact that an incident had occurred within the buildings, not many companies formally evacuated their staff; many of the early evacuees had made the decision on their own to leave. In the South Tower, however, Morgan Stanley’s efforts likely saved scores or even hundreds of lives. The company, which occupied floors 59 to 74, as well as a few other, scattered lower floors, had invested heavily in evacuation equipment and training following the 1993 bombing, and its vice president of security, a former British paratrooper–turned–Vietnam veteran named Rick Rescorla, ignored the Port Authority’s ini
tial announcement that those in the South Tower could remain at their desks. Instead, the retired colonel immediately began working to ensure everyone escaped.
Rick Rescorla, vice president of security, Morgan Stanley, in a phone call to his best friend, Dan Hill: The dumb sons of bitches told me not to evacuate. They said it’s just Building One. I told them I’m getting my people the fuck out of here.
Jeannine Ali, controller, Morgan Stanley, South Tower, 45th floor: On September 11th, our Security Department were the ones that got all of the Morgan Stanley employees out of the offices. With bullhorns, our security was saying, “Evacuate the building now.” I remember them saying, specifically, “You have to evacuate the building now.”
Robert Small, office manager, Morgan Stanley, South Tower, 72nd floor: As we’re going down, we get down to the 40s and we run into Rick Rescorla—I knew him through the fire safety training. He was always a jovial Scottish guy—always fun, had the brogue. He wasn’t fun that day. I tried to be humorous passing him, saying, “Hey, I’m the last man off 72. You don’t have to go check it. Everyone’s gone.” He goes, “Just get out. Just go. Just get out.” His tone was dead-on serious. I’d never seen him that serious before.
Barbara Fiorillo, manager, Mercer Consulting, South Tower, 54th floor: We heard voices of people directing the flow of traffic—there were very strong male voices: “Speed up, slow down, speed up, slow down.” It turns out that we were in the same elevator bank as Morgan Stanley, and they had worked at the tower in the first bombing. They had enormous training and experience. The voice directing the traffic was such a calming effect.
Robert Small: We came across a man, a big man—I hate to use the word “fat,” but he was. He was huge, and he was struggling on the stairs and he was holding on to the banister with both hands. I offered him some water. He said, “I can’t take your bottle of water.” I dropped my bag, opened it up, and he saw that I had dozens of bottles. He took a couple. We sat there with him and were talking. He didn’t say who he was or what floor he had started on. He didn’t have it in him. I said, “When you’re ready we’ll go together, and James and I will get you down.” He said, “No, no, no, do me a favor. If you see anybody—rescue or firemen—let them know where I am.” I felt bad leaving him. We left him three, four bottles of water, and we said good-bye.
The Only Plane in the Sky Page 13