By Kevin Shea
From the December 1993 issue of Fire Engineering
Rescue 1 responded to the World Trade Center on February 26 on the initial alarm. When we arrived, the incident already had grown to a second alarm. We were waved over to the Vista Hotel lobby by hotel employees, who reported that people were trapped. We proceeded by stairway from the concourse to the B-1 level to search. We encountered offices whose ceilings had come down and lockers that had been overturned. We thought initially that we were dealing with a transformer explosion and fire.
As I was about to search around the lockers, my officer, Lt. Jack McAllister called for help — he had found a live victim. The lieutenant was in a small, tight, cage-like area that contained air cylinders; he was perched on top of some of the overturned bottles. He told our company to look for another way to approach his location.
I went around a cubicle wall and opened a door. It was black and smoky inside. I yelled and the same victim responded. I knew this was an alternate way to reach him. With my partner, Gary Geidel, I went down what I thought was a long hallway — the door was a normal size, not unusually wide, and the floor didn’t change surfaces (for example, from carpeting to tile or from tile to concrete) to indicate I had left the hallway. Then the floor angled up, and I felt broken concrete underfoot. Small chunks of concrete fell from the ceiling. I saw an orange glow ahead and felt the heat.
I thought we had a fire on the floor and might need a handline, so I turned to tell my partner. Suddenly the floor underneath me, gave way, and I fell into the crater.
IN THE CRATER
I fell 45 feet straight down, from the B-1 level onto rubble piled on the B-5 level. When I fell, I grabbed onto reinforcing bars sticking out of concrete, but I couldn’t hold on. I hit debris on the bottom at a 45-degree angle, feet first, then fell on my back. My leather helmet saved my life: My face smashed into the concrete when I fell. I was conscious the entire time.
I landed a few feet away from fire — cars were on fire, but they were so mangled they were completely unrecognizable. My shoulder was slightly burned from being so close to the fire. I didn’t realize how far I had fallen or how big the crater was.
I saw bright lights of fire all around me. I also heard explosions that were so loud I could feel them in my chest. I still thought a transformer was involved.
I tried to sit up but couldn’t. I felt numb and thought I was impaled on something. I checked my body and determined I was not impaled, but I thought both of my legs were broken. The bone in my left knee was protruding through my boots Although my radio was banged up, it still worked. I radioed for help, because I didn’t know if my partner had fallen through the floor with me. I also didn’t know my location.
I immediately activated my PASS device, but I couldn’t hear the radio with it on and it echoed in the crater. My rescuers couldn’t hear where my alarm was coming from anyway, as it had to compete with numerous activated car alarms.
At the time of my fall, I had had two handlights — the one I was carrying was lost when I fell, but I had another one strapped to my wrist. I put that one down so I could see what I was doing. I was trying to unmask, because the bracket on my air pack was hung up on some debris.
Then a piece of concrete fell down on the handlight, smashing it. I was able to work myself free of the mask anyway. At this time, the smoke was rising, so I was able to breathe. I decided to abandon my tangled air pack. I was able to see horizontally and vertically only about six or seven feet up. I then had to move away from the fire, so I took my PASS device off my air pack and began to crawl. Debris was still falling and I still heard popping noises from the explosions. I was 10 to 15 feet away from water. I crawled over to it to protect myself from the fire, especially in case I lost consciousness.
The radio communication was sporadic. They apparently could hear my transmissions but I couldn’t hear them, so I did a lot of yelling to communicate. At one point I was worried that I might drown from the water pouring in. I thought it was coming from handlines being used to extinguish fires, so I yelled for them to be shut down. However, the water was coming from broken piping.
I knew they could hear me: Streams were crisscrossing from different floors to hit the fire around me and protect me, and I verbally directed them to hit the fires. These engine operations really helped save my life.
Then I heard a call for help. I apparently fell past the first victim (that my lieutenant had originally found); this was the voice of another victim. I tried to crawl to him, but my protruding bone got caught on some debris. I crawled and slid over some big panels with metallic finish that once had been a part of the hotel’s refrigeration area. (This second victim was located at the same time I was, and he was taken out before I was.)
My horizontal visibility was 15 to 20 feet; vertical visibility was still only six feet. I heard loud banging as things fell around me.
I was down in the hole for approximately a half hour. Lt. John Fox of Squad 1 was lowered by rope in the same spot where I fell. Other rescuers held the rope as he descended. Fox couldn’t see me at first, so I yelled directions to him. A second rescuer, Jack Tighe, crawled to my location. Then fire and police personnel converged on my location from different directions. They put me in a stokes basket and carried me out in the following manner: We crossed over the rubble on an entire level, then they hoisted me up a ladder to the next level, then we went across the rubble of that level, then up another ladder to another level, and so on. The crater was configured differently in different areas. Where I fell was a shear drop; not so in other parts.
I was taken to the hospital. It was in the emergency room that I was first told of a bombing.
My injuries included a broken left kneecap, a broken right ankle, a broken nose, a broken bone in my forehead (which would have caused my death if it weren’t for the helmet I was wearing), and many muscle tears and pulls. I have had two operations and might require additional surgery. I currently undergo daily physical therapy.
Kevin Shea is a nine-year veteran of the City of New York (NY) Fire Department and a firefighter with Rescue Company No. 1 in Manhattan.
