On Tuesday, September 11, we were dispatched by our chief to the scene to see what assistance we could offer. There were 13 of us. We drove across the George Washington Bridge in a marked fire car, wearing bunker gear. We were stopped at the bridge by Port Authority Police, who were conducting a bomb sweep at the bridge. When that was concluded, we were allowed to cross. We followed a NJ Task Force 1 truck in to Reade between Greenwich and Hudson, approximately 4 blocks north of site. That was as far as we could go in our vehicles.
When we first drove in, it was daylight. As soon as we turned the corner and parked the car, it was night. There was no light, just generators to light the fireground. We saw vehicles twisted and thrown all over the place-police and fire vehicles and ambulances. The piles of steel and bricks in the street were as high as 20 to 30 feet. Only emergency workers were on the streets. The city looked like it had a foot of snow on the ground, there was so much dust.
We were fully geared up with lights and equipment @ 6 pm. We walked up to the site at Vesey and West Streets, looked for the staging or command post. We ended up at Liberty and West Streets. As we stood in the rubble, we were told by a dog handler that his dog had indicated in the pile. We began digging in that spot with West Orange (NJ) Fire Department personnel. We uncovered an overturned but unoccupied engine company vehicle. We continued to work for an hour and then went to rehab.
In rehab area, we saw guys from Philly, Bayonne, Jersey City. Everyone was covered in ash. You couldn’t tell company numbers from helmets.
We returned to the work area and saw FDNY members digging for a body. The FDNY members were on automatic-there was no talking, no camaraderie-just a concerted effort focused on the rescue efforts, just digging.
We offered assistance and were assigned by an FDNY division chief to work with 59 Truck on another pile after members found a radio mask and an officer’s tool. Our efforts proved futile. We worked an hour until we were exhausted (it was now 2 am) and advised the FDNY crew we were going to rehab. We left the scene after rehab.
The safety aspect was a big concern-you could hear steel and buildings creaking; and there was no good footing anywhere. Every time you turned around, someone was yelling to put a helmet on.
We saw a few chiefs asking people to leave so they could bring in fresh crews, but crews just didn’t want to leave the scene.
I’ve been a firefighter for 23 years. We had a plane crash in my previous department. A corporate jet crashed into three or four buildings). It doesn’t even compare to this. I’ve taken terrorism training, and nothing prepares you for this.
