WTC Task Force Interviews/Oral Histories.

I'm going through my hard drive sorting out things and found these I worked on years ago for another site. Many people are probably familiar with the interviews conducted with members of the FDNY and EMS after 9/11. There are about 500 interviews, I've read them all and tried to categorize the interesting interviews.

There is a ton of great, interesting information in the interviews and I encourage everyone regardless of your views of 9/11 to read them. They really do help paint a great picture of the scenario on the ground and the chaos and bravery that were a part of that day.

There are 5 different sections or so, so please allow me to get them all posted before posting replies. Thanks.

This first section is people who either heard explosions, or what they percieved to be explosions.

Fire Patrolman Paul Curran

graphics8.nytimes.com...

...We proceeded down to Vesey. Walking down Vesey, we noticed large pieces of what looked like possibly the fuselage from the plane.. There was a caravan of motorcycle police coming up. We stopped them and we cleared the path of big O rings and pieces of fueslage of the plane....

...With that, all a sudden the tower went completely -- a horrendous noise, a very, very, tremendous explosion...

...With that, the building was shaking. It got very dark, we had our lights on. It got very, very thick with dust...

...Our radio communications at the time was like non-existant. The radios went completely haywire. It was all static. You couldn't hear nothing...

...Q. Everybody tells me all these vehicles were on fire. What do you attribute all these vehicles being on fire to?

A. I believe it must have been from the debris falling and the heat or just stuff falling on cars and setting them on fire. There were numerous cars burning, numerous...

Firefighter James Murphy

www.graphics8.nytimes.com...

...Then we saw the second one come up. It looked like it was coming up the East River from here. I guess it was coming from the south. I thought it banked over the East River, which is what it looked like. I thought it made a left over the East River and went right into it going from east to west. But as it turns out, it came from the south. Then we saw it just go right into the building and explode...

...We shot down Tenth, down Park Avenue. We rode on The dividers because traffic -- we rode in between the highway where they parked the cars, we rode up there, over those until we got basically to where the Gowanus -- basically to around 207, 101. We made the turn to go over the Manhattan Bridge by accident. We figured out it was an accident. We backed out and went over to the Brooklyn Bridge..

...That's when 30 seconds after the lieutenant left you could hear the noise. I was looking down towardss West Street, because that's where it seemed like it was coming from. You just heard -- I thought it was a third plane that hit, because when we were going in there was a couple of cops. When we made the right onto Liberty, they said, "Be careful, guys, there's a third plane heading in." So thats what I thought it was. It just seemed like a long time that it was -- it didn't seem like an explosion. It was like boom, boom, and then just got louder and louder...

Firefigher Fernando Camacho

graphics8.nytimes.com...

...As we came in through the revolving doors, the lights went out. A second or two later everything started to shake. You could hear explosions...

...Five minutes later the north tower started to lean.

Q. You saw it leaning?

A. Yeah...

Firefighter Joseph Rae

graphics8.nytimes.com...

...We started walking north to just about the second footbridge, which would be 6 World Trade, and all of a sudden we heard the explosion and the building started to come down...

Firefighter Craig Carlsen

graphics8.nytimes.com...

...I guess about three minutes later you just heard explosions coming from building two, the south tower. It seemed like it took forever, but there were about ten explosions. At the time I didn't realize what it was. We realized later after talking and finding out that it was the floors collapsing to where the plane had hit...

Firefighter Edward Kennedy

graphics8.nytimes.com...

...We took two steps, there was a tremendous boom, explosion, we both turned around, and the top of the building was coming down at us.

...We were on Liberty Street and we came out into there and it just look like something that -- it looked like a bomb, of course, had gone off, almost like a nuclear bomb...

...I remember him screaming about 7, No. 7, that they wanted everybody away from 7 because 7 was definitely going to collapse, they don't know when, but it's definitely going to come down, just get the hell out of the way, everybody get away from it, make sure you're away from it, that's an order, you know, stuff like that...

Firefighter Thomas Turilli

graphics8.nytimes.com...

...they want us to go to the south tower, which is I guess the first actual tower to fall down. He said there was a report of fire actually on -- the lowest report of fire they had was on the 33rd floor at that point...

...The door closed, they went up, and it just seemed a couple seconds and all of a sudden you just heard like it almost actually that day sounded like bombs going off, like boom, boom, boom, like seven or eight...

Firefighter Stephen Viola

graphics8.nytimes.com...

...that's when the south tower collapsed, and it sounded like a bunch of explosions. You heard like loud booms, but I guess it was all just stuff coming down...

Firefighter Gerard Reilly

graphics8.nytimes.com...

...So we were in the building maybe a minute in the lobby of the tower, whichever one we were in, and that's when it came down. But I thought it was an explosion in the hotel, because all the debris came down, it was pitch-black, the whole building shook...

...I told him I thought it was a bomb in the hotel, because nobody said the building collapsed...

SECTION 1 CONTINUED

Firefighter Richard Carletti

graphics8.nytimes.com...

...I was coming up Allen, which turns into First. When I was crossing Delancey Street, I saw a jet in front of me, which was the first jet. He was pretty low. He was probably about 30 stories. Now I'm heading north and crossing Delancey Streey on Allen and I see the jet make a move toward the Trade Center. It made a southwesterly turn from that point.

...We got to about about 2nd Street and Second Avenue and we saw Ladder 7 was on a gas leak. We asked them if they were going to the Trade Center. They said no, they weren't assigned yet...

...As we passed that, we came into the debris field. It was jet parts and body parts. I distinctly remember seeing a woman's hand. It was cut off at the wrist. She had wedding ring, so it had to be a left hand, and then I looked to the left and I just saw the rib cage with nothing in it and there was just debris...

...When the north tower collapsed, I remember seeing the anenna do a little rock back and forth and I could just hear the floors pancaking. I heard if for 30 pancakes, just boom, boom, boom, boom and the dust blew up to us...

Firefighter Kevin Gorman

graphics8.nytimes.com...

...We were between the wo towers. At that time, I would say we heard an urgent messge from OEM, it said, where OEM informs us that there is a third plane en route...

...there was a cop I knew who came by and gave me a drink of water, and then as he was standing there, he said, "Aviation just reported that the north tower is leaning." I said, "Which was is it leaning?" He said, "This way."..

...and as I was looking at him I heard the explosion, looke up, and saw like three floors explode, saw the antennat coming down, and turned around and ran north.

Q. About how long would you say it was from when the police officer told you it was leaning?

A. Within 30 seconds...

you had the second collapse. What happened at this point? You got engulfed in the smoke again?

A. In the ash...

Firefighter John Wilson

graphics8.nytimes.com...

...It was just like a crescendo sound like boom, boom, boom, and it just got louder and faster for like -- what did it las, ten seconds or something like that...

Firefighter John Malley

graphics8.nytimes.com...

...As we're halfway across the street, we hear on the radio about an urgent message or a mayday message about a third plane en route...

...As we walked through those revolving doors, that's when we felt the rumble. I felt the rumbling, and then I felt the force coming at me. I was like, what the hell is that? In my mind it was a bomb going off. The pressure got so great, I stepped back behind the columns separating the revolving doors. Then the force jus blew past me. It blew past me it seemed for a long time. In my mind I was saying what the hell is this and when is it going to stop? Then it finally stopped, that pressure which I thought was a concussion of an explosion. It turns out it what the down pressure wind of the floors collapsing on top of each other. At that point everything went black, and then the collapse came. It just rained on top of us. Everything came. It rained debris forever...

...There were secondary explosiongs, I don't know, aerosol cans or whatever. But we're in the darkness we see basically the glow of a flashlight and still things coming down. The noise, the explosions, whatever it was. I don't know, we just realized we had to ge the heck out of there...

...At that point I didn't know the building came down. I thought I was still in the explosion...

Firefighter Christopher Fenyo

graphics8.nytimes.com...

...After a couple of minutes after George came back to me is when the south tower from our perspective exploded from about midway up the building...

...At that point a debate began to rage because the perception was that the building looked like it had been taken out with charges. We had really no concept of the damage on the east side of 2 World Trade Center at that point, and at that point many people had felt that possibly explosives had taken out 2 World Trade...

Firefighter Kenneth Rogers

graphics8.nytimes.com...

...Meanwhile we were standing there with about five companies and we were just waiting for our assignmentand then there was an explosion in the south tower, which according to this map, this exposure jut blew out in flames. A lot of guys left at that point. I kept watching. Floor after floor after floor. One floor under another after another and wen it hit about the fifth floor, I figured it was a bomb, because it looked like a synchronized deliberate kind of thing. I was there in '93.

SECTION 1 CONTINUED

Firefighter Kenneth Rogers

graphics8.nytimes.com...

...Meanwhile we were standing there with about five companies and we were just waiting for our assignmentand then there was an explosion in the south tower, which according to this map, this exposure jut blew out in flames. A lot of guys left at that point. I kept watching. Floor after floor after floor. One floor under another after another and wen it hit about the fifth floor, I figured it was a bomb, because it looked like a synchronized deliberate kind of thing. I was there in '93.

Firefighter William Reynolds

graphics8.nytimes.com...

...I was distracted by a large explosion from the south tower and it seemed like fire was shooting out a couple of hundred feet in each direction, then all of a sudden the top of the tower started coming down in a pancake. I remember my jaw dropping...

...Q. Bill, just one question. The fire that you saw, where was the fire? Like up at the upper levels where it started collapsing?

A. It appeared somewhere below that. Maybe twenty floors below the impact area of the plane. I saw it as fire and when I looked at it on television afterwards, it doesn't appear to show the fire. It shows a rush of smoke coming out below the area of the plane impact. The reason why I think the cameras didn't get that image is because they were a far distance away and maybe I saw the bottom side where the plane was and the smoke was up above it...

...What I had forgotten to state previous to this, before the towers had fallen, two emergency service cops had come up to us in wired gear, carrying uzis and asked if we had seen any civilians. They said, "If you see any, come get us. Don't go near the civilians." At that time there were no civilians around, in my eye shot...

...I remember seeing a civilian, the first civilian that I saw, he was carrying a bag and I thought, you have to watch out for the civilians and I was thinking, maybe I should take his bag and throuw it in the water, because I didn't know what it was. Then I thought maybe of throwing him in the water. Then I said, "No. He's walking south. I'll work north and get away from him." I remember discussing with other guys that maybe there is people around that would shoot us. Then we went over closer to the water and there was a barge there. I remember thinking, this might be an oil barge and there might be a bomb on it...

...I said, "Chief, they're evacuating the other building; right?" He said, "No>"

Q. You're talking about the north tower now; right?

A. Before the north tower fell. He said, "No." I said, "Why not? They blew up the other one." I thought they blew it up with a bomb. I said, "If they blew up the one, you know they're gonna blow up the other one." He said. " No, they're not." I said, "Well, you gotta tell them to evacuate it, because it's gonna fall down and you gotta get the guy out."...

Firefighter Thomas Spinard

graphics8.nytimes.com...

...As we were at the box, a plane passes us overhead real low. You could hear it; you could feel it. We turned around, and it just impacted the builiding, building one...

...When I made the right, there was debris, windows, metal and I guess plane debris right on the floor there betwwn seven and I guess that would be six...

...We also had 2 civilians blown out to the middle of West Street on the divider there. It's about two feet high with dirt and grass they were sitting up there. I don't think they walked up there, They were just blown up there. They were all women. They were naked. They were burnt up. They were alive, but they were -- maybe they made it; I don't know...

...I had my control man, who went into the building, his cyliner malfunctioned, emptied right out in two seconds. So I went to high-pressure hose. He came back out. He went to get another one, but at that point they had taken the chauffeur's one off the rig already, somebody. So now he couldn't even go back in because he had no cylinders, no nothing. I said, "Joe, just stay with me." That's what we did. I needed help anyway out there, so he stayed out with me. He watched my back while I hooked up, actually...

...While we were still in the middle of the street, another plane comes in, makes a big circle, comes around from like the Statue of Liberty direction, and hits two...

...I don't know what time later a loud rumble -- it sounded like an explosion. We thought it was a bomb...

...Heavy debris is hitting the front of the column, light debris is make it around, dust and little particles, and then the dust cloud hits us. Then it got real hot. It felt like it was going to light up almost...

Firefighter Roy Chelsen

graphics8.nytimes.com...

...We were actually sitting in the kitchen, the lieutenant and I , and we actually heard the first explosion. We both looked at each other and we were like, "Oh, what was that?"...

...All of a sudden we heard this huge explosion, and that's when the tower started coming down...

Firefighter Kirk Long

graphics8.nytimes.com...

...We made it up to the 22nd floor. We stood there for a couple minutes. I believe Andy Desperito talked to the battalion through the fire warden phones. We did locate somebody at the end of the hall, but everything was blown out. The ceiling had fallen. The drop ceiling had blown to the floor. Some of the walls were blown out...

SECTION 1 CONTINUED

Chief Frank Cruthers

graphics8.nytimes.com...

...the south tower, 2 World Trade Center, there was what appeared to be at first an explosion. It appeared at the very top, simultaneously from all four sides, materials shot out horizontally. And then there seemed to be a momentary delay before you could see the beginning of the collapse...

...Early on, there was concern that 7 World Trade Center might have been both impacted by the collapsing tower and had several fires in it and there was a concern that it might collapse. So we instructed that a collapse area --

Q. A collapse zone?

A. Yeah -- be set up and maintained so that when the expected collapse of 7 happened, we wouldn't have people working in it. There was considerable discussion with Con Ed regarding the substation in that building and the feeders and the oil coolants and so on. And their concern was of the type of fire we might have when it collapsed. They shut down the power, and when it did collapse, the things that they were concerned with would have been....

EMT Orlando Martinez

graphics8.nytimes.com...

...Early morning, about 8:40, I was parked down at Church and Barclay, regular normal routine, getting our breakfast. While inside the deli a few minutes later, there was a large explosion. We went outside, the building shook we were in, looked up and saw the top half of the World Trade Center on fire...

...Once we started taking off, I guess 30 feet in front of us, there was a lady on the ground by the curb and she was just waving her arms. That's all she could wave. Her legs were crushed. Apparently she got hit by part of the landing gear, one of the tires of the airplane. There was a large tire next to her. The person who was next to her, I guess worked with her, said something hit her. It may have been the landing gear. It was a large piece of metal that was so sharp it slit her whole back open, buttocks. Her legs were exposed, bones. I told Frank, jump out of the back of the bus, get the stretcher. So we too the second degree burn patient out of the stretcher, threw him on the bench. We placed him on the bench. We took the stretcher out, took the long board.

Q. In your words.

A. Yes. We boarded her as fast as we could. There was nowhere to grab her, She was too slippery, so I just grabbed the hip bone. That was exposed...

Chief Mark Steffens

graphics8.nytimes.com...

...We got to maybe one block north of where the Battery Tunnel exits onto West Street there, and then, boom, a massive explosion. fight in front of us we saw what looked like a fireball and smoke. It was rolling this way...

...Then there was another it sounded like an explosion and heavy white powder, papers, flying everywhere...

...Q. So it was clear while you were going up West Street?
A. Yes. That's when we heard this massive explosion and I saw this thing rolling towards us. It looked like a fireball and then thick, thick black smoke...

...My thought was I've got to go there. My guys are there. Then boom and the cloud. I didn't want to stay in the vehicle...

Paramedic Gary Smiley

graphics8.nytimes.com...

...As I was coming across the street, across Church Street, is when the second plane hit the south tower, at that point we ran across the street going towards St.Pauls and there was a fire engine on the corner of Vesey. We hid behind the fire engine and we got hit with a lot of debris.
It took I don't know how long for that to stop. I know it was hot because we all were -- I remember Danny looking at me and saying you are like red as a beet, because we probably got flash burns from the fireball...

...The parked cars that been parked there were all on fire and which wasn't on fire was exploding. We didn't know at that point. I know that one of the police officers said that he thought that they were bombs and maybe they rigged them to blow up. Just secondary explosions. We didn't know what to do...

...Stayed in there for about 20 minutes. The explosions outside were too much, so we decided to get out of there and we ended up coming out of there and we ended up on North End Avenue...

SECTION 1 CONTINUED

Lieutenant Brian Becker

graphics8.nytimes.com...

...Team up
with Engine 4 and start your way up," and I remember specifically asking him how are we going up, and I remember thinking that it was a stupid question, because I knew the elevators were blown out, but I just asked it anyway, just in case he knew something I didn' t know, and he said , "You're walking." I have an impression of smoke around the elevators , and bent doors, and it was pretty -- the lobby was pretty devastated...

...I ' d say we were in the 30th or 31st, 32nd Floor, or something like that , and a few of the guys were lying wiped out on the floor , you know, taking a break with their masks off and lying in the hallway when there was a very loud roaring sound and a very loud explosion, and the -- it felt like there was an explosion above us, and I had a momentary concern that our building was collapsing...

...We got to the lobby, and we saw things. We saw an arrest being made of some Arab-looking type guy. I think he had a blue uniform type World Trade Center type maintenance type person. It was my impression. It didn't seem important to me. It seemed like he was being arrested by a Port Authority type policeman. That's my impression. I remember them putting cuffs on him, and I remember one of the firemen saying, "Look, they're arresting the guy," and I said, "Never mind that. Never mind that."...

...So we just ran as a unit to the overpass again, and we took a look up, and it was like one -- it was like, holy #. It was like -- because it was like -- I guess the building was kind of -- I don't remember specifically, but I remember it was, like, we got to get out of here. So I think that the building was really kind of starting to melt. We were -- like, the melt down was beginning. The collapse hadn't begun, but it was not a fire any more up there. It was like -- it was like that -- like smoke explosion on a tremendous scale going on up there.
...

...Q. What did you hear when the building starting collapsing the second time? Did you feel -- just started coming down? You didn't hear anything, feel anything?
A. We felt -- our whole building that we were in, when World Trade Center 2 collapsed, that was the first one to collapse. We were in World Trade Center 1. It was a tremendous explosion and tremendous shaking of our building. We thought it was our building maybe collapsed, there was a collapse above us occurring...

This section mainly focuses on the interviews with people who saw plane debris about the World Trade Center site. As well as the other events they were witness to.

Dr. Michael Guttenberg
graphics8.nytimes.com...

...The other thing that was actually evident, though, is what appeared to be some plane parts, like some circular piecies of a plane, and lots of shoes. I don't know if that was women jumping out of their -- jumping out of their heels to run, but there were -- just impressed me there were no -- you know, there were no injuries on the strett at that poing, but there was lots of shoes all over tha place and plane parts...

...myself and Dr. Asaeda proceeded to the loading dock of World Trade Center No. 7, which would be pre-
Q. No. 7 is on -- this is No. 7, here, I believe. Where is the loading dock?
A. It was on the Vesey street side. On the Vesey Street side, and we were in the process of setting up. Not anticipating the buildings were going to come down in such a fashion, we procedded to set up a triage treatment area in the loading dock. Myself, Dr. Aseada -- there was one or two EMS bosses there. I don't recall who they were, and lots of personnel. Most of the EMS personnel that were there were actually from the voluntary hospitals, some Lenox Hill paramedics there, and from some other voluntary hospitals, and there were some FBI agents there, as well, some people from the Office of Emergency Management, who were actually upstairs and supposedly brought some supplies down to us...

...The part that was really bizarre is actually -- what seemed bizarre is there wsa the second explosion, you know, the second plane explosion, and then it was -- at least on the EMS radio, there was absolute silence for probably 10 or 15 seconds, you know, which to me, it seemed like 10 or 15 seconds, but it was absolute radio silence for a few seconds. I don't know if everybody was just sort of -
Q. We were told that the air was so thick with debris that the radio waves weren't able to travel.
A. That was after the towers came down...

Firefighter Michael Wernick

graphics8.nytimes.com...

...Well, actually when it came in Engine 33 went first. They were like 9, 10 minutes ahead of us and then what typically happens in the city is when something comes in they wait for 9:00 o'clock. You know, the dispatchers, because it all has to do with money and overtime. So at 9:00 o'clock the alarm went in for us...

...So, you know, this cemetary, there was papers flying all over the place, there were engines all over, plane parts, building parts...

Chief Jerry Gumbo

graphics8.nytimes.com...

...Everybody was wearing their helmet, which was good because there was debris, like just different types of parts. It might have been plane parts, in fact, they did look like it, on the floor with stuff coming down as well...

...At the time of the impact, we were able to feel heat that was generated from the explosion at ths command post, which was across West Street, and West is fairly large street with that island in there, and debris was showering all over West Street.

Lieutenant George J. DeSimone

graphics8.nytimes.com...

...As we pulled close to the Trade Center, the tower, we saw airplane parts. We saw bodies. We saw body parts...

...We saw jets overhead, commercial airliner, military jets, Air Force jets, and we didn't know what the hell was going on...

Deputy Commissioner Frank Gribbon
graphics8.nytimes.com...

...At that point, there is a group of guys in suits that start walking south on North End Avenue. I asked them who they were and they said they are secre service and they are looking for one of their guys. I called out to some fireman because they are wearing rubber gloves. They got suits on...

...The one thing, I talked to Ray Goldback and Tom Fitzgerald when I got there and I looked up at them and I said do we have a collapse potential here. I remember them saying no, they are made to withstand a hit from the planes. But I guess none of us really thought. I don't know what that originated from.

Q. I don't think they figured on jet fuel.

A. Terrorism, yeah. A plane hit the tower, which is, I guess what everybody thought when they heard a plane hit the tower. It was not what they had in mind when they talk about a plane. It was built to withstand being hit by a plane, not a by a plane being driven into the towers loaded with jet fuel...

...Q. Did you see an, as you were walking, did you see any plane parts or anything as you were walking up West Street or anything?

A. No, I saw them on the video, that it appeared there was some, but you don't really know where they were located on that video.

Q. What the --

A. The plane parts and such. Looked like there might be some plane parts in there, but I don't know where that was. I will get you a copy of that. As a matter of fact, my video unit, I will get you everything we have. Because they have been asking for all the footage from all the stations and stuff like that, you know, whatever we can get...

EMT -D Christopher Attanasio
graphics8.nytimes.com...

...There was airplane fueselage and landing gear around the site...

EMT-P Kathy Zarr

graphics8.nytimes.com...

...When you went into Manhattan, you said you went through the tunnel. You went through the Battery Tunnel?

A. Yes.

Q. Do you remember how you came up?

A. We made a right-hand turn, and all you saw was airplane parts and body parts in the street...

SECTION 2 CONTINUED

Captain Michael Donovan
graphics8.nytimes.com...

...We heard the plane briefly, the earth shook, the buildings shook, a tremendous fireball overhead. I thought there was a bomb or an explosion. A tremendous fireball, flaming debris, pieces of the building...

Lieutenant Richard Smiouskas

graphics8.nytimes.com...

...I looked up and saw body parts, feet, a hand with a ring on it, a face with a mustache and eyes and part of an ear. Just a face, no head, just a face. I saw like the window of an airplane, one of those small plastic windows...

...I was photographing the fire from the roof. I had a long lens on the camera, and I had people in the windows. It looked like they were being -- they weren't actually jumping. one or two people I saw, they seemed like they were being forced out by the people behind them. There was half a dozen faces. In between the smoke you could see people...

Firefighter Stuart Bailey

graphics8.nytimes.com...

...So they kind of had everything blocked off and we kind of swearved around debris from the plane, body parts pretty much everywhere...

Firefighter Steven Altini

graphics8.nytimes.com...

...As we exited the Battery Tunnel to lower Manhattan, we proceeded to make a right turn onto West Street where we were confronted with a lot of debris in the street, airplane debris, human remains and such...

graphics8.nytimes.com...

...So we were about a block away, two blocks away on Barclay between Church and Broadway getting breakfast when we heard the first plane hit. After we heard the first plane hit and felt the ground shake, I ran down to the corner of Church and Park Place, looked up and I saw the plane shooting out of tht top of the towers. That's when I grabbed for my radio and yelled over the air, "1 Adam. A bomb just went off in the Trade Center."...

...When the second plane hit, me and my partner were in the back of our ambulance. We felt all the debris come down, bouncing off of me, myself, my partner, shooting inside the back of our ambulance and rocking our ambulance back and forth...

Firefighter John Breen

graphics8.nytimes.com...

...We did see part of -- I didn't see it, but Jeff Johnson told me later on he did see part of the landing gear actually fell right through the roof and it was in one of the Jacuzzis in another room...

Firefighter Sidney Parris

graphics8.nytimes.com...

...After that, FBI agent came down the block. He identified some landing gear that was in front of our rig, asked me to make sure no pedestrians came down the block to interfere with any type of metals and debris that were there, becvause they were trying to identify to put the pieces back together for the plane...

...At that particular time, I saw another FBI agent come by, who was starting to log some of the things. He was on his transmission, talking to whoever. They told me that another plane was in the area, and we thought that - the chauffuers -- some of the guys that were out in the street thought it was a third plane. At that particular time, I walked to the corner of Church, because I heard the plane, but I couldn't see anything. Afraid it was going to hit the same part of the twin tower and make it topple and start a domino effect. As I got to the corner of Church and Vesey, that's when the building, the south tower, came down right on the corner, and from that point on, it was like mayhem for me...

Firefighter Paul Hyland

graphics8.nytimes.com...

...We carried all our tools, the bottles, everything, and as we're walking down, part of the plane engine was sitting right in the street, still burning. I said, look, this is the plane. That was the other thing. Another engine company, as we were marching, did shoot right down Liberty Street with all the debris going right there...

Robert Kimball

graphics8.nytimes.com...

...Like I remember walking by with the chief, and I remember seeing the airplane engine, you know, pieces of, you know, obviously trade center all over...

Firefighter Thomas Lynn
graphics8.nytimes.com...

...We basically saw a lot of body parts and plane wreckage that was just all over the street...

SECTION 2 CONTINUED

Paramedic Manuel Delgado
graphics8.nytimes.com...

This interview had portions redacted.

...It's interesting because, as we were there, there was a police car, I guess, on Vesey, on the corner there, and some debris comes down from whatever this explosion was, at the time we really didn't know, and it just crushes it, I mean, crushes the top front of the police car, which really scared me at that point.

Q. Could you tell if it was airplane parts?

A. It looked like an airplane part afterward, yes, it did. It looked like part of an engine. It was pretty big. It was probably the size of the hood because it kind of hit it, bounced, and then rolled off....

...So Dr. Asaeda was going to set up a command over in the lobby of OEM. What building is that, 7? Tower 7?

Q. 7 World Trade Center.
A. 7 World Trade Center. So Dr. Guttenberg and Dr. Asaeda were to set up their command -- there were already some medics and EMTs in the lobby of 7 World Trade Center. So they were going to set up their own triage and command center there....

...So we all looked up and what we saw was tower, I guess, 2, the south tower, begin to do this. The top kind of did this and there was a horrendous rumble.

Q. Now, your hand is showing that it's kind of tilted in one direction. What direction did it tilt?

A. It was tilting towards us, so it had been to be tilting eastward.

Q. East?

A. Maybe southeast....

...the blast, this dark cloud coming at us, at me anyway, because I don't even know who's around me at this point. You kind of lose all -- I lost all track of time. I lost basically all body movements and I was going on, and then we're engulfed in the smoke, which was horrendous. One thing I remember, it was hot. The smoke was hot and that scared me....

...Another thing I've got to tell you is, when we first got there, when we were walking down Vesey towards West, there was a ton of -- or I could say a lot of body parts and like baggage, clothes and stuff, along Vesey

Q. From one of the airplanes.

A. Yes, from one of the airplanes. I don't know if it was the first or the second because this was after the second one had hit. So it could have been from either one. But I remember walking

Q. Where was it, though? On Vesey?

A. Right in front of the OEM, because on the OEM building side there was a scaffolding and I remember I was walking underneath there. We kind of felt that there was some protection underneath the scaffolding. I remember as we were walking down, after we had dropped that person off, when we were walking down Vesey, I remember probably between -- what's this?

Q. Church?

A. No. Probably between Broadway and West, I remember seeing body parts.

Q. That's West Broadway.

A. Yes, West Broadway and West on Vesey. I remember seeing body parts and I remember saying to myself where the hell did these freaking body parts come from? Where are these coming from? There was a few. I mean, some recognizable, some that didn't look -- like they were probably charred, and also like luggage stuff, like we saw a lot of shoes, even some luggage, airplane parts, engine. There was an engine on the left here. If you remember, building 7, there used to be that overpass over by building 7. Just in front of it.

Q. The concourse.

A. Just up before that, there was like a little plaza?

Q. Right.

A. Right there, there was like a big engine part. It seemed like a whole engine was right there, lying right there in the middle of the street.

Q. Covered like the way the jet looks?

A. Yes. In fact, you could see the fan. I remember that because I could see -- , it wasn't the whole engine because the engine is big, but I know the front part of it, it looked like the whole engine because I could see the fan, and that's what stood out in my mind. There was an airplane tire also there and then these bodies and luggage from the thing because there were shoes everywhere also. Some shoes had what looked like blood in it, other shoes didn't, other shoes were burnt, and this was just a first impression....

...For instance, Dr. Guttenberg and Dr. Asaeda, who were at 7 World Trade Center, they got trapped in there and had to like climb in and out and get out because that building also became very damaged supposedly and they were there....

Paramedic Louis Cook

graphics8.nytimes.com...

This interview has portions redacted.\par

...We walked up West Street northbound to get to the command post, and there I remember looking to my right and seeing an aircraft landing gear tire....

...I made it up onto the -- I guess you call it the concourse level, the mezzanine level, and onto the foot bridge when I started to hear -- I thought I heard an explosion of some sort, but I kind of dismissed it. I figured, ah, it's just something burning upstairs. I really didn't think of what was going on....

...I was running, and stuff was coming down. This time fire was coming down, because I could feel the heat....

...I just covered up. This stuff was really hitting the ground. The heavy stuff was really hitting the ground. It was somewhere -- it was shy of Vesey. It really wasn't very far. I didn't make it to the corner. I just waited there for everything to stop. It was really hot, because this time there was fire. I know that because my neck burned....

Firefighter Dead Coutsouros

graphics8.nytimes.com...

...There was all kinds of human debris. The landing gear of the aircraft was in that parking lot there. It was right near us. There was all kinds of stuff all over the floor...

...I happened to be looking up at it, and from the fire floor down, it was just like a really loud crackling noise, it sounded like a million firecrackers, and just a wave, right from the fire floor down, just a wave that started to come down...

SECTION 2 CONTINUED

Briam Smith

graphics8.nytimes.com...

This interview has portions redacted.

...Q. So you actually saw the first plane go in?\par
A. I heard the explosion and looked up, and then I saw it start to billow out...

...I ' m trying to remember everything in that 20 seconds I'm going past it, but I remember there was lifejackets everywhere, the yellow in - flight lifejackets, and that the contrast of the yellow against all the gray, you know. It stood out . It was easy for me to pick it out, and I remember thinking as I saw that, you know, I guess it must have been a plane crash, because where the hell else would you get a bunch of yellow lifejackets in the middle of Manhattan, you know....

...So we picked him up, and we tried doing like a soldier carry with our arms on each shoulder, and it just wasn't working out, because he wouldn't let go of his briefcase , and he was whacking us in the face with it, and no matter how much we tried to make him let go of it, he wouldn't let go, you know, and we come to find out the guy has like half a million dollars in cash in his briefcase, you know, and really it was a lot --

Q. It was one million cash...

This section mainly focuses on the interviews with people who saw the planes either before or when they hit the buildings. As well as the other events they were witness to.

Lieutenant Robert Larocco

graphics8.nytimes.com...

...Now we all heard a plane that sounded like it was in trouble. So everyone stopped what they were doing. So everyone stopped what they were doing. It was obvious there was something wrong with the motors. They were like straining, and they were louder than normal. Normally over Manhattan a plane flies very high. We all looked in the sky and didn't see anything, but then for six or seven seconds flying out of the northeast, headed southwest, was this jetliner, like the kind of thing you would go on to go to Miami Beach or Vegas or something like that. It was flying very low, probaly about 350 feet. As it passed over us, it wobbled, just a little bit. The after six or seven seconds of seeing it -- we lost sight of it, becaue there were six-story tenements around us so that patch of sky that we saw it for just lasted that small amount of time. Anyway, I kind of thought to myself that it was headed toward Newark Airport. It was going southwest kind of in the general direction. I didn't think much of it. So I started walking to go where I was going to have breakfast, and then I heard a dull thud; not an explosion but an actual dull thud with a little bit of metal to it. I kind of stopped in my tracks and I though for a second. I said nah....

...There were people's unidentifiable guts here and there on Liberty Street. The one thing that I remember most wsa that I noticed forearm and hand. It looked like a young woman. Her hand was manicured, and she had a nice ring on. I looked at it for like an extra half a second. I was amazed how it kind of looked fake, like a mannequin...

...So on the second floor of the south tower, northwest end of the building, there's a stairway there. People were evacuating down the stairway, and I notice water streaming down the stairway. That's telling me that when the plane hit it took out the standpipe in that particular stairway...

...Anyway, from where I was stationed, like I said, I kept asking people what floors they were from. People started coming down from 88 and 89. I identified those floors. There were poeple coming down from 89 and they were dragging a woman with them...

...Anyway, at this point three guys started running towards me. One guy believe it or not -- it may sound weird, but to me an Arabic-looking guy, American though. And the twho guys that were chasing were yelling, "Stop, stop, FBI, FBI." One guy was a tall white guy. He had a long-sleeved white shirt and tie on. Anyway, I watched them chase this fellow toward me. Just as the guy was passing to my right maybe about 12 feet away, the so-called FBI guys, they get a hold of the guy, threw him on the floor and put cuffs on him. The next second I heard that loudest noise in the world that I was describing before getting louder and louder...

...Of course the cloud was kind of like a nuclear winter thing. You're walking through fallout...

Frank Pastor

graphics8.nytimes.com...

...I came to the station, and let me just say this, the lieutenants here still break my chops, because that morning I came in, and I said to them, "I think we are going to be busy today." And they said to me, "Why?" I says, "Well, it's going to be 9-11," and from thereon -- I remember our normal routine in the morning, go get our breakfast, and we go sit and we cover Red Hook, so we had the view of the city. We were sitting there, and we were looking at the city. All of is sudden my partner says to me, "Frankie, that plane seems to be low."...

...and she yells out, "Frank that plane just hit the building."...

...We can't believe whats going on, and she says -- and I remember my partner, Mala, saying again to me, "That other plane is low." I don't know how much time, 10, 15 minutes, and we seen the other plane hit...

Firefighter Thomas Gaby

graphics8.nytimes.com...

...I also took the cell phone with me, headed back towards the command center outside, and believe it or not, somewhere in between there the plane had hit, the second plane.

Q. The second plane?

A. I saw it coming in, I heard it, and bang. It hit...

EMT Michael D'Angelo

graphics8.nytimes.com...

...Then as I made it through traffic and I was going over the BQE extension to get back on to the Battery Tunnel, I looke and I saw the second plane hit the building...

...Something I noticed from when I was standing in front of the Embassy Suites at the time, I saw that the US Secret Service were bringing somebody, and Arab man in a suit, covered in soot, walking away in handcuffs. I remember that distinctly, because the guy looked right in my eyes...

...I found my car like later, because it ws not able to be moved because it was covered. There was an airplane tire about 10 feet away from it. I remember that...

SECTION 3 CONTINUED

Chief of the Department Daniel Nigro

graphics8.nytimes.com...

...At some point after our arrival and after we had moved to the west side of West Street, I heard a loud roar of a jet, looked up and saw the second plane impact the south tower...

...At that point I told Chief Ganci I was going to quickly walk around the perimeter of the Trade Center to assess the degree of damage to the two towers, because our vantage point on West Street only allowed us a view of the west side of the building. I took my aide with me. We walked east on Vesey Street, stopped in front of 7 World Trade Center to speak to EMS Chief Peruggia, who gave me a quick update about victims on that side of the building...

...We stepped over small airplane aviation parts, on Vesey, continued west...

...The most important operational decision to be made that afternoon was the collapse had damaged 7 World Trade Center, which is about a 50 story building, at Vesey between West Broadway and Washington Street. It had very Heavy fire on may floors and I ordered the evacuation of an area suffiecient around to protect our members...

EMT Mala Harrilal

graphics8.nytimes.com...

...That's my assigned area and you could see -- we saw the smoke. There was a second plane circling the building and I kept saying why is he so near the buildings? Within minutes, before even talking about it, he just like slammed into the second building...

Firefighter Richard Saulle

graphics8.nytimes.com...

...A young kid, Joe Sullivan, said, "Why is this plane flying through the smoke? Holy #, he hit the second tower." I said. "Get the hell out of here." I stuck my head out the window, and I looked up and I was amazed what I saw. Both towers were on fire, and I said we're in a lot of trouble...

...We got through the tunnel. What we saw on the floor was amazing. There were plane parts, cars wrecked, body parts. It looked like Tales of the Crypt. There were arms sticking up in the air and bodies were just shredded all of the place. There was a car that we drove by that the driver's door and the passenger door were open, and there was a plane motor on the back half of the car. Two inches more, and both these guys would have been dead too. That was their ticket. It was amazing. The car was actually cut right in half with this motor, right there back of the front seat...

Firefighter Mike Zechewytz

graphics8.nytimes.com...

...I remember I was right right by the TV set and I said, "That must have been adrunk pilot." I mean, it was clear outside. So we were like, "Wow, the guy must have had a few last night or something." So then Roger Jackson and myself went out to the front to see the smoke. If you were in front of the firehouse and you looked over to the right, you saw the somke. Then he called and he goes, "Zech." That's my nickname. He goes, "Zech, look." and we saw the other plane going from left to right with its nose down. So then we ran back in the kitchen, and then maybe 30 seconds later the news said that a bomb went off in the second building. But then they saw in slow motion it was a plane...

Supervising Fire Marshal Robert Byrnes

graphics8.nytimes.com...

...I looked our the window. I could see the smoke blowing off the World Trade Center. Several moments later I noticed a second plane and I commented to myself, look at this nitwit, he's so close, and before I realized it, he had crashed into the side of the south tower...

Firefighter Michael Hazel

graphics8.nytimes.com...

...On the way to the Battery Tunnel, we're driving along Columbia Street and I'm sitting across from the proby, and as we're talking and I'm preparing him for the events, what to expect at this job we're going to go to, he just says to me, "Look at this dummy. he's flying underneath the smoke instead of over it." With that I turned to my right and looked at the Twin Towers and I saw the second jet hit...

...But we eventually got through the tunnel, and at first we started seeing bitas and pieces, when we turned up West Street, of the plane and what turned out to be body parts. But the closer we got, the bigger parts got, the plane parts and the body parts, and it finally got to the point where I was facing forward and I told the proby, who was facing the rear, not to look anymore because I told him the things he was going to see he'd rather not see and that he would never be able to get it out of his head if he did see them. At that point, Smitty was driving. That's when he started trying to snake his way up West Street. There was a lot of debris in the street and I remember yealling to the Lieutenant to keep going because stuff as sitll landing all around us. We just ppassed a compact car where the engine was running and the door was open, which looked to me like the driver had escaped, but from the back seat to the trunk was crushed by a jet engine...

Firefighter Dominick Muschello

graphics8.nytimes.com...

...As we watched the fire from the third floor, we saw the second plane fly right into the center of the building clear as day...

Firefighter Joseph Sullivan

graphics8.nytimes.com...

...En route to the staging area, we were going down Columbia Street, saw the second plane strike the building...

...I saw one body. Most of it was just pieces of bodies. As we were riding in, we must have ran over some debris from the plane. We saw debris all over the floor. We saw a wheel. There was cars that were flattened...

SECTION 3 CONTINUED

EMT-D Ralph Ramos

graphics8.nytimes.com...

...We were returning back there from Battalion 4 and we were going up, I believe it's Pearl Street, and my partner Alex Loutsky and I, we witnessed the first plane hit the first tower. Saw it flying low and we thoughm that plane's flying kind of low, and then it thit the building and we went over the radio and we told central that we had witnessed a plane hitting the building, and at first she didn't believe us, but then other units started saying they saw the same thing...

Captain David Loper

graphics8.nytimes.com...

...Anyway, it's then that I was looking at the north tower that I saw what I thought looked like a seagull in the distance almost and it went into the south tower and the south tower exploded in a huge fire ball...

...So I went over and I said, "Mike, what's going on?" And he was in tough shape. He was mumbling that he was buried under the north tower and that he climbed down out of the south tower. I can't remember what he said, but he said he climbed down and he made it to this poing and he thought he broke his leg and these guys weren't taking care of him. So i tried calming him down band they were going to put him in the ambulance, but the ambulance was blocked in by trucks, ambulances, everything. This ambulance was going nowhere and Mike was pretty upset about things that he wasn't getting out of there. He was talking about car bombs going off and he got me really wired up that that kind of talk too. I started looking around saind he said, "look for the vans. They're gonna start blowing."...

Firefighter Stephen Zasa

graphics8.nytimes.com...

...Upon that time I heard a plane roar. I had my window down and on my side we saw a plane flying very low com right across us and with a lound, you know, the engines revved up, and I mentioned to him, I said no idea that it towards that way, and I just said like where is this guy going, you know, he was extremely low, not realizing it was another plane heading towards the World Trade, and we saw it struck the building, we saw a big mushroom of flame...

Firefighter Nicholas Borrillo

graphics8.nytimes.com...

...We were at a box for odor of gas in the street on Church and Lispenard. We were investigating that. We were just about ready to take up from that box and come back when we heard the roar of the engines of the plane. Before we know it, it was overhead. Within two seconds it hit the north tower...

Firefighter Joseph Casaliggi

graphics8.nytimes.com...

...we were operating a box up on Church Street near Canal. There was an odor of gas in the area. While we were out operating, we heard the first plane coming in. I turned around and I watched the plane crash into the north tower...

...It was at that time when I saw the second plane hit the building. I called a mayday. I told them the second plane hit the south tower of the building...

Paramedic Kenneth Davis

graphics8.nytimes.com...

...As we were driving over the 59th Street bridge, just looking out the window, we saw a plane hit the World Trade Center, what we thought was a plane, and out of disbelief, I was like did anybody else just see that...

...But it was weird. You'd go down the street and see parts of an airplane, the wheels, that were in the middle of an intersection in one corner and it's part of a plane. You don't expect to see that in Manhattan...

Fire Marshal Michael Cain

graphics8.nytimes.com...

...I set it up on the tripod in the window facing the Trade Center enclosing the top of -- the top, more like where the cash area was and I started the tape and as I was getting my fire gear ready looking out the window again, when we saw the second plane crash into the second tower. I left the tape running and I knew it was not an accident, you know, that this happened. So I gave Jim Murphy a little instruction on how to change the tape and he left the tape running...

...We parked on West Street and I guess about Albany, West Street and Albany, got out of the car and started going up West Street and there were body parts in the street. The plane wheel was in the street. You could see the plane in the building....

Lieutenant Murray Murad

graphics8.nytimes.com...

...The captain came out and said: "What's going on? This i s a no-fly zone. There should be no planes over here unless this is a military plane, a plane in trouble . " Other than that, there was really no clue. So about two or three minutes after hearing it, you heard something like revving. We took a look, and, boom, the north tower is hit...

...I went back upstairs because I wanted to get something out of my bag. Maybe about 10 to 12-minutes after that first plane, I heard another plane. Then I said to myself, we're being attacked. I ran downstairs. No sooner did I run downstairs and look up, that I saw the secondplane strike the south tower. It was such a vicious hit and such a precision hit, it was unbelievable...

...I walked about two, three minutes, and all of a sudden I heard a plane. Now, I'm like the only one walking on this block. I said oh, my God, we're being attacked again. Someone said it could have been a B15, a U.S. plane up in the air. Actually, what I think it was, was simultaneously the plane and the north tower coming down. So that's what the sounds were. I heard that rumble...

...Q. Were there a lot of plane parts or anything when the second one hit?

A. Not that I saw, no...

Get ready for the Official Story Cultists to begin their nonsense: The explosions were really ' floors pancaking'..and other ridiculous idiocy.

the official story is so dead, so dumb, so disproven, so IMPOSSIBLE, that all the perps supporters can do is spew lies and hope someone is dumb enough to believe it....after all, thats the same thing the government does...lie and hope.

SECTION 3 CONTINUED

Assistant Chief Joseph Callan

graphics8.nytimes.com...

...As I was going around the far side of the north tower, I then saw the second plane hit the south tower. I immediately went into the lobby of the north tower to take command of operations...

...Approximately 40 minutes after I arrived in the lobby, I made a decision that the building was no longer safe. And that was based on the conditions in the lobby, large pieces of plaster falling, all the 20 foot high glass panels on the exterior of the lobby were breaking. There was obvious movement of the building, and that was the reason on the handy talky I gave the order for all Fire Department units to leave the north tower...

EMT Decosta Wright

graphics8.nytimes.com...

...A few minutes later, we had seen the second plane just come in, go right through the second building...

...We was by -- let me see that map. We were right in front of -- what was the last building that collapsed?

Q. 7?

A. We was right there. That was building 7....

...So that was it basically -- we watched that one come down. It was on fire first. I think the fourth floor was on fire. They said -- we were like, are you guys going to put that fire out? I was like, you know, they are going to wait for it to burn down and it collapsed. So that's when I knew high rise buildings, you know, (inaudible).

Q. Where you there when building 7 came down in the afternoon?

A. Yes.

Q. You were still there?

A. Yes, so basically they measured out how far the buildings was going to come, so we knew exactly where we could stand.

Q. So they just put you in a safe area, safe enough for you when that building came down?

A. 5 blocks. 5 blocks away. We still could see. Exactly right on point, the cloud just stopped right there....

EMT Allen Cruz

graphics8.nytimes.com...

...We both hear this rumble, and I felt a vibration, we looked slightly to the left, all of us, there's a whole bunch of us right next to my vehicle, and here comes this plane, a huge plane. The lady next to me says Oh my God, it's gonna hit the building. I didn't want to give her false information so I said Gee, I don't think so, well I hope not. I mean we're looking at it sort of in three dimensions, so I'm thinking it's gonna go behind the building. From where we're standing, it's gonna go right behind it, but it was too big and far too low. At that moment I said it's gonna hit, it's actually gonna hit. And it hit...

EMT Sean Cunniffe

graphics8.nytimes.com...

...The second plane came in. It was the biggest noise I ever heard in my life.

Q. Did you see the plane?

A. Yeah. We saw it, we heard it, we felt the heat from it, the debris....

EMT Alan Cooke

graphics8.nytimes.com...

...Then while I was standing in the parking lot, that's when I saw the plane crash into the second tower...

EMT Jarjean Felton

graphics8.nytimes.com...

...I would say right around the time while we were right under here, under the Westside Highway and pedestrian bridge, I seen a second plane coming. I'm thinking isn't that plane too low? I'm like...then I noticed, I seen it turn. It turned and went right in the building. But we're behind, like this is the building, it went in, and you see explosion in the front...

Jace Pinkus

graphics8.nytimes.com...

...We attempted to get our stuff out of the vehicle, and as we looked up, we saw a plane hit the second building, and we noticed that there was a large ball of flame coming from the second building...

David Blacksberg

graphics8.nytimes.com...

This interview has portions redacted.

...We approached the building, and we heard some loud noise. We felt some rumbling, so we looked up, and there was another plane coming in. Went behind, I guess it banked around another building, so at that time we didn't really see it hit the building, but we heard it, and we felt it, and we saw it approaching....

EMT Jason Charles
graphics8.nytimes.com...

This interview has portions redacted.

...I looked down at my son and I repeated to him I couldn't believe what was going on, and I told him, oh my God, and I heard people calling, oh, my God, look, look, and as I looked up, the second plane hit the second tower and there was a humongous fireball rolling up the side of the building...

...and then I heard and explosion from up, from up above, and I froze and I was like, oh, #, I'm dead because I though debris was going to hit me in the head and that was it...

These interviews while not containing real pertinent information, were interesting in themselves or had interesting segments.

Chief Fire Marshal Louis Garcia

graphics8.nytimes.com...

Firefighter Vincent Fiorentino

graphics8.nytimes.com...

EMS Lieutenant Amy Monroe

graphics8.nytimes.com...

Firefighter Tomas Hansard

graphics8.nytimes.com...

Firefighter Scott Holowach

graphics8.nytimes.com...

EMT Norberto Torres

graphics8.nytimes.com...

EMT Curtis Jackson

graphics8.nytimes.com...

EMT Emilio Perez

graphics8.nytimes.com...

EMT Freddy Burgos

graphics8.nytimes.com...

Firefighter William Quick

graphics8.nytimes.com...

EMT Lonnie Penn

graphics8.nytimes.com...

Lieutenant Joseph Chiafari

graphics8.nytimes.com...

Firefighter William Johnson

graphics8.nytimes.com...

Firefighter John Picarello

graphics8.nytimes.com...

Firefighter Troy Owens

graphics8.nytimes.com...

Captain Charles Clark

graphics8.nytimes.com...

Firefighter Richard Battista

graphics8.nytimes.com...

Firefighter Robert Byrne

graphics8.nytimes.com...

Firefighter Arthur Riccio\par
\f1 graphics8.nytimes.com...

Lieutenant Richard Skellington

graphics8.nytimes.com...

Firefighter Steven Wright

graphics8.nytimes.com...

EMT Patrick Richiusa

graphics8.nytimes.com...

Captain Richard Weldon

graphics8.nytimes.com...

EMT Jody Bell

graphics8.nytimes.com...

Firefighter Adrienne Walsh

graphics8.nytimes.com...

Sergeant James Canham

graphics8.nytimes.com...

Firefighter Peter Fallucca

graphics8.nytimes.com...

Supervising Fire Marshal John D. Lynn

graphics8.nytimes.com...

Firefighter Paul Vasquez

graphics8.nytimes.com...

Firefighter Pete Castellano

graphics8.nytimes.com...

Firefighter Glen Rohan

graphics8.nytimes.com...

Firefighter Derek Brogan

graphics8.nytimes.com...

Firefighter Gerard Gorman

graphics8.nytimes.com...

Firefighter Robert Siragusa

graphics8.nytimes.com...

Firefighter Steven Rogers

graphics8.nytimes.com...

Firefighter John Butler

graphics8.nytimes.com...

Captain Joseph Rivera

graphics8.nytimes.com...

Firefighter Timothy Brown

graphics8.nytimes.com...

Firefighter Kenneth Escoffry

graphics8.nytimes.com...

Paramedic Roberto Abril

graphics8.nytimes.com...

Lieutenant Thomas Piambino

graphics8.nytimes.com...

Firefighter Fitzroy Haines

graphics8.nytimes.com...

EMT Anthony Bartolomey

graphics8.nytimes.com...

Firefighter Richard Billy

graphics8.nytimes.com...

Firefighter Arthur Myers

graphics8.nytimes.com...

Lieutenant John Nevins

graphics8.nytimes.com...

SECTION 4 CONTINUED


Dominick Maggiore

graphics8.nytimes.com...

Firefighter Terence Rivera

graphics8.nytimes.com...

Evelyn Vega

graphics8.nytimes.com...

EMT Robert Short

graphics8.nytimes.com...

These interviews contained no real pertinent information but all had redacted portions.

Paramedic James Murphy
graphics8.nytimes.com...

EMT Dulce McCorvey
graphics8.nytimes.com...

Paramedic Tracey Mulqueen
graphics8.nytimes.com...

Richard Erdey
graphics8.nytimes.com...

Paramedic George Burbano
graphics8.nytimes.com...

EMT Justin Lim
graphics8.nytimes.com...

Paramedic Mark Harris
graphics8.nytimes.com...

EMT Valerie Longo
graphics8.nytimes.com...

EMT Stephen Hess
graphics8.nytimes.com...

Lieutenant Rene Davila
graphics8.nytimes.com...

Mary McMillan
graphics8.nytimes.com...

EMS Chief Walter Kowalczyk
graphics8.nytimes.com...

EMT Chat Ritorto
graphics8.nytimes.com...

EMS Chief Fran Pascale
graphics8.nytimes.com...

EMT Vincent Marquez
graphics8.nytimes.com...

Deputy Chief Charles R. Blaich
graphics8.nytimes.com...

Immaculada Gattas
graphics8.nytimes.com...

Firefighter Paul Beck
graphics8.nytimes.com...

Firefighter Dean Baltrami
graphics8.nytimes.com...

Lieutenant Brendan Whelan
graphics8.nytimes.com...

Captain Willaim McLaughlin
graphics8.nytimes.com...

EMT Joseph Conzo
graphics8.nytimes.com...

EMT John Barrett
graphics8.nytimes.com...

Captain John Luongo
graphics8.nytimes.com...

Firefighter Douglas Ferretti
graphics8.nytimes.com...

Firefighter Michael Macko
graphics8.nytimes.com...

Thats all of the relevant information I could find within the interviews. There is also a section on building 7 but it hasn't been completed yet.

Tons of interesting information in the interviews, the biggest piece for me being the interview of Lieutenant Robert Larocco in which he says...

...Anyway, at this point three guys started running towards me. One guy believe it or not -- it may sound weird, but to me an Arabic-looking guy, American though. And the twho guys that were chasing were yelling, "Stop, stop, FBI, FBI." One guy was a tall white guy. He had a long-sleeved white shirt and tie on. Anyway, I watched them chase this fellow toward me. Just as the guy was passing to my right maybe about 12 feet away, the so-called FBI guys, they get a hold of the guy, threw him on the floor and put cuffs on him. The next second I heard that loudest noise in the world that I was describing before getting louder and louder...

I believe that same scenario is mentioned in a few of the other interviews but I can't say I've ever heard about that in any other form outside of these interviews. I find it odd that this happened almost immediately prior to one of the buildings coming down.

But I hope this is of use to some and that everybody that can will read them.

These interviews highlight those who were at some point in or around Building 7, or had something to say in regards to it.

Captain James Yakimovich

graphics8.nytimes.com...

... at Washington Street I proceeded south to Vesey and that’s where I went to OEM because I figured since I worked there before I could give them a hand. I met Chief Peruggia, who said, see if you can get to the 23rd floor to staff the Office of Emergency Management, being the Fire Department representative. When I got to the 23rd floor they told me they were evacuating the building and I proceeded to the lobby and from that time I don’t recall what happened, but I did get to 10 Engine and 10 Truck....

EMT Jeffrey Warner

graphics8.nytimes.com...

... At Barclay Street, which I’m told the building that we came upon was number Seven World Trade Center, we noticed that there were people trapped who were unable to get out at that time or unaware of how to get out – I’m not sure I want to use the word “trapped” – on what appeared to be the eighth floor from the outside.

Myself, my partner, and off-duty fire lieutenant, somebody from OEM, who was also with the Port Authority, and a female police lieutenant made numerous attempts to get into the building from the parking area. We finally found a door that was somewhat open to the Barclay Street side near the parking garage where there was a regular door.

The fire lieutenant told me that it was padlocked, and I remember that the OEM guy had a Halligan tool. I told the boss I was going back on the ladder to get the Halligan tool and I was going to bring it to him.

He made numerous attempts to try and open the lock: it failed. We were alerted to evacuate the building by Lieutenant Scullion and Lieutenant Frazier of the former ERS.

We came out of the building, and we gathered all our equipment...

EMT Nicole Ferrell

graphics8.nytimes.com...

... Prior to us going to West and Murray with the fireman, we were right over – I believe it was either 5 or 7. See, my memory is a little bad because I don’t know. I’m having a little hard time with this. But we went (inaudible) – no. You know what? It was 7. Now I remember. It was 7 because we went over here to West Street, like I said, and I stopped here at Barclay and I saw the firefighter. There were people screaming out of one of these two buildings over here saying they couldn’t get out, and my partner took one straggler fireman, the one that we had with us, and was trying to break the door because the door obviously had shifted or something. They couldn’t get the door open.

Q. That was 7 World Trade Center?

A. I believe it was 7, maybe it was 5. I was at the back end of it because I do remember the telephone company. So I think it was the back end of 7, I think right over here at that point, and they couldn’t get out. Then I had ran down the block and I flagged a ladder company and they brought the ladder, which they had like a vestibule that you couldn’t like really reach the people because the ladder wouldn’t reach. So the went and got other resources, they went inside the building, and I told my partner that it wasn’t safe and that we need to go because everything around us was like falling apart...

EMS Division Chief John Peruggia

graphics8.nytimes.com...

... I passed over some pieces of what appeared to be aircraft wreckage, fuselage, whatever, some body parts and bodies in various states, either people from the building or the airplanes. You couldn’t tell. They weren’t intact...

... I advised them that I was en route to 7 World Trade. OEM was active. I had already given instructions to two of the staff to respond there, as well as a representative from the fire First Division...

…I reached 7 World Trade Center. We walked into the lobby and we were going up the escalators to the main level. I checked in at the security desk. As we reached the top of the escalators, there were lots of people running down the escalator on the promenade. I spoke to one of the Deputy Directors and as I was speaking with him, I believe it was Deputy Directory Rotanz, who is a Fire Department Captain on detail over there, Captain Nahmod and EMT Zarrillo approached as well. They had indicated that the building was being evacuated...