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| WTC 5 & WTC 6 - flashes, explosions; eyewitness EMT | |
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| Topic Started: Jun 16 2009, 01:55 PM (220 Views) | |
| JackD | Jun 16 2009, 01:55 PM Post #1 |
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KT: You mentioned you were running west on Vesey Street, what happened after that? PO: I just kept running. I was aware there were other people running as well. After passing the cars on fire, I was trying to find someplace safe. I tried to run into the lobby of 6 World Trade, but there were federal police -- maybe 4 to 6 of them -- standing in the open doorways. As I tried to run in, they wouldn't let me, waving me out, telling me "you can't come in here, keep running." As I turned to start running west again, I saw a series of flashes around the ceiling of the lobby all going off one-by-one like the X-mass lights that "chase" in pattern. I think I started running faster at that point. KT: Did you hear any "popping" sounds when each of these flashes in the WTC 6 lobby were going off? PO: Yes, that part was like a movie. The pops were at the same time as the flashes. KT: Can you estimate either how many flashes you saw or how many of these "pops" you heard inside this lobby? PO: At least 6 before I was turned away. KT: Could you still hear any of these explosions when you turned to run back out, or was the noise outside too loud? PO: I don't recall hearing any more when I resumed running. It was very chaotic. KT: Now to be clear, were you inside the Lobby of the WTC 6, or were you outside the building when you witnessed these what appeared to be explosions? PO: I was in the doorway, but not inside the lobby. I remember being able to breathe the somewhat cleaner air coming from inside the building. They stopped me as I was trying to get past the threshold. KT: Were the explosions going off as you were entering the lobby area, or did they seem to start going off after the police tried to turn you away? PO: It all happened at the same time. As I got to the doorway, I was told not to come in. As the officer was telling me I couldn't get in the building the flashes starting going off. KT: Where the police just right at the lobby door, or were some also way inside the building? PO: There were probably 4-5 officers in the doorway. I could see a few others back in the lobby area. KT: You said you saw "federal police." What exactly do you mean and did you find it strange they were in there and that they wouldn't let you in? PO: Well, they were in light brown uniforms and "Smokey the bear" hats. I assumed they were federal police because NYC police don't look like that and I knew there was a lot of federal offices in the WTC as well as the surrounding area, so it wasn't strange to me to see them there, but I did find it very odd that they wouldn't let me in to get cover. But like I say, in that profession, someone tells you to go an opposite way you are going, you don't ask, you just go. I remember hoping they got out as I was watching whatever the small explosions were, because they stayed in the building. They weren't locking it up after evacuating or anything like that. KT: Did you know which government agencies were in the WTC? PO: I knew there were a lot of federal agencies in the WTC complex, but I don't know which ones specifically. KT: Did these policemen run out of the WTC 6 lobby after these explosions occurred, or could you tell? PO: It didn't look like they did. It looked like they were there making sure no one ran in like I tried to do. I remember seeing them in the doorway, but don't know what happened to them after that. KT: Did you happen to notice if they were wearing any earplugs or any other uncommon protective gear? PO: There was nothing that I could see. They appeared to be dressed to simply do lobby detail. No flack wear, no overcoats, no helmets. To this day, I still wonder if they got out. KT: Did you think these explosions in the lobby were maybe lights popping out as in an electrical surge, or did they seem more like explosives going off in a timed manner? PO: I immediately got the impression they were timed explosives. I have never thought they were anything else, not then, not now. KT: Have you ever seen a building being demolished with explosives on TV and was the flashes and pops similar to that? PO: It did remind me of just that. I had seen something on a Las Vegas casino being demolished and that's what it reminded me of. Aerial view of the WTC 6 after 9/11. (Photo source: noaa.gov) KT: Can you try to describe what these "pops" you heard sounded like? PO: They sounded like light bulbs popping, but there were no light fixtures where the explosions were coming from. The sound was not all that loud. KT: Do you think these explosions you witnessed were loud enough to be heard on the street? PO: Because of everything going on, I don't think these "pops" could have been heard from the street. It was definitely louder outside as a whole. KT: At the time, who did you think planted these explosives in there? PO: I didn't have any notions of where to put blame per se, but I remember thinking that it was possibly the same organization who tried to blow up the building back in 1993. I figured they came back to finish the job. At the time I was running, I remember thinking that "they" wired the whole area. At the time I wasn't aware that what made the towers catch fire were passenger jets crashing. I thought the buildings had bombs planted to go off that day. The idea of not only one passenger jet, but two took me a while to comprehend -- not to mention the pentagon as well. KT: Can you estimate how long after you heard the loud rumbling, which was the South Tower coming down, to when you witnessed these explosives going off in the WTC 6? PO: Well, remember this was all on the same street I was parked. It is very difficult for me to estimate time with so much happening at once, but I want to say maybe 2 to 3 minutes from the rumbling and the ground, and the cars, and the fires, that I tried to run into 6 WTC for cover, which is when I saw those explosions. KT: Did anybody else besides you and the police witness these explosions in the WTC 6 lobby? PO: I imagine there must have been others to see, I wasn't the only one running up the street. I can't imagine being the only person to try to run for cover. I didn't see any "civilians" in the lobby of the 6, just the brown uniformed officers. Motorola Radio Troubles KT: After you witnessed the explosions in the lobby of the WTC 6, you started running in which direction and then what happened? PO: I kept running west on Vesey. I got hit with the cloud shortly after being turned away from 6 WTC. I was probably at the corner of Vesey/West Street at that point running. I ran towards the West Side Highway -- there is a park area there. I remember running across grass and there was now lots of grey and black smoke. I was just trying to get to the water because nothing was exploding, or on fire from what I could see. There were lots and lots of people also running that way at this point. KT: When were you able to escape the dust cloud and what happened after that? PO: I was now at the water's edge. There were no boats I could see, so I started to run north along the side of the West Side Highway. I was about 9 or 10 blocks north of Vesey on the West Side Highway. I found the first FDNY EMS vehicle and knew the crew as they were also from my station. I remember not being able to breathe so well -- felt like someone was standing on my chest. When I looked back, I could see people coming out of the black cloud and continuing to run and walk north on the West Side Highway as well. KT: Did you notice any firefighters or other rescuers having technical problems with their Motorola radios or any other equipment? PO: Oh yeah, at one point there was a loud "buzzing" sound and none of the EMS radios worked for maybe 30 seconds? We all used Motorola radios and I believe our repeaters were on top of the towers, so when the tower came down our radios failed. I tried to use my cellphone, but that too did not work. KT: Do you know if anybody's cellphone worked and were able to get through to anybody? PO: A few of my co workers had Nextel phones. Theirs worked, but they couldn't talk to anyone who didn't have a Nextel because all the other services were out at the time. KT: When did you get to leave the area to go home? PO: I left by ambulance. A FDNY EMS supervisor came up to myself and my colleagues and told us to "go back in." I still wasn't aware of what I had come out of and I told him anyone who didn't get out isn't getting out and it's not safe to go back in. He yelled at me, demanding all 3 of us "go back in." I told him I was having chest pain and trouble breathing and my colleagues took me to St. Vincent's Hospital. I was on the stretcher with an oxygen mask on looking out the back windows as we were driving off and saw the other tower collapse. It didn't occur to me at the time that the other one was already gone and that's what I came out of |
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6:12 AM Dec 3
