Quote:

 

I remember Chief Hayden saying to me, "We
have a six-story building over there, a seven-story
building, fully involved." At that time he said, "7
has got fire on several floors." He said, "We've got a
ten-story over there, another ten-story over there, a
six-story over there, a 13-story over there." He just
looked at me and said, "Fuck 'em all. Let 'em burn."
He said, "Just tell the guys to keep looking for guys.
Just keep looking for the brothers. We've got people
trapped. We've got to get them out."
...
Chief Hayden must have come down from here
because I remember we were running through these
buildings. This is what we were using to get back and
forth to talk to one another. There was a lobby here
you could cut through and you'd come out over here.
This glass was all crushed. You would come out on this
side and we were running messages back and forth
sometimes when we had to get stuff up there and you
couldn't get through on the radios.
Then we found out, I guess around 3:00
o'clock, that they thought 7 was going to collapse.
So, of course, we've got guys all in this pile over
here and the main concern was get everybody out, and I
guess it took us over an hour and a half, two hours to
get everybody out of there.
...
So it took us a while and we ended up backing
everybody out, and that's when 7 collapsed. Then,
basically, after 7 collapsed, I went over and told the
Chief that -- by then they had companies with
handie-talkies, masks. You've got to remember, the
first 200 guys went in there with no handie-talkies, no
masks, some of them with bunker gear, some without. A
lot of guys I recognized. I'm on the job 23 years, so
I know a lot of guys, and they were just coming up to
me. It was good to see everybody was there trying to
do something.
Basically, we fell back for 7 to collapse,
and then we waited a while and it got a lot more
organized, I would guess. By then there was some heavy
equipment showing up and the Chiefs took over, and I
basically kind of slipped away from the Chiefs because
I didn't want to be doing what I was doing anymore.
--LIEUTENANT WILLIAM RYAN
Interview Date: October 18, 2001





Eventually later in the day we had to
evacuate that site because number seven
collapsed. Prior to its collapse, we evacuated
all the supplies, the doctors, and moved over to
Pace University into the lobby, and they set up
another medical area.
--LIEUTENANT JOHN MENDEZ
Interview Date: October 31, 2001



...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 WE WERE MET WITH
WE HAD ALREADY BEEN WITH...
--EMT JEFFREY WARNER
INTERVIEW DATE NOVEMBER 2001




BUT THEY WERENT LETTING GUYS TOO
CLOSE, AT THIS POINT SEVEN WORLD TRADE CENTER
WAS GOING HEAVY AND THEY WERENT LETTING ANYBODY
GET TOO CLOSE EVERYBODY WAS EXPECTING THAT TO
COME DOWN...
...
REMEMBER LATER ON IN THE DAY AS WE
WERE WAITING FOR SEVEN TO COME DOWN THEY KEPT
BACKING US UP VESEY ALMOST LIKE FULL BLOCK
THEY WERE CONCERNED ABOUT SEVEN COMING DOWN AND
THEY KEPT CHANGING US ESTABLISHING COLLAPSE
ZONE AND BACKING US UP
...
--FIREFIGHTER VINCENT MASSA
INTERVIEW DATE DECEMBER 2001


But the command at that point wasn't
really organized at first. Then I remember
seeing like a few different chiefs at the corner
throughout the day. They became very concerned
about the condition of number Seven World Trade
and where we were in vicinity to that. They kept
announcing the collapse and who's moving, and we
got pushed further and further west.
We took a blow in the vicinity of the
American Express building. I heard that a police
officer, the body of a police officer, had been
recovered right where we were standing when we
first got there to the corner. Guys were just
making small examinations of the pile that was
around us. But they weren't really getting guys
get too deep into it because of the possible
pending collapse of Seven World Trade.
--FIREFIGHTER DAVID MORIARTY
Interview Date: December 4, 2001



THEY BACKED ME OFF THE RIG BECAUSE
SEVEN WAS IN DEAD JEOPARDY SO THEY BACKED
EVERYBODY OFF AND MOVED US TO THE REAR END OF
VESEY STREET WE JUST STOOD THERE FOR HALF
HOUR 40 MINUTES BECAUSE SEVEN WAS IN IMMINENT
COLLAPSE AND FINALLY DID COME DOWN THEN WE
PROCEEDED TO PUMP ANOTHER SIX HOURS
--FIREFIGHTER THOMAS SMITH
INTERVIEW DATE DECEMBER 2001




Again, we gathered up what we could,
and we went back over. Then we just proceeded to
operate for the remainder of the day. Sometime
later on that day, I believe after -- when they
told us to evacuate the area for tower number
seven, building seven, when they knew that was
coming down, I had hooked up with my company,
Ladder 119, at that point.
--FIREFIGHTER DOMINICK MUSCHELLO
Interview Date: December 6, 2001


... a police
officer came up to me and told me that the facade
in front of Seven World Trade Center was gone and
they thought there was an imminent collapse of
Seven World Trade Center...
--W. MELARANGO



...Then at one point they chased us out of
there for fear of collapse of a building; I
believe it was Seven World Trade. So they got us
out of there because they didn't know which way
that building was going to collapse...
--J. HENRICKSEN



...There was a threat of collapse of
building number seven, so 225, we had to evacuate
it...
--LIEUTENANT ROY DAVID
Interview Date: October 12, 2001



We walked back. We didn't do any
further because building number seven was coming
down. That was another problem, to wait for
building seven to come down, because that was
unsecure. It was about 5:30 that building came
down.
--PARAMEDIC STEVEN PILLA
Interview Date: October 17, 2001


...Once they got us back together and
organized somewhat, they sent us back down to
Vesey, where we stood and waited for Seven World
Trade Center to come down.
--FIREFIGHTER FRANK SWEENEY
Interview Date: October 18, 2001



Eventually later in the day we had to
evacuate that site because number seven
collapsed. Prior to its collapse, we evacuated
all the supplies, the doctors, and moved over to
Pace University into the lobby, and they set up
another medical area. Most injuries we treated
were eye injuries from the debris, basically
cleaning out people's eyes.
--LIEUTENANT JOHN MENDEZ
Interview Date: October 31, 2001





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 IM NOT SURE
...
TRAPPED ON WHAT
APPEARED TO BE THE EIGHTH FLOOR FROM THE OUTSIDE
MYSELF MY PARTNER AN OFF DUTY FIRE
LIEUTENANT SOMEBODY FROM OEM WHO WAS ALSO WITH
WARNER
THE PORT AUTTLIORITY ARID FEMALE POLICE
LIEUTENANT MADE NUMEROUS ATTEMPTS TO GET INTO THE
BUILDING FROM THE PARKING AREA...
...
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
...
...
THAT WAS REALLY IT AS FAR
AS BEING DOWN IN THIS AREA RIGHT HERE BY SEVEN
WORLD TRADE CENTER AS FAR AS THATS CONCERNED
WE WERE KIND OF ON OUR OWN DOWN THERE
--EMT JEFFREY WARNER
INTERVIEW DATE NOVEMBER 2001


Chief McNally was
running the operation at West and Vesey. What
struck me about Chief McNally was he was the only
one that seemed to really have his head on
straight.
...
At this point there were a couple of
floors burning on Seven World Trade Center.
Chief McNally wanted to try and put that fire
out, and he was trying to coordinate with the
command post up on Chambers Street. This is
after searching for a while.
He had me running back and forth trying
to get companies to go into Seven World Trade
Center. His radio didn't seem to be working right
...he had me relaying information
back and forth
...It really was in complete disarray. We never
really got an operation going at Seven World
Trade Center.
...
I remember the
cops telling the photographers they had to leave
the area.
...
--CAPTAIN MICHAEL DONOVAN
Interview Date: November 9, 2001












WE WERE SEARCHING AROUND THE DEBRIS
FIELD THAT ENDED UP ON WEST STREET OPPOSITE THE
NORTH TOWER WE WERE SEARCHING AROUND IN THERE
AT THAT TIME SEVEN WORLD TRADE CENTER WAS BURNING
AND WAS IN DANGER OF COLLAPSING AFTER WHILE
THE LIEUTENANT SAID LETS MOVE LETS GET OUT
OF HERE LETS TAKE BREAK
ACTUALLY THINK AT THAT POINT JUST AS
WE WERE LEAVING GUYS DONT KNOW WHO IT WAS
GUESS IT WAS CHIEF WAS SAYING CLEAR THE AREA
BECAUSE THEY WERE WORRIED ABOUT NUMBER SEVEN
WORLD TRADE CENTER COMING DOWN AND BURYING GUYS
WHO WERE DIGGING
SO WE BASICALLY WENT BACK TO THE RIG
BECAUSE THEY WERE CLEARING THAT AREA OUT IT
TOOK ABOUT THREE HOURS FOR SEVEN WORLD TRADE
CENTER TO ACTUALLY COME DOWN SO WE WERE OFF TO
THE SIDE

THERE WAS WHOLE BUNCH OF FIREMEN ON
VESEY STREET AND THATS WHERE WE WERE ON VESEY
JUST WAITING TO GO BACK IN AND START SEARCHING
AGAIN BUT THAT DIDNT COME FOR FEW HOURS IT
DIDNT COME UNTIL AFTER SEVEN WORLD TRADE CENTER
HAD COME DOWN
THEN WE WENT BACK DID LITTLE MORE
SEARCHING ...
--FIREFIGHTER KEVIN MCGOVERN
INTERVIEW DATE DECEMBER 11 2001



We went into World Trade Seven to try
and get their standpipe system to possibly use
their water off their tank on the roof. Then
from there we met a bunch of people outside of 5,
hooked up with Darren Lebow and Kevin -- what's
Kevin's last name that used to work there?
...
We were down there
for a while until we were visced off, because
they were worried about Seven coming down.
--FIREFIGHTER MICHAEL PALONE
Interview Date: December 12, 2001



I then ended up getting moved away -- I
know I'm skipping some parts because the whole
Pat Kelly thing is in there where we went to look
for his mask and decided the heck with it,
because that put us right by where building seven
was, and Captain Verraile from 24 Engine said,
"Hey, let's just back everything off here because
this building is coming down." So we took all
the hose, equipment, everything that we could get
our hands on and pulled it out of the collapse
zone, so to speak.
--FIREFIGHTER HOWIE SCOTT
Interview Date: December 17, 2001



...Then they said that the 47 story
hotel building -- I think it's number seven --
was about to come down.
We were around for the rest of the
afternoon. At about 5:30 that did come down. We
were in the area, so we ran down the street
again. We ran east down whatever street we were
on and ran east towards Broadway....
--FIREFIGHTER EDWARD MECNER
Interview Date: December 26, 2001



After that as time went on, we just
kept searching. They were saying building seven
was going to collapse, so we regrouped and went
back to our rig. We went to building four or
three; I don't know. We were going to set up our
tower ladder there. They said no good because
building seven is coming down.
We waited for building seven to come
down. Then we went around the corner with our
tower ladder, set that up and shot water on it
until about 12:30 at night.
--FIREFIGHTER JAMES WALLACE
Interview Date: December 29, 2001



...THEN LIKE SAID BUILDING SEVEN WAS
IN EMINENT COLLAPSE THEY BLEW THE HORNS THEY
SAID EVERYONE CLEAR THE AREA UNTIL WE GOT THAT
LAST CIVILIAN OUT WE TRIED TO GIVE ANOTHER
QUICK SEARCH WHILE WE COULD BUT THEN THEY
WOULDNT LET US STAY ANYMORE
SO WE CLEARED THE AREA OUR STAGING...
--FIREFIGHTER TIERNACH CASSIDY
INTERVIEW DATE DECEMBER 30 2001
(note: this is a rather interesting interview in terms of bldg7)



And at that point they were
worried that 7 was coming down so they were calling
for everyone to back out.
So I waited for -- we waited for the boss,
Lieutenant Rohan, in the middle of the rubble and we
all walked out together back to the West Side
Highway and crossed the highway and pretty much hung
out by the marina when 7 came down.
...
they were j u s t
adamant about 7 coming down immediately. I think we
probably g o t o u t of t h a t rubble and 18 minutes l a t e r
i s when 7 came down. So I watched -- we watched.
There was a command s t a t i o n r i g h t here on Vesey. We
were here w i t h a whole group of guys. We watched 7
come down and then we went...
-FIREFIGHTER MATTHEW LONG
Interview Date: October 9, 2001




-- we went up Church, we went up
Vesey, past 7 Trade, which at the time didn't look like
it was involved, but we found later on that it was. We
crossed over. Then we wound up on vesv. No, we
wound up -- came up Vesey.
...
We then were told by PD that the area
was possibly in a collapse zone because of tower 7. We
evacuated the church.
...
I got halfway up to the corner of Church and
Vesey when tower 7 dropped, which basically the
concussion just blew me across the street and I came up
again besides, past Saint Pauls
...
-LIEUTENANT PATRICK SCARINGELLO
Interview Date: October 10, 2001




The reason we were given for why we were
moving was that 7 World Trade Center was going to
collapse or was at risk of collapsing. So we must have
been somewhere in this area where we would have had a
problem with that. But I honestly don't remember.
...
Yes, because they were worried about us.
They wanted us to move the treatment sector because of
7 World Trade Center was imminently to collapse, which,
of course, it did. In fact it did while we were
moving.
--PARAMEDIC JOSEPH CAHILL
Interview Date: October 15, 2001




There were hundreds of
firefighters waiting to -- they were waiting for 7
World Trade Center to come down as it was on
fire. It was too dangerous to go in and fight the
fire.
--ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER JAMES DRURY
Interview Date: October 16, 2001




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, an Arab man in a
suit, covered in soot, walking away in handcuffs. I
remember that distinctly, because the guy looked right
in my eyes.
--EMT MICHAEL D'ANGELO
Interview Date: October 24, 2001


the only guy that really stands
out in my mind that I remember being on the radio was
Chief Visconti. I remember him talking and giving
directions and this and that. But this is as the day
was going on and, of course, there were so many
transmissions going over. I remember him screaming
about 7, No. 7, that they wanted everybody away from 7
because 7 was 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 EDWARD KENNEDY
Interview Date: January 17, 2002