by Dwyer, Jim
Prologue
First into the office: Interview with Dianne DeFontes by Jim Dwyer, August 25, 2003.
… one of 14,154 people: The number of people in the towers has been consistently and substantially overestimated, often merged with the total population of all seven buildings in the complex, along with the commuters who passed through the concourse coming or going from one of the six train lines that connected to the complex. The average turnstile count was provided by Alan Reiss, former director, World Trade Department, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey; surveys of the actual building population on the morning, performed by the New York Times and USA Today, are consistent with that figure. In July 2004, NIST estimated the total population of the towers as no more than 17,400.
Another 940 were registered: Kathy Duffy, Marriott, interview by Jim Dwyer, June 2002.
On 88, Frank and Nicole De Martini: Nicole De Martini, interview by Jim Dwyer, August 26, 2003.
… his colleague, Jim Connors: Mak Hanna, interview by Jim Dwyer, August 25, 2003.
Alan Reiss ran world trade department: Alan Reiss, interview by Jim Dwyer, April 30, 2002.
Most of the 91st floor: Mike McQuaid, interview by Ford Fessenden, May 2002.
Tom McGinnis, who normally worked: Iliana McGinnis, interview by Jim Dwyer, May 2002.
… the firm’s managing director, David Kravette: David Kravette, interview by Joseph Plambeck for the authors, July 13, 2004.
Yasyuka Shibata had arrived: Yasyuka Shibata, interview by Jim Dwyer, February 26, 1993.
The pursuit of bombers: Jim Dwyer, David Kocieniewski, Dee Murphy, and Peg Tyre, Two Seconds under the World: Terror Comes to America (New York: Crown Publishers, 1994).
Not long after the bombing: NIST, Progress Report on the Federal Building and Fire Safety Investigation of the World Trade Center Disaster, Gaithersburg, Md., May 2003.
The structural engineer explained: Leslie E. Robertson, interview by Jim Dwyer, February 27, 1993.
As Liz Thompson arrived: The description of the morning at Windows on the World is based on interviews by Kevin Flynn in 2002 with Liz Thompson, Geoffrey Wharton, and Michael Nestor, as well as with relatives of people who died, and with members of the restaurant staff who had not yet arrived that morning.
A few strides behind: The compelling story of the last elevator out of Windows on the World was first reported by Lisa DePaulo in “The Last Day of Windows on the World,” Talk magazine, December 2001.
Chapter 1: “It’s a bomb, let’s get out of here.”
A bomb, Dianne DeFontes thought: Dianne DeFontes, Walter Pilipiak, Akane Ito, Rob Sibarium, interviews by Jim Dwyer, May 2002 and August 2003.
Mike McQuaid, the electrician: Mike McQuaid, interview by Ford Fessenden, May 2002.
In the lobby, David Kravette: David Kravette, interview by Joseph Plambeck for the authors, July 13, 2004; The Early Show, CBS News, September 19, 2001.
She dropped the phone: Louis Massari, Laurie Kane, Abigail Carter, interviews by New York Times staff members, October 2001–May 2002.
At another breakfast: Alan Reiss, interview by Jim Dwyer, April 30, 2002.
As soon as Gerry Gaeta: Gerry Gaeta, interview with Jim Dwyer, August 2003.
Down the hall, Nicole De Martini: Nicole De Martini, interview by Jim Dwyer, August 2003.
A window washer named Jan Demczur: Jan Demczur, interview by Jim Dwyer, October 4, 2001.
In fact, its lower wing cut the ceiling: NIST, “Progress Report on the Federal Building and Fire Safety Investigation of the WTC Disaster,” June 2004, Gaithersburg, Md., p. 5.
Aviles worked for the Port Authority: Ezra Aviles, transcript of voice mail, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, September 11, 2001.
Then he phoned his wife: Mildred Aviles, interview by Jim Dwyer, April 2002.
In the police bureau: Reiss, interview.
Flight 11 had hit 1 World Trade Center: NIST, “Progress Report,” p. 5.
The plane itself was fractionalized: Federal Emergency Management Agency (hereafter FEMA), World Trade Center Building Performance Study, May 2002, pp. 2–30.
The impact registered: From the website of Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, report on the World Trade Center disaster, noted at http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/LCSN/Eq/20010911_wtc.html.
Chapter 2: “It’s going to be the top story of the day.”
The 1993 bombing: Jim Dwyer, David Kocieniewski, Dee Murphy, Peg Tyre, Two Seconds under the World: Terror Comes to America (New York: Crown Publishers, 1994).
… a company that handled $200 billion a day: Garban ICAP website, www.icap.com.
Sheehan ran Nemeth down: Michael Sheehan, interview by Jim Dwyer, December 5, 2003.
He left a voice-mail message: Tape of voice mails provided by Beverly Eckert, April 2002.
Richard Fern neither heard nor saw: Richard Fern e-mail to Eric Lipton, May 2002.
On the trading floor: Patricia Emerson, interview by Jim Dwyer, December 26, 2003.
The place was crammed: Pictures of the Euro Brokers office at 2 WTC posted at www.ebi.com.
Mardovich and nine others: Emerson, interview.
More fire wardens appeared: Brian Clark interview by Jim Dwyer, August 5, 2004; interview by Eric Lipton, May 2002.
These wardens, like Jose Marrero: Mike Hurley, fire-safety director, World Trade Center, interview by Jim Dwyer, April 10, 2002.
After fires in two new skyscrapers: Comments on proposed building code revisions by O’Hagan in 1966 to the 1968 code were provided by Tom Lally, who oversaw building code issues for the Fire Department. O’Hagan served simultaneously in the 1970s as both the fire commissioner, a position appointed by the mayor, and as chief of department, a civil service title.
But when it came to complying: Michael Goodwin, “Trade Center Getting Sprinklers at $45 Million Cost; Only One Major Fire; Noncompliance Is Rampant,” New York Times, March 13, 1981, p. A1.
… the fitful role fire-safety issues: Mike Hurley, interview by Jim Dwyer and Kevin Flynn, February 2004.
A private contractor: Graham Rayman, “Sky Lobby Questions; Could Safety Officers Have Helped Towers’ Evacuation?” Newsday, April 11, 2002, p. A4.
Instead he contacted his counterpart: Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, transcript, World Trade Center, Channel 17, September 11, 2001.
The messages had been delivered: Michael Otten, interview by Lauren Wolfe for the authors, December 11, 2003.
For Stephen Miller: Stephen Miller, interview by Lauren Wolfe for the authors, December 8, 2003.
Perhaps more important: Otten, interview.
Joined by a group: Katrina Brooker, “Starting Over,” Fortune, January 21, 2002, p. 50.
They began operations: Christian Murray, “To Honor Those Who Have Died,” Newsday, September 8, 2003, p. F6.
On the morning of September 11: Gorsuch account from Murray, “To Honor Those Who Have Died”; yachts, description of Sandler, from Brooker, “Starting Over.”
But one of his partners: Brooker, “Starting Over.”
Nearly 200 feet below: John Duffy and Mary S. Schaeffer, Triumph over Tragedy (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2002), pp. 5–38, 132.
The board of KBW: Duffy and Schaeffer, p. 36.
A veteran of the 1993 bombing: Linda Perry Thorpe, interview by Jim Dwyer, May 2002.
Vadas had just called: Kris McFerren, interview by Ford Fessenden, May 2002.
Will De Riso, a salesman: “Former ND Athlete Sprints down Tower,” South Bend Tribune, September 13, 2001.
Two women from the information technology: Duffy and Schaeffer, p. 62.
He heard other traders: Duffy and Schaeffer, p. 54.
Bradley Fetchet, a twenty-four-year-old: Audio tape played at the 9/11 Commission hearings on March 31, 2003.
Of the eight Mulderry children: Peter Mulderry, interview by Jim Dwyer, May 2003.
Chapter 3: “Mom, I’m not calling to chat.”
Gerry W
ertz, a purchasing manager: Gerry Wertz, interview by Joseph Plambeck, June 3, 2004.
The worker in McQuaid’s crew: Mike McQuaid, interview by Ford Fessenden, May 2002.
Eugene heard his brother put down the phone: Eugene Meehan, interview by Jim Dwyer, October 2001.
Garth Feeney did not work in the trade center: Judy Feeney, interview by Kevin Flynn, April 2002.
Actually, the restaurant was well above: NIST, “Visual Data Collection and Analysis,” December 2, 2003.
Doris Eng, who had spent the first part of the morning: Lisa DePaulo, “The Last Day of Windows,” Talk, December 2001.
… emerging in billowing, ghastly clouds: NIST, “Progress Report on the Federal Building and Fire Safety Investigation of the WTC Disaster,” June 2004, Gaithersburg, Md., p. 29.
During the first ten minutes after the crash: NYPD statistic, hearing of Federal Communications Commission, November 16, 2001, Brooklyn, N.Y.
Officer Steve Maggett answered one of the lines: Transcript of phone conversation, Port Authority Police Department, September 11, 2001.
The wind load on an ordinary day: Thomas Eagar and Christopher Musso, “Why Did the World Trade Center Collapse? Science, Engineer and Speculation,” JOM, 53 (12) (2001): 8–11.
In the instant after the plane struck: James Glanz, “In Collapsing Towers, a Cascade of Failures,” New York Times, November 11, 2001.
It looked as if the structural engineers: Leslie E. Robertson, interviews by Jim Dwyer, February 28, 1993; March 1994; see also, James Glanz and Eric Lipton, City in the Sky (New York: Times Books/Henry Holt, 2003).
So they did what humans do: Jim Dwyer, Eric Lipton, Kevin Flynn, James Glanz, Ford Fessenden, “Fighting to Live as the Towers Died,” New York Times, May 26, 2002. A comprehensive survey by the Times of post-impact communications from the two towers found that while hundreds of people probably died on the 15 floors impacted in the towers (94 through 99 in the north tower, and 77 through 85 in the south), that was less than half the area where people were trapped, which included the top 19 floors of the north tower and the top 33 of the south tower. Virtually all 658 employees of Cantor Fitzgerald who died survived the initial impact, as did 69 people in Carr Futures; 66 in Sandler O’Neill, and many of the 176 who died from Aon.
A friend of Kelly’s: Colleen Kelly and Maureen Donegan, interviews by Kevin Flynn, April 2002.
Alderman heard from a colleague: Copies of e-mail provided by Liz Alderman.
Greg Trevor, an authority spokesman: Trevor detailed his experience in a written account provided to the authors.
At a stairway landing: Details of Beyea’s and Zelmanowitz’s relationship and their movements that day are based on interviews by Kevin Flynn and Lauren Wolfe with Beyea’s nurse, Irma Fuller, and his mother, Janet Beyea; Zelmanowitz’s brother, Jack Zelmanowitz; Beyea’s wife, Paulinita; several rescuers who saw them that day, including Fire Capt. Jay Jonas and firefighter Rich Billy, Port Authority police officer David Lion; civilians in the building, including Keith Meerholz and Patricia Cullen.
Chapter 4: “We have no communication established up there yet.”
In the lobby of the north tower: Lloyd Thompson, interview by Ian Urbina, New York Times, May 2004.
His message went nowhere: Timing and futility of the evacuation order over the public-address system is a finding of the National 9/11 Commission, Statement 13, May 2004.
Even the simplest advice: Jim Dwyer, Eric Lipton, Kevin Flynn, James Glanz, Ford Fessenden, “Fighting to Live as the Towers Died,” New York Times, May 26, 2002.
Several blocks away at the Court Officers Academy: Joseph Baccellieri, interviews by Kevin Flynn, May 2002 and November 2003.
The fireball of exploding jet fuel: National 9/11 Commission, Statement 13.
He had heard Flight 11 screeching: Jules Naudet, video footage.
His first message began at 8:46:43: Time of Pfeifer transmission from Manhattan dispatch tape 432, September 11, 2001, job 1-44. Time of impact from National Institute of Standards and Technology, “December 2003: Public Update on the Federal Building and Fire Safety Investigation of the World Trade Center Disaster,” Special Publication 1000-4, p. 13.
Ninety seconds after the plane struck: Manhattan dispatch tape.
The brothers had become regulars: Jonathan Storm, “Surprise Witness,” Philadelphia Inquirer, March 10, 2002.
The routine made for hearty fellowship: CBS TV documentary, 9/11, March 10, 2002.
More than 225 fire units would go: McKinsey and FDNY statistic, McKinsey Report, August 2002.
In the brave, pell-mell rush: Deputy Fire Commissioner Stephen Gregory, testimony to Federal Communications Commission, November 16, 2001.
Among them were seventeen rookies: from www.ChristianRegenhard.com.
They were both low-key commanders: Details of the brothers’ lives were reported in “Portraits of Grief,” by Jim Dwyer, New York Times, November 25, 2001, and in “‘He Was a Quiet Guy Who Made a Difference,’” by Jennifer Smith, Newsday, November 18, 2001.
Kevin didn’t say much in reply: Joseph Pfeifer account to Firehouse, April 2002.
They could not handle what confronted them: Deputy Chief Albert Turi, chief of safety, FDNY, interview by Kevin Flynn, May 2002.
Each hose could shoot 250 gallons: Deputy Chief Vincent Dunn (ret.), interview by Kevin Flynn, January 2002.
So the three chiefs in charge: Chief Joseph Callan, Fire Department of New York, oral history, November 2, 2001.
Still others were assigned floors: The operational details for the first few minutes were derived from several interviews with Pfeifer and Deputy Chief Peter Hayden, including those published by Firehouse magazine, April 2002, and conducted by the FDNY, as well as their statements as captured in footage shot by the Naudet brothers.
Among the most experienced chiefs: Donald J. Burns, “Operations in Tower 1,” The World Trade Center Bombing: Report and Analysis, United States Fire Administration, 1994.
With the guests herded onto the lower floor: Owners and managers of the restaurant, including David Emil and Glenn Vogt, interviews by Kevin Flynn, April 2002.
People farther away were to leave: Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Fire Safety Plan for the World Trade Center, New York, 1997.
The operators for the 911 system: National 9/11 Commission, Statement 13.
Ivhan Carpio, a worker at the restaurant: Andrew Jacobs, “Things Were Going So Well,” New York Times, September 26, 2001, and Dwyer, Lipton, Flynn, Glanz, Fessenden, New York Times, May 26, 2002.
Christine Olender now called the police desk: Port Authority police transcript, September 11, 2001.
The console at the fire command desk: Oral histories, New York Fire Department, October–December 2001.
Few departments equal the rigor of New York City’s: A Naval War College study, conducted two months after September 11, 2001, concluded: “As a function of command and control, it was evident that the Fire Department has no formal system to evaluate problems or develop plans for multiple complex events. It was equally evident that the Fire Department has conducted very little formal planning at the operational level.” Cited in “Fatal Confusion: A Troubled Emergency Response; 9/11 Exposed Deadly Flaws in Rescue Plan,” New York Times, July 7, 2002, p. 1.
Though the FDNY rarely lacked for resources: Citizens Budget Commission, “Financial and Service Indicators, 1990–2002,” available at www.cbcny.org, shows that expenditures for the Fire Department increased from $858.6 million in fiscal 1992 to $1.1 billion in fiscal 2002. In constant 2002 dollars, this represented an increase of 29 percent, or $253 million. The numbers of fires in the city declined by 46 percent during that period, from 100, 429 to 54,327.
The New York Police Department had figured this out: Testimony of Chief Ari Wax of the NYPD to the Federal Communication Commission, November 16, 2001.
… where buildings seldom topped six stories: Chief Vincent Dunn and Fire Chief Nicholas Visconti (ret.), inte
rviews by Kevin Flynn, 2002.
… a department that resisted technological change: One of those who acknowledged that the agency has not always embraced change was Office of Emergency Management commissioner Richard Sheirer, a former FDNY dispatcher.
… Fire Department had also issued new handheld radios: This synopsis of the FDNY history of using portable radios was derived from interviews with Motorola officials and with retired Chief Vincent Dunn, by Kevin Flynn, January 2002; and from Chief John T. O’Hagan, High-Rise/Fire & Life Safety (Saddle Brook, N.J.: Pennwell Publications, 1977).
… the new radios were pulled from service: This debate ended when the new digital radios, reprogrammed to work in the more familiar analog mode, were redistributed to firefighters in 2003 and did not generate significant complaints.
It had been tested only a few months earlier: Synopsis of communication improvements to WTC are based on interviews with Alan Reiss, a PA official, by Jim Dwyer, in 2002, and FDNY records of radio tests within the buildings.
… police officers summoned at 8:56: McKinsey and Company report to NYPD, 2002, provides chronology for dispatch of officers to the scene.
… about 1,000 officers would be responding: Deployment total from 9/11 Commission, Statement 13.
Some teams did check in: 9/11 Commission, Statement 13.
They did not bicker: In May 2004, a staff report from the 9/11 Commission stated that police and fire commanders did not coordinate their activities. In an interview with the New York Times, published July 7, 2002, Fire Commissioner Thomas Von Essen stated, “That day, the police did not hook up with the Fire Department. I don’t know why.” Former police commissioner Bernard Kerik, however, testified at a 9/11 Commission hearing that he saw a police sergeant serving as a liaison to the fire command post. No witnesses corroborate Kerik’s account. The sergeant is dead and no fire officer, including those at the command post, say that they saw any coordination between the departments. An hour after the first plane hit, one police commander, Chief Thomas Purtell of the Emergency Service Unit, did try to make his way to the fire command post, according to an oral history by his aide, but the south tower collapsed before the chief could get there.
