by Dwyer, Jim
“It’s clear,” D’Allara yelled: Spade, interview.
Jay Jonas, the captain of Ladder 6: This account is drawn from an interview with Jay Jonas, January 27, 2004, by Lauren Wolfe for the authors; Gerald M. Carbone, “The Miracle of Ladder 6 and Josephine” (four parts), Providence Journal, September 11, 2002; and Dennis Smith, Report from Ground Zero: The Story of the Rescue Efforts at the World Trade Center (New York: Viking Press, 2002).
“Then I’m giving general absolution”: John Delendick, oral history, FDNY, December 6, 2001.
Epilogue
Some time later, Will Jimeno found himself buried but alive: Will Jimeno, interview by Jim Dwyer, October 29, 2001.
Those historic currents, and others: 9/11 Commission, Staff Statement 17, “Improvising a Homeland Defense,” June 17, 2004.
At scores of funerals for firefighters and police officers: See, for example, New York Daily News in 2001: October 3, October 26, November 4, December 30; also Newsday, October 6, 2001.
The interagency radios were sitting: Jerome Hauer, former director of the Office of Emergency Management, testimony before the 9/11 Commission, May 19, 2004.
It is likely that as many as 200 firefighters were inside: An analysis by the New York Times in July 2002 of eyewitness accounts of locations of the 343 dead firefighters placed 97 in the south tower; 34 in the Marriott Hotel; 13 outside any building; and at least 121 in the north tower when it collapsed. The locations of 78 could not be determined, but most of them had been assigned to the south tower. However, it is likely that they went to the north tower because they were unfamiliar with the complex, as many surviving firefighters reported. A radio tape released in November 2002 in response to a lawsuit by the Times provided additional support for this theory. It showed that very few companies made it into the south tower, and the commander in the building was calling for additional companies some forty minutes after the second plane struck. By inference, the tape suggests that fewer than 97 firefighters were in the south building. Given that 121 of the dead are known to have been in the north tower, that 78 are unaccounted for but most likely were also in the tower, and that the figure of 97 in the south tower appears to be high, it is clear that a majority of the firefighter deaths took place in the north tower.
Nearly all of the 6,000 civilians below the impact zone: An overwhelming majority of civilians who died in the north tower worked on high floors, either above the crash zone or just below it, and were trapped. Approximately 110 people who worked below the 92nd floor died; few were in a position to be helped by firefighters. Approximately 26 were trapped in their offices in the 80s, where many doors jammed, or were trying to help other people free those doors. They are not known to have had contact with the firefighters. Another 14 were Port Authority employees who left their offices on the 64th floor at 10:08. They were moving without assistance. An unknown number were trapped in the tower’s ninety-nine elevators. At least one person from the north tower was killed in the concourse during the collapse of the south tower, and others are believed to have died there. See also Dennis Cauchon, “For Many on September 11, Survival Was No Accident,” USA Today, December 20, 2001, and NIST, “WTC Victims’ Locations,” July 20, 2004.
Even so, when questions were raised in 2004: Thomas Von Essen, Bernard Kerik, Richard Sheirer, Rudolph W. Giuliani, testimony before 9/11 Commission, May 18–19, 2004. Also, Stephanie Gaskell, “Commish’s Fury—Scoppetta Fires Back at Sept. 11 Panel,” New York Post, June 3, 2004.
“On the morning of September 11, 2001, the last, best hope”: 9/11 Commission, Staff Statement 13, “Emergency Preparedness and Response,” May 18, 2004.
His old paramedic shirt torn, he plodded north: Account of the rescue of Will Jimeno based on interviews with Jimeno, Dave Karnes, Scott Strauss, and Chuck Sereika, by Jim Dwyer, October 2001.
Afterword
Injured to go home: Deborah Mardenfeld interviews, Dateline, NBC, August 31, 2003, and count of the injured from the federal claims filed as reported by Agence France Presse, “Sept. 11th Compensation Fund Expects to Pay Out $6 Billion,” Catherine Hours, June 15, 2004.
They immediately picked out Pablo Ortiz: Alan Reiss, interview by Jim Dwyer, April 30, 2002.
And Mak Hanna, who had accompanied: Mak Hanna, interview by Jim Dwyer, August 25, 2003.
When the Ortiz children held a memorial for their father: Tirsa Moya, interviews and e-mails with Jim Dwyer, August 2003–August 2004.
The accounts of Frank De Martini’s valor: e-mail from Enrico Tittarelli to Jim Dwyer, April 3, 2005.
Brian Clark and Stanley Praimnath: Brian Clark, interview by Jim Dwyer, August 4, 2004.
Having survived a plane: Stanley Praimnath, interview by Jim Dwyer, August 24, 2004.
On her way to an appointment in New Jersey: e-mail from Tirsa Moya to Jim Dwyer, August 17, 2004.
East 59th Street skyscraper: Karen Matthews, Associated Press, “Manhattan Hotel Damaged in 9/11 Attack Re-opens,” May 5, 2003, and Charles V. Bagli, “Firm That Lost 658 in Towers Finds a New Home on 59th Street,” New York Times, July 27, 2004.
The document was a 10,000-page autopsy: National Institute of Standards and Technology, “Final Report of the National Construction Safety Team on the Collapses of the World Trade Center Towers (Draft),” June 2005.
In one section, the analysts found: Jim Dwyer, “Towers Should Have Had One More Staircase, Report Finds,” New York Times, June 24, 2005, p. B7.
One of the documents: H. S. Lew, Richard W. Bukowski, Nicholas J. Carino, “Design, Construction, and Maintenance of Structural and Life Safety Systems,” NIST, p. 195.
Asked if the Port Authority: E-mail from Steve Coleman, spokesman, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, June 23, 2005.
The interviews provided searing, vivid testimony: Jim Dwyer and Michelle O’Donnell, “9/11 Firefighters Told of Isolation Amid Disaster,” New York Times, September 9, 2005, p. A1.
Particularly informative were: Jim Dwyer, Kevin Flynn, Ian Urbina, and Michelle O’Donnell, “Vast Archive Yields New View of 9/11,” New York Times, August 13, 2005, p. A1.
When they emerged: Oral history of Emergency Medical Service Chief Zachary Goldfarb, October 23, 2001.
Joseph Cahill, a paramedic: Oral history, October 15, 2001.
Manuel Delgado, a paramedic: Oral history, October 2, 2001.
Two emergency medical technicians: Oral histories of Richard Erdey and Soraya O’Donnell, both October 10, 2001.
The oral histories from the firefighters presented fresh evidence: Dwyer and O’Donnell, “9/11 Firefighters Told of Isolation Amid Disaster.”
They were carried to the upper floors: Eric Lipton, “Fire Department Gets Better Radios, but Needs Much More,” New York Times, May 30, 2004.
Some problems, however, could not be solved with battery power and bandwidth: Michelle O’Donnell, “New Terror Plan Angers Fire Dept.,” New York Times, April 22, 2005, p. A1.
The next major disaster that New York responded to: The account of the memorial service in New Orleans is based on interviews with Deputy Fire Commissioner Francis X. Gribben, Assistant Fire Chief Michael Weinlein, and New York Times reporter Al Baker by Kevin Flynn, September 2005, as well as accounts of activities in New Orleans by Erin McClam of the Associated Press, “NY Cops, Firefighters Help in N.O.,” September 10, 2005, and Patrice O’Shaughnessy of the New York Daily News, “Hero Calls WTC Duty Therapy,” September 12, 2005.
With the passing of years: Roselyn Braud interview by Jim Dwyer, September 2001; Melody Salcedo, on “Judge Hackett Show,” Sony Pictures Television, September 12, 2005.
Postscript
Each rested one hand on the casket: Jay Jonas, interview by Kevin Flynn, February 2011.
Harris rode behind him in a silver convertible: Jonas, interview by Flynn.
… a monument in Canada: Jim Algie, “New Star in Beautiful Joe Park,” Collingwood Enterprise Bulletin, May 14, 2002.
… recently filed for bankruptcy: Al
Baker, “Mourning a Woman Who Shared a 9/11 Escape,” New York Times, January 17, 2011.
At a meeting in the White House: Carol Ashley, interview by Jim Dwyer, February 13, 2009.
… often be hamstrung by delays and evasions: See, for instance, John Farmer, The Ground Truth: The Untold Story of America Under Attack on 9/11 (New York: Riverhead, 2009), an account of the commission’s struggle to get truthful information about the FAA and the deployment of air defenses on the morning of 9/11. The author, John Farmer, was senior counsel to the commission. See also Jim Dwyer, “Captain of Silence,” New York Times, October 26, 2003, and Jim Dwyer, “Errors and a Lack of Information in New York’s Response to Sept. 11,” New York Times, May 19, 2004.
… due in large part: Jim Dwyer, “Families Forced a Rare Look at Government Secrecy,” New York Times, July 22, 2004.
The United States was spending: Dana Priest and William M. Arkin, “Top Secret America,” Washington Post, July 19, 2010.
On the morning of September 11, 2001, the U.S. military: Stephen Daggett and Amy Belasco, Defense Budget for FY 2003; Data Summary, Congressional Research Service, March 29, 2002, p. 16.
Over the next decade: Sydney J. Freedberg Jr., “The Army’s Growing Pains,” National Journal, September 19, 2009.
Among them was Christian P. Engeldrum: Sean Engeldrum, interview by Jim Dwyer, 2009.
Firefighter Engeldrum was the first: Susan Edelman, “Grim Toll of 9/11 Casualties Keeps Rising,” New York Post, September 12, 2010.
… had moved to New York from South Carolina: David Worby, attorney for Sister Mahoney, interview by Kevin Flynn, March 2011.
Sister Cynthia replied: Oral history of Richard Erdey, October 10, 2001.
Days before the attacks, Zelmanowitz: Baruch Kra, “Twin Towers Saint Laid to Rest on Jerusalem’s Mount of Olives,” Ha’aretz, August 5, 2002.
“I feel more at peace with Sean’s death”: E-mail from Beverly Eckert to Jim Dwyer, February 2005.
… waterboarded 183 times: Scott Shane, “Waterboarding Used 266 Times on 2 Suspects,” New York Times, April 19, 2009.
Leaving the meeting: Kathleen Delaney, interviewed on “Larry King Live,” CNN, February 13, 2009.
The funeral arrangements: Baker, New York Times, January 17, 2011.
… even as the walls did: Monsignor John Delendick, interview by Kevin Flynn, February 2011.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported and guided by a cast of hundreds—by people who escaped the buildings, family members of those lost at the trade center, our colleagues at The New York Times and other newspapers, the editorial staff in the Times Books division of Henry Holt and Company, many past and present public servants, interested citizens, friends, and our own families. In the fabric of September 11, there are many to mourn and much to admire; we regret that we could recount only a fraction of the day’s struggles in these pages. We are grateful to all who told us of what they saw, heard, and did.
Scores of people provided voice mails, e-mails, and their recollections of conversations with loved ones inside the trade center and trapped on the upper floors. Many families were insistent that the history be told straight. We thank Nicole De Martini, Nina De Martini, Rosemary De Martini, and other members of the De Martini family, Debbie Palmer, Edna Kang Ortiz, Sally and Al Regenhard, Monica Gabrielle, Beverly Eckert, Jimmy Boyle, Iliana McGinnis, Steve and Liz Alderman, Beth Tipperman, Irma Fuller, the Eng family, the Olender family, Maureen Paglia, Lori Kane, Rita Palacios, Glenn Voght, Jim Smith, George and Mary Andrucki, Lynn Udbjorg, Dennis Kelly, Tommy Patchel, Michael and Peg Meehan and their family, Ann Johnson, Maureen Foo-Van Natten, Bernie Heeran, Jill Rosenblum, Arline Nussbaum, the Beyea family, the Zelmanowitz family, Judy Feeney, Colleen Kelly, Maureen Donegan, Peter Mulderry, Dorry Tompsett, Laurie Carter, Mary Maciejewski, Marion Biegeleisen, Elizabeth Mattson, Linda Perry Thorpe, Mary Fetchet, Kimmy Chedel, Corine Mardikian, Jessica Carucci, Vinny Camaj, Patricia Perry, Cristy Ferer.
In early 2002, a team of reporters at the Times traced the events on the upper floors of the towers and aspects of the emergency response. We drew on that research for this book, and on the insights of Ford Fessenden, James Glanz, and Eric Lipton. We were honored to share bylines with them. Anyone interested in the history of late twentieth–century New York City can turn to City in the Sky, a masterful account of the trade center’s rise and fall written by Jim and Eric. Ford and Eric helped create a framework for cataloging the research, and it has stood up well, thanks to a database designed by Tom Torok. It has been an essential and durable tool in piecing together a narrative from thousands of fragments of information. Others who worked with us on the initial newspaper projects or provided essential veins of research for this book include Alain Delaqueriere, Michelle O’Donnell, Michael Pollak, Lauren Wolfe, Joseph Plambeck, David Dunlap, Ian Urbina, Leslie Eaton, and Aron Pilhoffer. They have our thanks.
With careful reporting and illuminating artwork, visual journalists at the Times—Steve Duenes, Archie Tse, Mika Gröndahl, and James Bronzan—captured both the shape of the moment and the form of the buildings. We are especially grateful to Steve, who refined the graphics for this book.
Joe Sexton, editor and friend, read all the documents and tracked each sentence in our newspaper stories; we are better in every way because of him, his passion, his demanding intelligence, and the occasional late-hour refreshments. Paul Golob, the editorial director of Times Books, edited this manuscript with great vigor, rigor, and clarity; any writer would be fortunate indeed to have Paul’s sharp eyes on the page and wise hands around the book.
Over a period of three years, two metropolitan editors at the Times, Jon Landman and Susan Edgerley, made sure that these stones were told. We could not ask for better bosses.
This work began with the unbridled support of Howell Raines and Gerald Boyd, then executive editor and managing editor of the Times, and continued with similar backing from their successors, Bill Keller, Jill Abramson, and John Geddes. John Sterling, president and publisher of Henry Holt and Company, provided critical early guidance and support. The former editorial director of book development at the Times, Susan Chira, championed this book when it was only a couple of sentences, mumbled across a cup of coffee, and continued her efforts until she took over the world as the newspaper’s foreign editor; her successor, Alex Ward, contributed keen observations about the manuscript and marshaled graphics and many of the pictures that appear in these pages. We thank, as well, Bill Schmidt and Jennifer Preston, for their assistance.
A number of public officials believed that the history of the day, as recorded in city records, belonged in the public domain, and used informal channels to make vital material available to us. We thank them by not naming them in these pages.
In federal and state courts in New York, New Jersey, and Virginia, David McCraw, New York Times counsel, has been a resourceful, principled, and determined advocate for access to public records concerning September 11. Among other things, his advocacy led to the release of the sole radio recording of firefighters inside either building, a tape that not even the Fire Department had listened to until David argued that it was a public record whose release would not jeopardize any fights against terrorism. From it emerged the account of Orio Palmer’s race to the 78th floor of the south tower, and important revelations about the working of the radio system. David was assisted in New Jersey by another diligent lawyer, Bruce Rosen of McCusker, Anselmi, Rosen, Carvelli & Walsh, who brought an action in Superior Court that ultimately forced the Port Authority to release 2,000 pages of radio transcripts and police memoranda. In addition, Norman Siegel, a civil rights attorney in New York acting on behalf of a group of people lost at the trade center, has also been a determined advocate for the release of public records.
Paul Ginsberg, the president of Professional Audio Laboratories, enhanced certain Port Authority tape recordings and significantly improved the reliability of the transcript.
Others who pl
ayed key roles in getting this book ready are Michael Pollak, Brianna Smith, Robin Dennis, and Rita Quintas. We thank our agent and friend, Flip Brophy, and her assistant, Cia Glover, and for legal advice, Louise Sommers.
At the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, important information about the buildings and the events of the day was provided by Alan Reiss and Mike Hurley. We were also assisted by Greg Trevor, Allen Morrison, Peter Yerkes, Kevin Davitt, Steve Coleman, Frank Lombardi, and Christopher Hartwyk. We also thank Patricia Cullen, Mak Hannah, Gerry Gaeta, Gerry Drohan, George Phoenix, Shivam Iyer, Anthony Whitaker, Al DeVona, David Lim.
We thank John Auletta of Summit Security, along with John Nolan, James Flores, and Greg Trapp.
Among those who provided information about their experiences inside the trade center are Brian Clark, Dianne DeFontes, Tirsa Moya, Walter Pilipiak, Michael Sheehan, Jan Demczur, Al Smith, Tim Pearson, Joseph Baccellieri, Will Jimeno, Dave Karnes, Chuck Sereika, and Sharon Premoli. Many other people who also were generous with their time and recollections are cited in the notes section. In particular, Roberta Gordon, an attorney and friend of Frank De Martini’s family, shared with us a thoroughly researched profile of De Martini and a moving narrative of his actions. We are very grateful.
We received help on technical issues from many experts, including Nicholas Grecco, the retired chief engineer of the New York City Department of Buildings; Glenn Corbett, professor of fire safety at John Jay College of Criminal Justice of the City University of New York; retired fire chiefs Vincent Dunne, Charles Blaich, Bernard Lally, and retired firefighter and author Dennis Smith; John McFadden of Motorola and New York radio expert Eric Lustig; Greg Semendinger, a retired NYPD pilot; former officials with the city’s Office of Emergency Management, Frank McCarton, Richard Sheirer, and Jerome Hauer; the current building commissioner, Patricia J. Lancaster, the buildings department spokeswoman, Ilyse Fink, and former building commissioner Rudolph Rinaldi; on the 911 system from Gino Menchini; Charles Brecher of the Citizens Budget Commission; on evacuation issues, Jake Pauls and Robyn Gershon; Won-Young Kim of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University; Shyam Sunder and Michael Newman of the National Institute of Standards and Technology; and Jack J. Murphy of the Fire Safety Directors Association. We also thank George Taylor, Bernie Patton, Martin J. Steadman, and Darlene Dwyer for their assistance.
