Take A Pause This Week

[A Life Aloft]

Over 229 Firefighters have reportedly died of their 9/11 injuries since 9/11 and more are expected in the coming years.
The Fire Department of New York lost 343 firefighters on 9/11. Many more are battling illnesses believed to stem from the contaminated air at the site.

Many have more than one type of cancer.

17 years after the 2001 attacks, the list of the fallen continues to grow as police officers, firefighters, first responders and recovery workers succumb to illnesses linked to their work in the aftermath of the attacks.

In New York alone, an estimated 60,000 to 70,000 responders worked at ground zero, sometimes for weeks, in the aftermath of the attacks. They included police officers, firefighters, medical personnel, National Guard Units, construction workers, volunteers as well as other Military units.

Tens of thousands of the first responders are many times more likely to develop certain cancers and other diseases than the general populace is.

The number of responders and civilians who have various cancers linked to 9/11 is more than 7,000 cases. Over 2,100 Firefighters and EMS personnel have had to retire on disabilities from working at ground zero.

71 LEOs were killed in the collapse of both of the World Trade Towers. 114 LEOs have died from illness directly related to the 9/11 attacks on this nation. Many more have illnesses but are still alive.

For those living with the various illnesses and diseases related to 9/11, there is no road home.

 

[MikeD]

The massive amount of particulates, toxins, chemicals and whatever other crap was in the very heavy dust of the WTC towers collapse is going to end up killing more than the collapse did. Both responders as well as civilians. The fallout from this tragedy sadly isnt confined to that day on Sept 11th. Ground zero had to be worked immediately following the collapse, without time to have all the proper precautions, and many people did the work that had to be done, whether they realized the hidden danger or not. And have been paying the price for it.

 

[A Life Aloft]

The massive amount of particulates, toxins, chemicals and whatever other crap was in the very heavy dust of the WTC towers collapse is going to end up killing more than the collapse did. Both responders as well as civilians. The fallout from this tragedy sadly isnt confined to that day on Sept 11th. Ground zero had to be worked immediately following the collapse, without time to have all the proper precautions, and many people did the work that had to be done, whether they realized the hidden danger or not. And have been paying the price for it.

You are sadly correct. Thus far, at least 2,100 civilians (and probably many more) have died from often lingering, painful deaths resulting from illnesses related to their exposure to the debris that spread from the wreckage of the World Trade Center towers. More than 39,000 are officially recognized as sick from various cancers and illnesses from the 9/11 attacks.

The debris left by the twin towers, the main concentration of which became known as “the pile”, contained asbestos, lead, glass, heavy metals, concrete, poisonous gases, oil, various chemicals and other dangerous substances that mixed with exploding jet fuel, the contents of hundreds of offices and dead bodies to fill the air and cover the entire area around the site. The first responders were all covered in the debris "dust" as were the civilians for miles around the area.

 

[Bob Ridpath]

Another year passes ...

 

[MikeD]

The fact that firefighters made it up to the 78th floor of the South Tower/2 of the WTC, began rescue and firefighting operations before the collapse of this tower, is pretty miraculous. FDNY Batallion 7, Batallion 9, and Ladder Company 15, some of the first arriving units at the scene, had taken one of the only operable elevators to the 41st floor. From there, it was hiking up stairwells in full gear and with equipment, to where UA175 had impacted: between the 78th and 84th floors of WTC 2. Batallion 7s crew was the first to arrive on floor 78, where the Tower 2 Sky Lobby was located, and came across two large pockets of fire as well as an estimated 200 civilians, many of which were injured or killed when the left wing of the 767 sliced through the Sky Lobby. Batallion 9, along with Ladder 15 OV, remained at the 40th floor and was trying to get at least two CFRD engine crews up to that floor, while 15s OV crewman began to cycle survivors down the main elevator with survivors from the 78th floor and higher, but the elevator got stuck. Batallion 7 crew, as well as eventually Ladder 15, Ladder 15 Irons, and Ladder 15 roof, began a fire attack on the two pockets of fire they encountered using the wall lines on the floor, while Batallion 7 was working a plan to evac people from the Sky Lobby. By this time there was about 5 minutes remaining before Tower 2 would collapse, killing the crews and civilians involved, along with many many more. For many months, there had been question on just how far firefighters had made it up in both WTC towers, as the only known audio tape of FDNY interior communications had gone missing in the aftermath until it was discovered. Many had believed that firefighters had only made it to around floor 50, but the tape proved otherwise.

 

[MikeD]

An iconic photo from 9/11 of the last run of FDNY Ladder 118 / Brooklyn Heights, as photographed by Aaron McLamb. McLamb captured the image of the lone tiller-ladder truck as it raced across the Brooklyn Bridge to the scene of the WTC. The 6 man crew of Ladder 118 was last seen at the Marriott WTC hotel, adjacent to WTC 2, running up the stairs of the building before the collapse of WTC 2. A number of the 900+ guests evacuated from the Marriott remember firemen with "118" on their helmets evacuating them. It was more than 2 months later, when recovery personnel at ground zero, digging through and removing rubble from the WTC buildings, came across Ladder Company tools emblazoned with Ladder 118 company logos. Shortly after, the 6 bodies of the Ladder 118 crew were discovered near one another. Pictured below, as with many FDNY firehouses that lost personnel, the Brooklyn Heights station of Engine 205 / Ladder 118, still displays the untouched and unchanged chalkboard duty roster of Ladder 118 from Tuesday, September 11, 2001, on the wall of the station truck bay.

 

[A Life Aloft]

Another thing is that I have rarely witnessed such bravery as I saw from the Police and Firemen on 9/11. I haven't been on the battlefield where such courage exists as the norm, but just from what I saw on tv, it was stunning and horrible. Various scenes, Firemen standing in the lobby of the second tower after the first tower had collapsed,with all this heavy equipment, hoses, pry bars, axes, oxygen tanks, medical kits, etc. It would take them a very long time to climb all the stairs to get to any survivors, knowing the first tower had already collapsed, but without a flinch, without hesitation, they went.

Firemen and Police standing in the lobby of the first tower and every few minutes you would hear glass breaking and a thud. You would see them bow their heads or close their eyes or make the sign of the cross, or wipe a tear away. It was the sound of people jumping from the upper floors to escape the fires.

The next morning outside at ground zero there was a calcophony of this electric chirping sort of sound and it was coming from just everywhere. I had no idea what the hell these sounds were. Finally a reporter explained that this was the sound of the little distress signal units that Firemen wear. This was the sound of the hundreds of them buried among the rubble. I still cannot get that sound out of my head to this day.

There was one small Fire Station where every Firefighter died in the collapse of the towers. Only one Firefighter survived. He had been on vacation. When he saw the news, he tried to get back to Manhattan but all the roads and bridges were blocked. So he left his car on one of the bridges and ran all the way to his Firehouse. He donned his equipment and ran to ground zero.

One of the Firefighters lost both of his brothers who were also Firefighters when the towers collapsed and he spent weeks looking for their and others bodies. Only one brother was ever found.

After the collapse of both towers three Firemen found an American flag on the ground and picked it up. They saw a bent flagpole in the distance by a construction trailer. They carried the flag there and hoisted it.

Hundreds of Firemen who had the day off and after the collapse made their way to their respective stations and with no vehicles left, you see them geared up running in the streets towards ground zero.......you see some of them hitching rides on city buses, on the backs of ambulances, on garbage trucks, on delivery vans, on any kind of transportation that they could find.

All these memories and so many more. It's like it was yesterday. On a day when buildings fell, heroes rose.

 

[A Life Aloft]

It's always on my mind as the anniversary nears.....there was Father Mychal Judge. He was the NY Fire Department Chaplain who was inside the burning World Trade Center administering last rites to a dying firefighter when a piece of debris struck him on the head, killing him. You see the photos and the videos of the Fire Fighters carrying him from the building. Breaks your heart.

There was Officer James Leary who was off on 9/11. He immediately went to ground zero and was seen carrying oxygen tanks into the building. Tapes that recorded his voice were later found, revealing that Leahy’s last words to his partner were that there were more people upstairs and he was going to help them.

Officer Ramon Suarez ...... he kept racing in and out of Tower Two carrying people in his arms to safety. The last time he entered the tower, it collapsed moments later.

Port Authority Officer James Nelson, he was killed while evacuating people from the 27th floor after refusing to leave the building and the people who were still trapped inside.

Officer John Perry, he was filing his retirement papers at the precinct so that he could become a medical malpractice lawyer. After hearing about the attacks, Perry ran several blocks to the World Trade Center. Before running into the building, Officer Perry helped a woman who fainted. The last anyone saw of Perry was as he ran into the south tower. Then it collapsed.

Officer Thomas Officer Jurgens was trained as a medic in the Army before signing on with the New York State Office of the courts. On September 11th, Officer Jurgens was inside the first tower. As the tower’s structural integrity worsened, Officer Jurgens was warned to get out. The last radio transmission from Jurgens was: “There are people here who need our help.”

Officer Kenneth Tietjen, it was his day off, when he heard about the attack he took a cab away from it's driver, and drove to ground zero. He then rushed into the North tower, and rescued several people. When he emerged from the building, he and his partner realized that there was only one respirator left. Officer Tietjen smiled at his partner and said, “Seniority rules.” He then grabbed the respirator and rushed back into the tower, just before it collapsed.

Officer Dominick Pezzulo was stationed at the doors of a New York bus terminal when he heard the call for help at the World Trade Center. He and four other Officers commandeered a bus and drove to the the scene. Once inside, one of his fellow officers became trapped under a large slab of concrete. Working under extremely cramped conditions, Officer Pezzulo attempted to free the Officer. The collapse of the second tower triggered the settling of debris, and Officer Pezzulo became trapped under a concrete wall. Mortally wounded, Officer Pezzulo fired a shot from his service revolver to try and summon rescue workers. He died of his injuries.

 

[A Life Aloft]

Upon hearing the news of the attacks on the Twin Towers, U.S. Marine Veteran Jason Thomas donned his military uniform and made his way to Ground Zero. "Someone needed help. It didn't matter who", Thomas recounted later. "I didn't even have a plan. But I have all this training as a Marine, and all I could think was: my city is in need". Thomas joined forces with another U.S. Marine Veteran David Karnes and armed with just flashlights and a shovel, they set out in search of survivors. Darkness had enveloped the scene by the time they discovered two Port Authority police officers buried in the rubble. Both officers were subsequently rescued and after another two and a half weeks helping at Ground Zero, Thomas returned to his life without even telling his family about the rescues. It wasn't until years later when Thomas was inaccurately portrayed in Oliver Stone's film, World Trade Center, that his true identity came to light.

 

[MikeD]

One of the very sad parts of the situation at the WTC, were the survivors of the impact of the airliners both on, as well as above, the impact floors, who were seen both on video, as well as by helicopter crews as they waved for help and to let people know they were alive. The fact that any of these people survived on the impact floors, to be seen standing at the edge of the gaping holes left by the airliners after they crashed into the buildings, is nothing short of amazing. Sadly, and unknown to these people at the time, there was no rescue available capability-wise, for the unknown-at-the-time remaining minutes before the towers would collapse. Helicopters could not land on either WTC roof due to heavy smoke obscuring the rooftops, heavy amounts of heat, and numerous obstructions such as antenna farms that had been installed over the decades to the rooftops. In any event, the access doors to the roofs had been locked in order to discourage suicide jumpers from accessing the top of the WTC buildings. Only in 1993, had rescues been made off the rooftop of the WTC during the 1993 bombing, and this had been done in bad weather. And hoisting or long-line operations were not possible on the sides of the buildings due to the same heat and smoke conditions.

One of these people seen as well as captured in still photos as well as video, is reportedly Ms Edna Cintron, 46, an employee of the insurance firm Marsh and McLennan, located on the 97th floor of WTC 1 North tower. She had somehow survived the impact of the American 11 as the 767 crashed its way through WTC 1 between the 93rd and 99th floors of the building, and was seen for quite some time standing in the hole made by AA11, with fires burning further in the interior of the building. Seen in the same photos are a few other unidentified persons on different floors of the hole made by the 767 including an unidentified man without a shirt, also waving for help.

Worse than this, were the estimated 200+ people forced to either burn to death, suffocate to death, or choose to jump from the WTC buildings. In WTC 1 / North tower, from the impacted floors above 93, that is a 1000'+ fall.

First photo show Edna Cintron reportedly to the right of the photo in a blue shirt and khaki pants, and the unidentified man with no shirt on at the far left of the photo standing between pillars. In the photo below that, you can again see Ms Cintron and following the arrow up and to the right, is an unidentified person wearing a green shirt. And lastly, a wide-angle shot of the 97th floor area of WTC 1 to show scale.

Graphic

 

[A Life Aloft]

62-year-old Rick Rescorla was a Veteran of both the British and American Army, working in corporate security for Morgan Stanley/Dean Witter on the 44th floor of the south tower. When the tower was struck, Witter ignored intercom instructions for workers to remain at their desks and immediately began assisting people in leaving the building. As he directed people out, he boosted spirits by singing songs of his native Cornwall, England.

He called his wife, Susan, who had been watching the attacks on TV. The New Yorker recounts some of his last words to her: "Stop crying," he said. "I have to get these people out safely. If something should happen to me, I want you to know I've never been happier. You made my life."

Rescorla then contacted a friend, Dan Hill, and asked him to call his wife to calm her down. He is credited with saving most of the lives of Morgan Stanley's workers that day. His remains were never found.

 

[A Life Aloft]

One of the very sad parts of the situation at the WTC, were the survivors of the impact of the airliners both on, as well as above, the impact floors, who were seen both on video, as well as by helicopter crews as they waved for help and to let people know they were alive. The fact that any of these people survived on the impact floors, to be seen standing at the edge of the gaping holes left by the airliners after they crashed into the buildings, is nothing short of amazing. Sadly, and unknown to these people at the time, there was no rescue available capability-wise, for the unknown-at-the-time remaining minutes before the towers would collapse. Helicopters could not land on either WTC roof due to heavy smoke obscuring the rooftops, heavy amounts of heat, and numerous obstructions such as antenna farms that had been installed over the decades to the rooftops. In any event, the access doors to the roofs had been locked in order to discourage suicide jumpers from accessing the top of the WTC buildings. Only in 1993, had rescues been made off the rooftop of the WTC during the 1993 bombing, and this had been done in bad weather. And hoisting or long-line operations were not possible on the sides of the buildings due to the same heat and smoke conditions.

One of these people seen as well as captured in still photos as well as video, is reportedly Ms Edna Cintron, 46, an employee of the insurance firm Marsh and McLennan, located on the 97th floor of WTC 1 North tower. She had somehow survived the impact of the American 11 as the 767 crashed its way through WTC 1 between the 93rd and 99th floors of the building, and was seen for quite some time standing in the hole made by AA11, with fires burning further in the interior of the building. Seen in the same photos are a few other unidentified persons on different floors of the hole made by the 767 including an unidentified man without a shirt, also waving for help.

Worse than this, were the estimated 200+ people forced to either burn to death, suffocate to death, or choose to jump from the WTC buildings. In WTC 1 / North tower, from the impacted floors above 93, that is a 1000'+ fall.

First photo show Edna Cintron reportedly to the right of the photo in a blue shirt and khaki pants, and the unidentified man with no shirt on at the far left of the photo standing between pillars. In the photo below that, you can again see Ms Cintron and following the arrow up and to the right, is an unidentified person wearing a green shirt. And lastly, a wide-angle shot of the 97th floor area of WTC 1 to show scale.

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Graphic

It is estimated that over 200 people jumped to their deaths from the towers that day, rather than be consumed by fire. It is one of the worst incidents that I have ever seen in my entire life. Some jumped together and held hands. Others jumped alone. I saw one poor man that had jumped and he fell onto the roof of a small adjacent building that was only a few stories tall and he passed right through the roof like it was made of paper and left nothing behind but a dark hole in the roof. I couldn’t get that image out of my mind. He was possibly someone’s husband or Father or brother and certainly someone’s son. I cannot to this day fathom the agony and the desperateness of such a horrendous decision or what they might have felt or thought in those awful moments on the way down. How many had been innocently sitting at their desks or standing in their offices having a cup of coffee and were instantly incinerated?

 

[A Life Aloft]

Ronald Paul Bucca was a Fire Marshal with 23 years on the job with FDNY. An Army Special Forces reservist, Bucca was known as "The Flying Fireman" after a spectacular fall from a tenement fire escape. Bucca, a marathon runner, died responding to the 78th floor of the south tower moments before it collapsed.