9/11 HEROES • by Guy Warren, NYFD Ladder 175
Pataki and his senior staff respond- ed. The mayor and I later went to Saint Vincent’s Hospital to check on casualties. Doctors and nurses were standing and sitting outside waiting for those who might need medical attention. Few arrived.
Little did I know then, that was a good sign for all of us. It meant the fi rst responders had done a better job than anyone could have imagined. More than 100,000 people had been rescued or evacuated.
I returned to police headquarters late that afternoon. The families of the 23 missing police offi cers from the NYPD were assembled in an auditorium, waiting for me. Meeting them was one of the most diffi cult moments of that day, but it was also one of the most inspirational. Fearing the worst, I tried to remain hopeful and optimistic. I shared their pain, but I also had great pride in our department. The family members were an inspiration to all of us. Late that night, the mayor left for home, and I left for my offi ce. Before going to headquarters, I returned to ground zero. I needed to see it again. I walked through the smoke and debris and saw a small group of
9/11 BY THE NUMBERS
Critical Activity The 9/11
terrorists may have hoped to fracture the American way of life and plunge the U.S. into chaos. It didn’t work. An economic downturn and steep rise in unempoyment was met with historic decreases in every type of crime.
10.0 9.0 8.0 7.0 6.0 5.0
4.0 3.0
2.0 1.0 0
1990 1993 1996 1999 2002 2005 2008 9/11 Attacks
800 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 0
SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistic, Federal Bureau of Investigation 60 9|11: A DECADE LATER / NEWSMAX / SEPTEMBER 2011
people walking toward me. It was the mayor and his staff. We stood there looking at the devastation.
F
or me, it was like looking into the gates of hell, the smoke, the fi res and the smell. How could this hap- pen? All in one day, I had witnessed the worst and the best in humanity: the evil that had attacked us and the courageous men and women work- ing tirelessly to rescue survivors. I slept in my offi ce that night. I awoke to the sounds of fi ghter jets patrolling our skies. New York City was a war zone. I cried, and I prayed to God for strength.
On Sept. 27, 2001, I wrote these words to Mayor Rudy Giuliani: “Just as the fi nest steel sword is forged, tempered, and strengthened by the scorching fl ame and heat of the fur- nace, shaped and edged under the repeated heavy blow of the hammer on the anvil, in similar fashion, the indomitable spirit of New Yorkers shall emerge from this fi restorm stronger, keener, and more resolute.” That spirit continues to be a bea- con to us all. May God bless our nation, those we have lost, and those who remain.
I SAW THE SOUTH TOWER fall, and I almost fell of my motorcycle. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I had a very clear view of it, and it was just so surreal to see. At ground zero, I started digging through the rubble looking for
Warren
anyone left alive. There was a huge circle where everything fell, and if you were in the circle, there was nothing moving — just total death. And there was just no way to get at anybody. Too much torn steel — even cranes couldn’t lift it up. They had to cut through with torches, it was so twisted. I mean, there were only two or three survivors that got pulled out. A couple of fi refi ghters had been trapped in the staircase with a woman. And they lived through that. Other than that, there was nobody left. Everybody was looking through tunnels and searching through underground passages and any way they could fi nd an inroad into the pile to see if there was anybody trapped, but there was just nobody left. On Thursday night, Sept. 13, they had set up a relief center on Chamber Street. As I’m lying on this cot, this guy starts washing my eyes out with a saline solution because they’re crusted with concrete and dust.
I open up my eyes, and it’s the
actor from The Sopranos, Michael Imperioli. “What’re you doing here?” I ask him in amazement. “I’m just trying to help people,” he responds.
Months later, while digging 60 feet down, to the very bottom, we found fi remen who were crushed. They were from Ladder 40, Engine 35. Everybody was missing from both the ladder company and the engine company, and everyone knew they were going to be found.
A lot of people were never found. One particular fi reman . . . we looked for months and months, and we never found him. Gone. Vaporized. No helmet, no coat — nothing. Just gone.
Violent crime rate per 100K people
Unemployment by percent
WARREN/COURTESY OF BILL MCCAY/TOURNAMENT SHOOTERS / P.61/AP IMAGES
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116
