9:03 a.m.: "You have a second plane into the other tower of the Trade Center…"
9:58 a.m.: " …a major collapse in one of the towers."
10:00 a.m.: "I can't breathe much longer. Save me!"
10:03 am.: "All units, stand by. Everybody, try to calm down…"
10:28 a.m.: "The other tower just collapsed!"
New York Releases Sept. 11 Tapes, Oral Histories
A firefighter stands in the smoking ruins of the World Trade Center
Neville Elder
The FDNY Tapes
“The Department believes that the materials being released today… will serve to further confirm the bravery and courage of our members who responded to the World Trade Center. It is the Department’s hope that the release of these records will not cause our members and their families any additional pain or anguish.”
Statement from the FDNY on the Release of 9/11 Records
9-11 Commission Report
NPR.org, August 12, 2005 · The New York Fire Department on Friday began releasing thousands of transcripts of oral histories collected from firefighters, paramedics and emergency medical technicians who responded to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Also released were hours of radio transmissions between 911 dispatchers and fire crews, visceral reminders of the confusion and horror of that day.
The more than 12,000 pages of transcripts are of interviews that the Fire Department conducted with emergency responders in October 2001.
The release comes after years of legal wrangling between the Fire Department and The New York Times. New York City officials had tried to keep the records private, but the Times and some families of those who died in the Sept. 11 attacks sued for their release.
Excerpts from the Oral Histories
"It was evident that we weren't going to be able to get to people above the fire. Based on the number of jumpers, we could only assume that hundreds of people were trapped… Then the building started to come down. My initial reaction was that this was exactly the way it looks when they show you those implosions on TV. I would have to say for three or four seconds anyway, maybe longer, I was just watching. It was interesting to watch, but the thing that woke everybody up was the cloud of black material. It reminded me of The Ten Commandments, when the green clouds come down on the street."
-- Deputy Commissioner Thomas Fitzpatrick, who was in the lobby of the north tower of the World Trade Center
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