Where Were You On 9/11/01?

[MoFire390 118]

Since today is the saddest day for our brothers and sisters in the FDNY, as well as NYPD, and the PAPD. I figured I would ask where were you on this fateful day??

Seeing some of you start putting where you were I figured why not start a thread.

I was in my English class when the first plane hit when the second plane hit I was in health. Just thinking that this was not accident. What would be the coincidence of 2 planes hit the worlds tallest buildings? It wasn't until I heard the princepal from the school get on and say that they would be closing school because of the events that had taken place. When I got home I found my dad with the news on and kept seeing the video footage of the second plane hitting the towers. Then as I walked out of the house the first tower fell. I went and met my brother and my 2 cousins at the bus stop and took them to the house until my aunt got home.

[Guest]

Since today is the saddest day for our brothers and sisters in the FDNY, as well as NYPD, and the PAPD. I figured I would ask where were you on this fateful day??

Seeing some of you start putting where you were I figured why not start a thread.

I was in my English class when the first plane hit when the second plane hit I was in health. Just thinking that this was not accident. What would be the coincidence of 2 planes hit the worlds tallest buildings? It wasn't until I heard the princepal from the school get on and say that they would be closing school because of the events that had taken place. When I got home I found my dad with the news on and kept seeing the video footage of the second plane hitting the towers. Then as I walked out of the house the first tower fell. I went and met my brother and my 2 cousins at the bus stop and took them to the house until my aunt got home.

I was working in Tarrytown, and watching all of this unfold. At one point I heard what sounded like Jets right above us and my first thought was, that ain't right, they downed all aircrafts. This scared me until I realized the sound came from two F-15s flying in circles, in formation, patrolling the skies.

Edited September 11, 2008 by 227of133

[Guest TomStrech]

I was in sixth grade social studies class...It is weird how that is still clear as day inside my head.

[Guest]

I was in class before they called us into our homerooms and told us what had happened. I knew right away it wasn't an accident. We were sent home then and I remember watching the news footage of the whole incident, then going outside with some of my friends and thinking how eerie it was to not see any planes flying overhead. I was waiting for my father to come back from his shift, I remember that he was being sent towards the site to backfill, I'm not sure exactly where he ended up. The whole impact of that day didn't really hit me for a few more months. Its incredible how I can remember virtually the whole day detail for detail.

Edited September 11, 2008 by Slayer61

[nhfd241 4]

i was in my fifth grade class and i can still remember everything

[smwells 7]

I was 3-4 blocks east of WTC on Water Street working at Chase. Heard about it from a co-worker, we watched out the 12th floor window of our building as the people were running down the street followed by a dense cloud of debris (1st tower to fall). We could not see across the street for 10 minutes.

Evacuated our building around 11am and were told "you have to leave the building!", but no direction as to where or how to go, basically GET OUT NOW!!.

Walked to NY Downtown Hospital to see if I could help somewhere, was told no, not many patients. Walked to 1 Police Plaza and hooked up with an ambulance heading to 60 Centre Street to stage for triage.

Around 3pm were moved to 388 Greenwich St via Ground Zero to continue triage (setup just in time for 7 WTC to fall, and dust us). Worked triage until 10pm, when FDNY closed our site.

I walked back to GCT to hopefully find a running train back to somewhere closer to home. It was an experience that I hope never happens again !!!

RIP 343 and the thousands of others killed...

:angry: 7 years, and still nothing resembling a Memorial in NY.. Hey LMDC - Lets pay proper respect to those that were lost... LOSE THE POLITICS AND BS - GET THE JOB DONE NOW!! :angry:

[FFPCogs 863]

I was at work and was enroute to our office/shop which was in our foreman's garage at the time when they broke in on the radio to announce a plane had hit the N. Tower. When I got to the shop he had it on TV, we watched for a few minutes when the second plane struck the S. Tower live on TV.

I immediately told him I had to go, that this was an incident far above and beyond the norm and even my department in New Haven County CT may be needed for some type of coverage or manpower.

Both towers fell while I was enroute first home and then to the firehouse to see what was going to happen. I spent a good part of that day at the firehouse waiting and making plans with my fellow members to go down and help. By late Tuesday our department had decided that no one was to go, but by then I had already been in contact with some FF friends in Stamford and was enroute to Manhattan. We did what we could and by early Thurs. we left ground zero and just went from firehouse to firehouse in NYC and offered our help in any way we could to the guys there. I and my friend stayed in NYC till Saturday night running errands, and responding to a few alarms with everyone else who came to help.

After that we attended every funeral and service we could get to, to pay our respects to our fallen brothers.

There are some things I will just never forget..the smell of GZ being one of them.

Cogs

Side note:

Later on when the rescheduled primary election was coming up, a group of us from Ansonia had gone down to pay our respects at some of the firehouses in town. At one, mayoral candidate Green had stopped by just as we were arriving. As he stepped from his limo I was the first person he saw...he began to stick out his hand while saying how thankful he was to "his" firefighters, to which I responded that I was not a FDNY man..all this took place as his hand came up to meet mine...well as soon as I finsihed my statement he pulled his hand back without shaking mine...the FDNY FFs saw this and told him to take a hike..no BS.

[rfdu39 89]

I was in chorus in 8th grade and some kids were talking about it and I did not believe them. Later on I found out that they were telling the truth and then I started to worry about my dad who was a officed in Eng 72 but he did not get called thankfully. One of the saddest things was being told that all but one of the guys that responded from the first firehouse that my dad worked at in Manhattan were killed and I had known some of the guys that were killed very well. NEVER FORGET THE 343.

[ex-commish 490]

I was on our engine backing in to the firehouse. One of our members ran into the bay and told us one of the towers was hit by a plane. Within a short time we were heading south on I-87 towards the Bronx and stayed there untll early next morning than werere-located to Yonkers Raceway. Hours later we found out one of our members who was with FDNY was missing. He never came home. It still hurts.

[SageVigiles 1,194]

7th Grade Pre-Algebra is when they announced it over the loudspeaker, but they said it was a plane crash that had hit the building, they didn't inform us it was an attack to keep it from being a panic.

[ENG47INE 17]

I was in 3rd grade.

[DaRock98 76]

I was in my 2nd period study hall when the biggest liar in the entire school came in and said that a plane just crashed into the towers. Everyone looked at him and was like "yea sure Mike" not one person believed a word that he said. Just minutes after he told us that the principle got on to the loudspeaker and made the announcement that the towers were hit. Just after that I left school with a bunch of my friends and went up to rockwood park and looked down toward the city and you could see all of the smoke pouring out of the city. I remember it like it was yesterday.

[ladder55 26]

am i the only one reading this feeling old with all the replies of being in school?

[x242Steve 1]

am i the only one reading this feeling old with all the replies of being in school?

Every generation has something historical that was announced and/or watched during school. Whether it was the JFK or MLK assassinations, the Challenger explosion, the OJ verdict (I only mention that one because I watched it at the Rye High library)... these are the events that shape a generation. Granted, people of all ages were and still are effected by the events of 9/11/2001, but when I think about everything that went through my head that morning, that day and in the last seven years I can only imagine what it was like for a grade school child or a young teenager witnessing the world changing in an instant, then another instant, then another, then another.

[pjreilly 6]

I was at work (30 miles north of New York City). We were told of the events while doing daily details(toilet cleaning and car fueling). Everyone was pinned to the TV. When the first Tower fell, I said we just lost alot of men, and knew we would be getting moved up. The call for deployment to Vallhalla came first, then to Yonkers raceway. The worst part of it was not being able to get any news or updates of what was happening elsewhere in the country. The f-15's were a certain attention getter, and we all knew that we were at war. It was by far the worst day of my life. When I finally got home I hugged my wife and cried like a baby. Hey, I am human. Then I let the rest of my family know I was OK. If I never have to experience something like that again would be fine by me, but I do believe that something big is coming. And perhaps one of the most disgusting things that came out of that day was the politicians all trying for face time. Its too bad when they all say never forget what happened is that they already have. Sept 12 was back to politics as usual.

[ajsbear 11]

I was just about to get on a Metro North train in Croton to go to a meeting on the 86th floor at Morgan Stanley later in the day. I later found out that the people I was meeting with made it out. I was also going to see a client in the other tower later at Marsh. He didn't make it out.

My train by the way never made it to NYC, it was turned around and deposited everyone back at Croton.

[LTNRFD 266]

I was working for my father-in-law doing HVAC service calls. By the time I finished the second service call the 2nd tower was hit. I drove back to the office, then called my career dept to see if I was needed. They had already started to call back personnel to man spare rigs, with the possibility of going to NYC. So I went to my volunteer dept and they were just starting to assemble. When the 2nd tower fell, 60-control put out a county wide alert for all dept. chief officers to call 60 with their available apparatus and manpower for dispatch to NYC.

We sent an engine and a ladder and were told to go to 243 and Bailey in the Bronx for staging. En route to the Bronx, 60-control advised 'all Westchester County departments, south of 287 are now directed to respond into Manhattan'. There was no additional direction as to where to go, so we went directly to the towers. No one there knew what to do with the out of town depts., so we stood around for about 10-15 minutes, then a chief said that there was a staging area be set up at Canal and the West Side Dr. Over there we went and stood around there for about 30 minute. No one there knew what to do with the mutual aid companies. So we decided to go find an empty fire house and see if they need us. We drove up and down every street until we found an empty house on W. 19th St., the quarters of E-3, L-12 and Bat-7. We stayed there from around noon to some time after midnight, when the company commander said that we were released from this assignment and to go down to the pile and assist.

We stayed at the pile till around 4 AM when we were released and returned to Westchester.

Many people were surprised that I didn't get a camera to take pictures. The sites, sounds, images, smells, quietness and the strange feelings that I experienced, will stay with me forever.

Sept. 11,2001

Never Forget

[PoqFFEMT 6]

I was on Temporary Duty to a Red Flag at Nellis AFB, NV. I had just gotten home not long before the attacks started after working a 15+ shift. I was woken up to one of my coworkers that was just going into work saying "aren't you from New York??" I told him i was, he said that I better turn the TV on. I managed to see what was left of the south tower going down and I just sat there wondering what was going on and what I was watching. After a minute or two my jaw hit the floor. I immediatly though of some family and friends that worked and lived down there. (I found out later everyone was ok) I sat there and watched in shock for quite some time, seeing the other tower come down as well as the pentagon attacks. I knew what had happened meant that I was in for a real long day so I tried to get a little sleep. To make matters worse, I could not get a hold of anyone in my family to find out if everyone was ok or not.

Fifteen minutes after I got to sleep, I was recalled to go back into work. For those of you that know a little about the Air Force, Nellis AFB is a training base to train the pilots on combat manuvers. We usually spend 2 - 3 weeks there and then go back home. There is no live missle firing or anything like that. When I got onto base, (which took 3 hours due to security instead of the 20 minutes it usually takes) I really got scared because there were my 12 F-15C's that were there to train loaded full up with live missiles. The skies were quiet, nothing was flying around which for Las Vegas is also strange. Our commander gave us all a briefing, told us to go back to the hotel and get out bags packed, we were going back to Virginia. One of the young airmen asked the commander "how are we getting home if the president shut down all airspace over the US?" My commander just looked back, shook his head and left the area.

We returned to the hotel, got our bags packed and headed back to Nellis. There, we got on a KC-10 Extender Tanker. We normally ride on these alone while the pilots fly their jets back home, only seeing the F-15's while they come up to get refueled. It was VERY quiet on that ride home. I got a chance to go down to the boom area to see our jets getting refueled. I was told this time i was not allowed to take any pictures which I figured. What I saw outside threw me for a loop again. 12 F-15's fully loaded, escorting us back the entire way. Come to find out later it was the only way that NORAD would let us fly home.

[DOC22 1]

I was at work checking reservoir elevations in Putnam County. I was out of the truck opening the gate at Boyds Corner dam when the first plane hit, when I got back in, I remember the conversation on WHUD between Mike and Kacey as if it were yesterday. I spent the rest of the shift in the office in Mahopac answering the phone and not doing much else.

[Ex-2114 7]

I was at the Doctor in Hartsdale... He walked in about 2 minutes after the 1st plane hit and we dismissed it as a small incident, etc.... I left about 10 minutes later and was on my way to work in White Plains listening to it all on the radio....

Once at work, we had no TVs and everyone crammed into my office to watch the stream online from bloomberg.com -- it was the only feed we could get via the Internet at the time.

At about 10:30, they closed the office, etc.....

[abaduck 123]

I was in our Midtown apartment - 35th and Park. Getting ready for work, went into the shower and everything was normal. Got out 15 mins later and noticed these pictures of a burning building on the TV. Recognised it as the WTC. Carried on dressing half-asleep abstractedly glancing at the TV from time to time, I remember thinking 'that looks bad - I wonder when that happened?' - I assumed it was some kind of historical footage from some WTC fire of many years ago, thought it curious that I'd never heard about it.

It was at least a couple of minutes before it finally penetrated my brain that this was happening *now*. That's what I remember most - the disbelief. Then of course when the second plane hit, I remember quite a few people in our building got sh!t scared and hit the basement - we were only a couple of hundred yards from the Empire State building, and folks were thinking 'ok they got both WTC towers - what's the next likely target?'.

I wasn't a firefighter then, but I was an ex-caver, with some cave/mine rescue training back home in Scotland. So I tried to get hold of some local cavers and put together a team, figuring our skills would be of some use. But by the time I'd done so the operation was at the point where they weren't taking informal or unrecognised volunteer teams, and the last thing they needed was freelancing...

Mike

[NJMedic 96]

Sitting in the driver's seat of my medic unit at the intersection of Somerset Street and Easton Avenue in New Brunswick waiting for my partner for my partner to come out with his breakfast. I turned on WCBS News just to listen to something and knew immediately something wasn't right. Tapped the siren and waved to him to get in. He said "I didn't here them call us, do we have a job?". I said "maybe."

Went to our headquarters and watched TV for about 10 minutes. I remember our Operations Coordinator walking in an saying "There must be a big brush fire somewhere near Woodbridge, there's alot of smoke in that direction".

Stayed in New Brunswick for about a hour and was sent with the County EMS Coordinator to Newark and then to Hoboken and Jersey City. Spent most of the day doing triage and decon on the NJ side. Made a couple of trips on a USCG boat over to the North Cove Marina to drop off supplies and pick up anyone left. Went home around 4 in the AM.

We had NJ units in Manhattan for the next 14 days.

[nycemt728 49]

2nd period Spanish III Honors.

[bob803 1]

I was still in bed after a late night out from playing hockey when my wife called. Turned on the TV to the Today show and minutes later the 2nd plane hit. Before I knew it my wife was coming home and I was heading in to work where she would not let me leave until she was home safe. I spent the next 24-48 hours working on a recall because some of our units were covierng in the Bronx. I really do not remember leaving the firehouse much if at all

[minivac 0]

i Was only in the 3rd grade at the time. I remember hearing teachers say that 2 planes had crashed into the world trade center. I didnt think anything of it because i automaticly assumed they were only a 2 seater plane. THen at recess, all of the teachers that were not teaching that period came out to the playground and kept a very close eye on us. I also remember my teacher sayinbg that if our parents worked in the city, they might come home late because there was a bad crash in the city. THe last thing i remember from that day was at 9:30 am, i saw Mrs. Morrelle run out of the school in tears and she did not return for about 3 weeks. Her husband was killed in the attack and his body was never found. I would later win the George Morrelle Memorial Award when I graduated 5th grade. My mother would not let me watch tv because i used to like to watch the news but she knew that if i saw wat really happened, i would be broken. She was right. the first time a i saw it i couldnt move, i didnt know what to do. So i made a promise to myself that i would never forget the day of September 11th 2001 because of the amount of human sacrifice and helping hands that left their jobs, families, and friends to go help with the recovery efforts. The Day of the attack made America Weak, But in the weeks that followed, All american's bonded together to make the strongest country ever.

But let us not forget those he gave their lives.

[SRS131EMTFF 471]

I was in 3rd Period English at Fox Lane Middle School. My teacher got a memo from an administrator and the room got quiet. A desperate look over-took her face and she started to chock up. She told us that the twin towers had been hit. I was in 6th grade and I assumed that it was a small private plane that had hit the towers. I did not find out the gravity of the situation until after I got home. My mother came home from her job in Stamford early and my dad was stuck in Manhattan and could not easily get out of the city. I will never forget that terrible day. All we did for the rest of the day was watch the news. I can never, ever forget the images on the news that showed the towers being hit, collapsing and the pentagon. Minivac, your teachers daughter was in my class in high school. I was there when the dedicated the stadium at Fox Lane to George Morrell.

In every generation, events that take place define that generation. Pearl Harbor, Korea, Vietnam, MLK Jr. assassination, both Kennedy assassinations and the OJ Trial and for me and my generation it is 9/11. I do not like it, but it is the truth. Every-time I get on that rig, I think back to the innocent FDNY members that were murdered on that terrible, terrible day.

[TAPSJ 30]

I was at John Jay High School(East Fishkill, Dutchess County). Getting an edumication. I found out in gym class. In honors bio we listened to WCBS News Radio 880, very crazy radio report. Then went home and watched it over and over again. I just wanted to say God Bless the people that were invoved in it and thier family members. 343 RIP. God Bless America and All of Us.

Thomas

[grumpyff 1,159]

At the time I was living in Pleasantville. My wife was a manager for Applebees, and I had just gone back to working 1930 by 0405 hrs at Transit Manhattan Task Force (NYPD). for the7 months prior I had worked 2200 x 0635. Sept 10, 11, 12 were my first three day swing, I was enjoying the time with my wife had equally crazy days off. We dropped the kids off at Bedford Road School, and then went to Stop N Shop down in North White Plains. We had the radio off in the car so we could talk. While in the store we heard some talking about a small plane hitting one of the towers. A Coca Cola delivery guy got a phone call telling him that the building next hers had been hit. He told her to get out of there and come home. Not to much longer a stock boy came running out of the backroom saying "The other tower's been hit!" I grabbed the cart and told my wife "Time to go, that was no accident". We paid for our groceries and got back to Pville as fast as possible. I jumped in the shower, because I did not know how long I would be at work. As the first tower fell I heard my wife screaming. I got dried/dressed fast as possible and packed a small bag, extra socks/underware/etc. I watched the second tower fall. My wife made my go with her to the school to pick up the kids. My son was in the first grade, my daughter in kindergarten.

My son was so excited to get out of school early, until he saw the looks on people's faces in the front lobby. He asked" whats wrong, did something happen?" In the car I asked him if he remembered going to the towers just a few months earlier, that there was a really bad accident there. With that I jumped in my car and headed to work. I was worried about my father, who was supposed to be in the lobby of one of the towers that morning at 845 am. I called my mom who told me "His scheduled changed a couple of days ago, he's in Rhode Island." She told me to be safe and I headed out to work.

I must have passed the County POlice HQ going about 80 mph. Next thing I knew a marked car pulled alongside. I flashed my shield, he waved and turned on his lights and sped off. I tried to follow his escort, but my car was not fast enough. I got to the 50 Pct and signed in. There were several of us who were off-duty. We were put in a van and sent to the 48 PCT. Along the way I saw several Westchester Depts, including my own , staged on Bailey Avenue. Due the confusion of the day, we got sent back to 50 Pct to get our personal cars, and the told drive to Outdoor Range at Rodman's Neck (city Island). from there we were loaded onto city buses and taken into Manhattan. That was probably the quietest bus ride I have ever been on. The plan was to go down 2nd Ave dropping cops at their commands, but our bus broke down on the FDR somewhere in the 90's. Another bus eventually came and finished the job. After passing 1 PP there was the bus driver, a sgt, and a few cops. One was from my command. At the rear of the bus were supplies from the the range, mostly bottled water and goggles. We ended up on West Street, near the southern pedestrian overpass. Total chaos outside. the sgt, told us stay in the bus, you be breathing enough of this s*** in the coming days, while he brought the supplies out the back door with a couple of his cops. We say plenty of crushed RMPS, Fire trucks, and even cop's memo books and nightsticks laying in the ash on the street. I don't remember if 7 WTC was still standing or not. THe sgt returned after a while and told us 'from what he heard PD was missing several hundred cops, FD was even worse off." I finally made it to my command on West 42 street & 8 avenue (in the subway) around 1930 that night, just in time for roll call. I was assigend to 14 street & 8 ave to secure the subway. I was released sometime the next morning, on my own to get back to my car, up near City Island. We wotrked 12 to 15 hour days, one day off a week for the next couple of months. I recently found a scrap of papper with my OT on it. That September I ended up working almost 115 hours of overtime, not one minute was from before September 11.

The hardest part was waiting to see which of my friends and co-workers were lost. I found out one was missing the next day, the last I found out was ok about 5 days later while I was digging after working an overnight, and bumped into someone from his unit.

Never Forget...some may have already, but those of that served there will always remember.

Edited September 12, 2008 by grumpyff

[Guest]

I was at work when it happened I worked at disablke workshop doing frito lay stuff

As the stuff was happening my patener was telling but i didnt really think about it we even had a radio on still i didnt even think about it, We had a tv in the brake oom i could even get near it cause so many people in there

It didnt set in on me untill i got home watched it all on and noticed that the same thing was on every channel

It really got me in 03 when i took a bus to Richmond and we went thu NYC and notice the towers were gone, First and only time i saw the towers was in 95

[TL2L31 8]

At work in Rye (A member there at the time). We responded with Eng 191 with a police escort on the Hutch to Yonkers. When we got near E52/ L52 in the Bronx the road was shut down, except for us. Soon we were near the Intrepid and were asked by a FDNY chief if we could pump their hydrants. On the way we saw a jet engine on the side of the road as we turned a corner. He took us to an intersection that turned out to be at Church and Vessey. Through the smoke we could see a structure in the middle of the street. We gave the guys alot of our equipment. We heard about Father Judge and stopped in the church where he was lying on the altar. I said a prayer and went back to work. We were in the collapse zone of Builing #7 when it came down around 5pm. I was able to scramble to the cab of the engine. Instantly it was dark as night. Later on we were at the Millenium Hilton pumping to a TL from Staten Island. Later that night, we shutled guys in and out for relief. I left around midnight and went back the next morning.