All language subtitles for 911.One.Day.In.America.S01E05.720p.Web.x264.AAC.2ch.ESub.S420.02

I was never so proud to
be a fireman as I was that day.

Our orders were to go
upstairs in the North Tower

for a search and rescue.

So, we were going to pull as
many people out as we could,

that's what we were gonna do.

And we got to the 27th floor
when we felt and experienced

something that nobody had ever
felt or experienced before.

We heard a loud noise outside,
our building shook violently,

so violent that, that you
had a hard time standing up,

you know, it was like
you were on a ship at sea;

the South Tower had collapsed.

And, in my mind,
this was the scariest
part of the day for me.

I knew prior to this day a
high rise building had never

collapsed after a fire,
and now the sister building

to the one I was in,

that got hit after
my building, was down.

I did the quick calculations
in my mind and I says,

alright, if that one can go,
this one can go,

it's time for us
to get outta here.

So, we start our retreat
down the B stairway
of the North Tower.

We got to around
the 20th floor and
there was a woman

standing in a doorway,
she was crying,

and my guy stopped
and Tommy Falco,

one of my firemen, turns
around and looks at me,

he says, "Hey Captain,
what'd you wanna do with her?"

And she literally
couldn't walk anymore,

she'd made it
down from the 70s,

I think the 73rd floor.

We didn't know it at the time,

she was one week shy
of her 60th birthday,

so we continued our evacuation
with Josephine Harris in tow.

We were carrying her
down the stairs, slowly.

We were going so slowly that a
couple of times we had to step

aside because we created a
log‐jam of people behind us,

so we had to let them pass.

And made it to
the tenth floor,

I'm thinking, wow, we
might actually get outta here.

And then Josephine Harris
fell to the floor on
the fourth floor.

And she starts yelling
at us to leave her.

And, uh, the collapse
of the North Tower starts

with us still inside.

Let's get in here!

Get away from the glass.

Oh my
is out there.

My is out there.

You wanna die?
Don't worry about it.

The whole building.

Watch the debris
come down the street.

Don't open the door, please.

Get away
from the windows.

Oh my God.

Look at the
shadow of death!

Oh my God!

You're right, oh my God,
you saved my life!

You saved my life!

Thank you!
Thank you!

Thank you.
Thank you.

Thank you, thank you!

Oh my God! Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you.

I remember
looking up into the dust.

And I remember thinking to
myself I'm the last person

left on the planet.

I don't hear anybody.

I don't see anybody.

I am completely alone.

I am this huge
feeling of being empty.

As I'm looking around there's
cars that are destroyed.

There was an
ambulance on fire.

I really thought this
was it, this was the end,

this was the end of the world,
this was the Armageddon.

So I remember grabbing a hose
line that was laying on the

floor and I actually put out
the fire in the ambulance.

And the dust started to lift.

I, I couldn't believe
what I was actually seeing.

Both buildings were gone.

And now it's just seven story
pile of debris and garbage and

there were people in there.

And I'm thinking to myself
there's no way that we're

gonna find people that
survived this collapse.

The collapse
started from the top down.

And every time a floor
would hit another floor,

collapsing what we
call, pancake fashion,

it would create a
loud noise, a loud boom,

so it was boom,
boom, boom, boom.

And every time a floor would
hit another floor there'd be a

tremendous vibration in the building.

Whatever air was in the
stairway was being compressed

and it was filled with debris,
so we were getting pummeled

with debris as we were
covering up and, uh, we just

waited for that big beam or
that big piece of concrete to

come and get us.

And then the collapsed
stopped and it didn't come.

And, uh, so I gave
a shout out, I said,

"Who's still here?
Who do I hear?

Who do I have?"

Turns out all my
guys from Ladder 6,

Tommy Falco, Sal D'Agostino,
Billy Butler and Mike Meldrom,

we had Mickey Kross, who was
a Lieutenant in Engine 16.

I think it took
about eight seconds for

the building to come down.

It was a tremendous
noise and tremendous raw,

tremendous vibrating
and within a few seconds

it was over, and it went
to total, absolute silence,

no more shaking,
absolutely no noise.

Having no
experience being dead,

you don't know what it's like,
so I thought I could possibly

be dead 'cause
I couldn't feel,

I couldn't feel my body,
I couldn't feel anything.

And after a few seconds
I heard talking so,

I yelled out and
we all got together.

It was between
the third, I think,

between the third and fourth
floors was still in tact.

We were in a void.

You know, it was the fact
that Josephine stopped there,

you know, there weren't
many voids in that building,

and we found a void
because even if you made

it to the ground floor,
you didn't make it.

If you made it just
outside the building,

you didn't make it.

We looked
around for a way out.

A couple of guys had tools
and they were forcing what was

left of the stairway door, and
they opened it and it was just

a wall of debris so,
we realized there wasn't

a thing we could do.

We're not getting outta this.

There's no up, down,
to the side, no way.

The only way
we're gonna get out if
somebody comes and gets us.

FIREFIGHTER
We're gonna regroup
on Murray Street.

Does anybody have
Al Tori with them?

Jesus Christ.

Right after the collapse,

miraculously we regrouped
with everybody in the company.

We realized that, um,
we possibly could be like,

one of the last companies that
kinda made it outta that area.

Your gonna upload it?

Yeah.

Here, take a white rag.
You need a white rag?

And before
it collapsed we were

coming down the B stairwell
in the North Tower,

and, um, I remember speaking
to, uh, Captain Jonas,

who was Captain of Six Truck.

So then it was,
"Well, where is Six Truck?"

They were at least three
to four floors above us.

FIREFIGHTER
247, 246.

Where are the guys?

I have no idea.

So, we
were like, oh man,

gotta try to get back in
there and try to find them.

You know where he is?

And then we went
to go make our way back in.

But, that area
that we just came
from wasn't there anymore.

I'm on channel one.

Everything was
like completely destroyed.

It tore a part
of my heart out,

like, you just feel like you
got ripped on the insides.

And you have this feeling
of helplessness because

you don't know where to start.

REPORTER
Live, continuing coverage
here on 1010 Wins,

the horrible tragedy of
the World Trade Center.

How off it looked to
see those two twin towers,

so much a part of our
landscape, disappear.

But then now to keep in mind
there were people inside those

buildings and
many did not get out.

When you have
something like this you think,

well, death toll
and casualties,

that's something we simply
don't know because in many

respects the rescue effort is
really just getting started.

1010 Wins reporter...

We were
planning for the worst,

planning for
a long entrapment,

maybe a couple of days, try to
conserve our radio batteries,

our flashlight batteries.

I didn't want my guys to use
their air masks but during

that time received a
mayday from Mark Warcola

the Lieutenant from
Ladder Five that we had
seen on the way down,

and he said he was in the,

the B stairway
on the 12th floor

he was trapped
and he was hurt bad.

So Sal D'Agostino turned
around and looked at me,

he says, "Hey Cap,
did you get that?"

I said, "Yeah, I got it."

And I started
climbing the B stairway.

And the stairways there
is filled with rubble,

it was like a real
bad vacant building
stairway but it was there.

So, I could climb
up the bannister and
maneuver my way around.

And then a second
mayday came in when I was
on the fifth floor for him.

And again, I'm trying
to maneuver my way around.

And I got to the half landing
between the fifth and the

sixth floor and I couldn't
move the debris anymore;

it was too heavy.

And he gave a third mayday
which was more distraught and

I just said, "Sorry,
Mike, I can't help you."

It was terrible.

Here's somebody we know and
he's calling for our help and

we can't help him.

You know, we
couldn't get to him.

And then we didn't
hear from him anymore.

Yeah, finally I
transmitted my own mayday.

FIREFIGHTER
Go on with
the mayday, go ahead.

MAN Okay, 10‐4.

When we kinda all
heard them on the radio,

I remember myself, personally,
I kinda just dropped down onto

one knee and kissed the
metal that was around my neck.

It was a feeling
of elation that,

okay, there's a chance here.

I started getting radio
transmissions from other guys

that I knew, some of them
were some of my best friends.

A very close friend of
mine was Nick Visconti.

And he got put in charge

of the rescue effort
to find us

and I talked to him
on the radio and, uh...

it was great
hearing his voice.

Ladder 6.

Tower one.

Stairwell B. There's
also a wounded civilian
and chief on the first floor.

It's the love
of your fellow firemen

coming to save you.

I thought to myself, you know,
there's gotta be people who

are much worse off than I am.

I'm not worthy of this.

But I had this
army of firefighters
coming to find me.

And it was humbling.

Take any
gear we can carry,

especially First Aid stuff.

Then I heard from my
neighbor, Cliff Staffner,

"Rescue Three to Ladder Six,
Captain J. Jonas,

this is Cliff, I'm coming
to get ya, where are ya?"

And I tell him.

And he would end every
transmission by saying,

"I'm coming for ya, brother,
I'm coming for ya."

STAFFNER We're
coming for ya, brother,

we're coming for ya.

FIREFIGHTER
Liberty, we have your
command post.

FIREFIGHTER
Go ahead.

REPORTER
This is still very much
an active scene right now.

I've seen dozens upon dozens
of firefighters getting to the

World Trade Center area.

They're trying
to get together and go
back in there and try

to take care of the
people who obviously
are in serious trouble.

There's no other
way to describe it.

Did you already go in?

What?
Did you go in?

I was there, yeah.

Are you going back?

It's my job.

New York City firefighters
have this special bond.

This level of being,
of belonging.

We become a second family.

No matter what happens,
if you feel threatened,

if you feel afraid in a fire,
these guys will tear down the

building to get to you.

They will do everything in
their power to get to you.

We don't
leave a brother behind.

Oh my God, I've
never seen anything like this

in my entire life.

There's debris
for miles, blocks.

There could be
people under here,

but again, this was a plaza...

We were gonna try to
advance into this debris field

trying to locate Ladder Six.

It's the top
of the building.

And when we got
there it was just...

there was, there was no
way to get through it,

it was just solid concrete,
rebar and steel.

On top of that,
while we were in there,

stuff was starting
to collapse again.

MAN Come back!
Come back.

Get everybody out.

You know, these piles
were unstable and as you're

going into them now they're
still starting to like,

have secondary and third
collapses on these piles.

It was almost like
standing in the ocean.

Initially,
we were really optimistic.

But now we had this
greater sense of how
are we gonna find them?

Everybody was scared
because we could hear fires

crackling outside.

And at one point,

there was an explosion nearby,

and um, it shook the stairway

and it caused
some debris to fall and

it was striking us.

And Josephine, you know,
started crying out that

she was scared.

And I said, "Yeah,
we're all a little scared,

darling, hang in there."

But when that happened,

Mike Meldrom, my senior guy,

my chauffeur, he rolled
his body on top of hers

so she wasn't being
hit by any debris.

And Sal D'Agostino
took his coat off
and put it around her.

And they told her nothing's
going to happen to you.

As long as
we're here, nothing's
going to happen to you.

And they took
turns talking to her,

trying to keep her
mind off what was an
impossible situation for us,

it's definitely an
impossible situation for her.

Without orders from me,
they did it on their own,

they took care of this woman.

The situation
was getting really bad.

And then after about
three, maybe two and
half to three hours,

I'm not sure, I started,

I was looking up and I saw
like a flicker of light.

And then it went out.

And then it
flickered up again.

And I'm looking and I'm trying
to figure out what it is.

At first I thought it was
an emergency light that was

hooked up and
flickering on and off.

And then in a couple of
minutes the light lit up and

I was, it was the sun.

And it came in, a
beam of sun came in,

and it was like
something from God.

It was like from heaven.

You know, that meant
an opening above us.

What was happening
was the smoke and dust

was clearing outside.

And we got to the
point where all of a
sudden you could look up

and I could see a sliver of
blue sky through the rubble.

And I looked down and I could
see a beam of light striking

the stairway and I'm like,

"Guys, there used to be
106 floors over our heads,

now I see blue sky."

And I said, "I
think we're on top of
the World Trade Center."

So, you know, we
started poking around.

You know, with this added
light we were able to find an

area where we could breach
a hole through the rubble.

When the dust
cleared away and we knew

we had an opening,
we had to climb to it,

it was 20 feet above us.

So, you know, there
was all criss‐cross,

bent up beams
inside the area so,

those of us who were
physically able were able to

climb up and get to that
opening and actually

wiggle our way out.

And I poked my head
out and I couldn't believe

what I was seeing.

You know, you see the
façade of what's left of
the World Trade Center,

and there's flame and smoke
coming up from everywhere,

numbers four, five, six

World Trade Center on fire,

there's like
seven story buildings.

Number Seven
World Trade Center is a

high rise office building
and it's on fire.

It was very eerie sticking
your head out and especially

seeing the iconic façade
of the World Trade Center,

the arches.

And there was
nothing left of it.

We waited until we
could see a fireman,

we saw a fireman
off in the distance,

and we were to make
contact with them.

FIREFIGHTER
What's the name of the street
that is on?

Thank you.

And they made
their way to the stairway.

Got Josephine Harris,
Engine 53 and Ladder 43
got her out.

They brought the
stokes basket stretcher up.

It's almost like
she took a stand,

like on the
fourth floor, like,

somehow she knew.

that we have to be here,
this is the spot.

One by one I was sending
everybody in the stairway out.

And one by one I saw every one
of my guys climb the rope and

that was a very
satisfying part of the
day for me to see that.

It was a
wonderful feeling.

I don't have to explain that.

You think you might die in
that hole and then all of a

sudden you're outside and
somebody's giving you a

sandwich and a soda.

It's a pretty
nice feeling, right.

We were
the last people to come out

before Tower One fell.

We're
sending everybody this
way, towards the water.

And I evacuated
with my coworker, Muzua,

who to the day is my hero.

We were coming down the
stairs and I wanted to stop

because I was tired.

So, he grabbed my hand
and he just pulled me down

the rest of the way.

And I'm going down like,
"Please, please, let me stop."

He said, "We can't stop.
We have to keep moving."

And when I came
out and that smoke,

or that cloud, that
scared the life outta me.

It's like a hurricane coming
through and it was this air

blowing through and I saw
people were caught up in the

air just blowing through.

Can you
tell me what happened?

What'd you see?

We got to the...

All the way to the
lobby and all of a sudden it

was this big explosion.

Mom, I just want you
to know I'm alright.

I don't know what
else to tell you.

We came from the 82nd floor
and I don't know where

my peers are, I don't know,
I hope to God they okay.

It was like a
comet just hit the earth.

Like a comet?
Yeah.

Look at this.
Look at this.

Look at your clothes.
Look at you.

Whatever this stuff
is, I hope it doesn't kill ya.

Daphne,
don't give up now. Daphne.

I just cried.

I remember crying a lot.

I'm just tired.
I'm tired.

And I remember just
being sad, I was sad.

I was like, I just couldn't
understand, you know,

what happened,
why it happened.

And I remember
sitting there and this
lady was trying to tell me.

Can you
even begin to fathom the
people who may have done this?

I dunno.

Can you
even begin to fathom why?

Why it happened?

Why a plane hit the building?

Why a
plan was hijacked and...

Excuse me.

I hope
you understand,

that plane might have been
high‐jacked by a terrorist.

This didn't happen by chance.

Jesus.
In America?!

I don't know what to say.
I don't what to say.

All I could think about
was all the firefighters...

running up the stairs,

you know, going
to help whoever,

you know, was up there.

And I remember this young
kid running behind them with

a fire extinguisher
going to help the people,

I think it was
like a young kid,

right outta high school,
looked like a little boy.

And he, he was going to help.

And I remember
his face, he was like,

"Yeah, I'm going, I'm
gonna help some people,

I'm gonna help some people."

I'm like, "Okay,
alright, alright."

And when I get
downstairs, you know,

get out to find out that
the building collapsed.

And I'm like, this
young kid trying to...

I consider him a hero.

And I'm like, I
always ask myself,

I wonder if they survived?

I wonder if they made it out?

That bothered me a lot.

Some companies
didn't make it out though

that were in that original
fifth alarm, made it out
but a lot of guys didn't.

After a while
I realized that I needed

to contact my family.

I remember taking out my cell
phone and I'm thinking let me

try and call my Mom, you know,
and people that know me.

So I dial the phone
and I call my Mom and

busy, busy, busy.

And then all of a
sudden the phone picked
up and it was my aunt.

And she tells me,
"Oh my God, you're
okay, you're okay."

I go, "Yes, I'm okay,
I'm alive, I'm down here,

I'm working", I said,

"But I survived",
I said, "I was in the
building, I survived."

She goes, "Your Mom's here,
your Mom's here."

And I remember my Mom
getting on the phone and

she was panicking and
crying and she's like,

"Oh my God, thank God
you're alive, thank God."

She goes, "Your
brother was dispatched,

he's somewhere down there."

My brother Michael
was also a firefighter.

So I said,
"Okay, I gotta go Ma.

I gotta go, I
gotta go find Michael,

I gotta go find my brother."

And I remember
getting on my radio and
calling my brother's company,

and he was in
Engine Company 228.

And I'm like,
"Ladder Ten to Engine 228.

Come in Engine 228",
a couple of times,

"Ladder Ten to Engine 228."

No response.

Then I go, "John Morabito
to Michael Morabito",

like now I'm like
desperate to find him.

And I see my captain,
Captain Mallory,

he comes walking up
to me, he's like,

"What's doing?
You're okay, right?

You made it through?"

And I'm like, "Yeah, Cap",
I go, "But I'm looking
for my brother."

He's like,
"Alright," he goes, "Let's",

he goes, "There's a
command center over
here, they gotta table",

he goes, "They're
marking off everybody
that's not accounted for."

He goes, "Let's go look
at the command center."

We went over to the command
center and I'm looking at the

paper that they got and
they got all names written on

pieces of oak tagging
and I'm spotting names
of guys that I know.

I'm like, "Oh my
God, he's not here."

And this was just a list
of names of guys that were

unaccounted for.

And as we go down the list, my
brother's name is on the list.

And he's like, "Listen,
this is just an early list,

don't think
about it", you know,

"Don't worry about it."

And I see all the
guys in his company,

I see their
names on that list,

I'm like, his whole company
is gone, they're gone.

I'm like, I don't even
know how I'm gonna go home,

how am I gonna go
home and face my family,

knowing that my brother,
who got on the job after me,

kinda followed in my footstep,
he's no longer with us because

of this situation,
how am I gonna do this.

I felt lost.

And I remember walking around,

and I remember
seeing a fire hydrant

in the middle of the
street and I was so thirsty

and I took a
little bit of water.

And I'm drinking the water and
I wash my face and I looked up

and my brother...

walks right in front of me,
like it was meant to be.

I'm like, I grab him,
I'm like, "Mike! Mike"

And he jumps up,
he's like, "John",

he goes,
"How are you alive?"

I go, "How are you alive?"

He goes, "I was coming out
of the tunnel when I saw that

debris go, so I turned
to my friend and I said,

my brother just died."

And it's just like this moment
of fate where we were at the

same place, at the same time,
and we needed to make contact.

And we grab each
other and I said to him,

I said, "That's it,
the rest of the day,

I'm not gonna lose
you again", I go,

"We're staying together.

We're staying together.

We gotta go home together."

It was a tremendous relief.

We were safe.

All you wanna do at this
point is get outta here,

you just wanna get
away from all of this.

But we knew we needed to
turn around and go back in.

There were people who
were underneath the debris.

And that we couldn't give
up on looking for them.

I just felt so bad.

I just felt so
guilty for being alive
'cause so many was gone.

And I thought about
those firemen I saw
and that little boy,

and to this day, I
still wonder about that.

Did they make it out?

They could move, I couldn't.

And I figured
that they could run,

they could get out.

But they stayed with me.

Hello, how are you?

Hello.

There was a lot
of media attention and the,

the fire department
wanted to get our story
out because it was one

of the few positive
stories from September 11th.

Did you realize that the
other tower had collapsed?

No.
No, you didn't.

I wondered why
you were so calm.

She trusted us a lot
and we protected her.

REPORTER You've
been listening to a live news
conference on 1010 Wins

of Mayor Giuliani and
Police Commissioner,
Bernard Kerik.

Bernard Kerik's saying that
there are some people alive

in the rubble of the
World Trade Center.

He's confirming that
there are some people alive.

REPORTER 2
Mayor Giuliani confirmed that
several people in the rubble

have been calling from
cell phones to family members

including a person who's been
calling to family in Seattle.

REPORTER 3 Maybe
there is a bit of brightness,

there is tomorrow.

Captioned by
Cotter Media Group.