I remember waking up that morning at the firehouse. I was in my sixth month as a probationary firefighter working with a powerhouse crew out of Station 1. I had put the coffee on, got the paper, wiped the rigs down and put the flag up. I remember walking through the living room and a couple of the guys were watching news, glued to the tv. Being a rookie, I wasn't allowed to watch tv so I didn't even glance at what they were so transfixed by. As I put the paper on the kitchen table, one of the guys told me to look. I saw that a plane had crashed into a building, the WTC in NY. Wow, we all started talking about how logistically tough it would be to fight that fire, all the resources needed, evac, etc. I imagine at that moment all over the nation this same conversation was transpiring in firehouses. The tone hit, we rushed to the apparatus floor, donned our turnouts and raced off to the freeway. Arriving on the scene of an overturned semi truck that was pulling a set of double trailers. The trailers were carrying wine and the driver took the on ramp too fast causing his rig to tip over. We extricated the driver who walked away with minor injuries and then I set about plugging the leaking trailers. Total on scene time was probably around an hour or so and we returned to quarters anxious to see the progress the FDNY was making. At this point it was just a fire. Just another high rise fire. Back in the engine house, the guys all went inside to check the news while I put away the equipment, cleaned up my gear, etc. It was shift change at this point and 12 firefighters were crowded around in the living room watching the events unfold. I came in and one of our Battalion Chiefs told me to sit down and watch as history was being made. I saw the second tower burning. My Captain said to me that it was an attack and that hundreds of FDNY personnel were in there. Then the first tower came down. As I'm sure it was all over the nation, it was dead silent in that room. No one moved. We barely looked around, not wanting to see others reactions. When the second tower fell I remember feeling an overwhelming sense of helplessness. I wanted to go to the airport and get on a plane and get over there because I was a rookie fireman and that's what you do, help people. I asked my Captain how many guys were in the building and he said he figured about 400 FDNY guys had just lost their lives. Up to that point, NY had lost 715 firefighters in the line of duty in their whole history. 343 in one incident. We couldn't grasp the concept. Our whole department was less than 300 personnel.
I went home, calling my girlfriend who left school to come sit on my couch with me. I called my best friend from rookie school Dan and woke him up. He drove to my apartment and we watched all morning. We called our Captains and asked if they could get our six month probationary tests postponed so we could fly to NY to help, in any way. So much changed in the fire departments that day. Days like today make me proud to have served as a firefighter. I wonder how many people can tell you exactly how their day went down on that morning. To all my brothers and sisters that I served with during my short career, you are my heroes, be safe and to all those who made the ultimate sacrifice on this day seven years ago, I won't forget even if some do.
