New York, NY —
The New York City Fire Department today released almost five hours of dispatch tapes from the 2001 September 11th terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.
» Hear extended excerpts of the dispatch tapes
The tapes were released following a lawsuit by the New York Times and several family members of the victims. Previous recordings have been made available to the media but never to this extent. From member station WNYC in New York, Beth Fertig reports on the chilling narrative we hear in this new material. Be warned – some of it is very disturbing.
The first call came in just after 8:46 in the morning to the Fire Department’s Manhattan Dispatch Center. Battalion Chief Joseph Pfeifer was a few blocks away and saw American Airlines Flight 11 crash into the north tower of the World Trade Center. This scratchy recording was made over the dispatch system.
TAPE: Battalion 1 we just had a plane crash into the upper floors of the WTC, transmit a second alarm”
Battalion one called in reporting the plane crash and asked for a second alarm.
TAPE: WOMAN: Party says notification – MAN: I understand a plane crashed into the World Trade Center.
Around the same time the Emergency Medical Service also got a call on its frequency. The operator was bewildered.
TAPE: CONTINUE WOMAN: Say what? MAN: Plane crashed into WTC. uh oh.
Soon the dispatchers were overwhelmed with calls from fire companies in Lower Manhattan.
TAPE: The World Trade Center Tower 1 is on fire, outside the building it was a huge explosion.
TAPE: Numerous floors are on fire, the plane was aiming toward the building. Transmit a third alarm, staging area at Vesey and West Street
Within four minutes, fire fighters were creating a staging area across the street from Tower 1, the North Tower of the World Trade Center. They called for more units and told the dispatch operators what they were seeing. People were jumping or falling from the upper floors of the building.
TAPE: 10-4 We have units on the way up, reporting fire on the 78th floor, we need Police Dept for security… we have jumpers on the upper floors.
As fire fighters raced to the scene, many were sent into the lobby of the North Tower. There were calls of people trapped on the 104th floor, the 103rd floor, and the 83rd as well. A marine fire unit was ready in the Hudson River to help evacuate the injured. But just as the fire department was beginning to help the people inside the North tower, a second plane was spotted at 9:03.
TAPE: Marine to Manhattan urgent. You have a second plane into the other tower of the trade center, major tower.
TAPE: Marine 6 to Manhattan. That plane was a large bomber style green aircraft into the second tower. Be advised.
The plane was United Airlines flight 175. But in the chaos, few firefighters could be sure of WHAT they were seeing. As the South Tower burst into flames more units were sent into Lower Manhattan. Meanwhile, EMS dispatchers were still dealing with the rest of New York City.
TAPE: EMS: You want us going down there? DISPATCH: Not right now, you know I got about 5 jobs holding in all parts of the city from a mother all the way uptown to a cardiac. I got everything else holding.
Downtown the scene was confusing as dispatchers and responders grappled with two 110 story skyscrapers. At firefighters called into the dispatchers, some mixed up the North and South Towers. And the dispatchers – who were miles away in Central Park or Brooklyn – had no way of correcting their mistakes.
TAPE: Brooklyn dispatch, urgent, people are trapped in 5 World Trade on the 8-0 floor…10-4
Five world trade was another building in the complex and it wasn’t burning. That call came in at roughly 9:30. At the time, firefighters were climbing the stairs of the North Tower of the World Trade Center, because they couldn’t use the elevators. They also had difficulty hearing each other on their radios because a repeater system used to boost their signal in the skyscrapers wasn’t always working. By 9:45 dispatchers got a call about people trapped in a conference room on the 100th floor of the South Tower. And then, just before 10 a.m., that tower collapsed.
TAPE: There’s been another explosion! May day may day. Who’s calling that? Brown, Mayday.
A firefighter was trapped in the rubble and calling for help. May day calls began coming in with more urgency. One firefighter even requested help from the U.S. Army.
TAPE: George we have to mobilize the Army. We need the army in here… calm down.
The dispatcher tried to maintain control. But just as firefighters were taking stock of the situation, the second tower – the North Tower - collapsed at around 10:20.
TAPE: The other just collapsed, ready to collapse. Urgent Urgent. The World Trade Center has collapsed. Tower 2 has collapsed.
TAPE: Everything south of the Brooklyn Bridge is a dust cloud. No visibility, people are all over the streets travel is near impossible.
Firefighters were struggling to get to the scene and rescue each other. One, named Al Fuentes, made a desperate plea for help.
TAPE: FUENTES: unit 1 urgent, I’m on the west side highway. I’m pinned
Captain Fuentes was pinned under a vehicle on the west side highway. He survived and retired 2 years later.
Along with the tapes, today the Fire department released transcripts of oral histories it conducted with more than 500 firefighters who survived. These interviews document their efforts to save the building occupants and each other. In his account, Lieutenant William Walsh recalls telling other firefighters to evacuate the North Tower after the South Tower goes down, because they couldn’t hear the order themselves. Those communication problems have been well documented. But they’re also a point of controversy because the 9-11 Commission suggested that some firefighters didn’t evacuate because they chose to help civilians. Glenn Corbett – a professor of Fire Science at John Jay College – says the oral histories released today dispute that premise.
CORBETT: The 9-11 Commission came to the conclusion that many fire fighter in companies that were killed knew about the evacuation order but did not.. that’s directly opposed to what I was told and read about that day.
For family members of the dead, the tapes and transcripts provide valuable information about the last moments of their loved ones. Rosemary Cain, who lost her firefighter son, George, was among the family members who joined the lawsuit by the New York Times forcing the fire department to release the tapes.
CAIN: You know, when somebody dies you have a body, you pay respect, the thing we can do is make sure this never happens again.
Cain says that’s all she ever wanted in joining the lawsuit; more information about the attacks and the emergency response which could help prevent any other similar catastrophe. For NPR News I’m Beth Fertig in New York.