9/11/2001: “You Had to Be Strong for Them and for the Job”
BY GLENN CORBETT
In concluding our series of Fire Engineering’s 140th anniversary features, we revisit the most significant and far-reaching event in fire service history—the September 11, 2001, attacks—in this first-person account from Fire Department of New York then-Chief of Operations Salvatore Cassano. He provides us with insight into the events of that day, one in which we lost 343 brother firefighters as well as a fire patrolman in a mere 102 minutes.
The legacy of 9/11 will live with us into the future. Although it forever changed the approach of the fire service to, among other things, large-scale incident response and high-rise construction, it nonetheless reinforced our core principle—selfless duty in protecting the public. The tragic event focused national attention on firefighters and the role they play in society.
It is fitting that we complete our historical journey by contemplating the sacrifices made at the World Trade Center. Hopefully, it will remind us of the importance of studying our history. Learning from it is perhaps the best memorial to the lives that were lost on that bright blue September morning.
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Fire Engineering, September 2002
REPORT FROM THE CHIEF OF OPERATIONS
I drove to downtown Manhattan from FDNY headquarters and parked my car right alongside 7 World Trade Center (WTC), north of the North Tower. Other units were coming in on West Street. I wanted to come in from a different angle to have another vantage point. The second plane hit just as I got out of the car. Debris showered us. We ducked for cover. After it cleared, I jumped back in the car, drove to West Street, and reported in.
(1) Photo by FDNY Photo Unit.
We were too close to the building. Jumpers and debris were real hazards. We repositioned the command post across West Street at a driveway to a garage into the World Financial Center. That would afford us some protection if it were needed.
Early on, the commanders knew that this would be an evacuation and rescue effort. Fire would be a secondary issue until we accomplished the rescues. We knew we had our hands full.
Many off-duty FDNY members were reporting in. I ordered an off-duty captain to organize them—get their names, get them equipment, form companies and platoons so they’d be ready if they were needed to relieve other firefighters.
I went into the Marriott Hotel—3 World Trade Center. Deputy Chief Thomas Galvin from Division 3 had established an operations command post there. I wanted to get the phone number there; we could maintain contact through a land line if we encountered radio problems. I got a handle on what companies were in there. It appeared that most of the building had been evacuated, but the Marriott staff could not confirm this. Therefore, companies were sent up on each floor to knock on doors.
We discussed the strategy. We had a plan. There was no chaos. It was very orderly, with minimal self-deployment. We were operating the way we always operate—professionally.
I walked out of the Marriott through a restaurant and continued my site survey southward, to Liberty and West streets. There, I met Deputy Commissioner and former Chief of Department Bill Feehan. We both went to the command post in the North Tower Lobby.
I stayed at the command post assisting Chief of Department Peter Ganci with the assigning of units, making sure we had enough people and enough reserves in staging.
The South Tower Collapses
The South Tower came down. We ran into the garage to escape the debris cloud. When conditions had settled to a degree, we came back out. It was an unbelievable, eerie scene. Chief Ganci ordered me to move the command post farther north. I established the command post on West and Chambers streets.
As we walked north, Deputy Chief Albert Turi used a bullhorn to call firefighters with us. We had lost contact with Assistant Chief Donald Burns and Assistant Chief Jerry Barbara, who were commanding operations in the South Tower.
Chief Ganci had moved south to take command of the rescue effort for the South Tower. I tried to establish radio contact with Chief Ganci. My radio was caked with debris, and I could not get through to him. I walked southward on West Street to attempt face-to-face communication. The Field Communications unit was being repaired; the backup was destroyed at the site. (The unit generally records communications on the command and tactical channels.)
The North Tower Collapses
I reached the site of our previous command post when I heard the noise. At first, I thought it was another jet coming in. Then I realized the North Tower was coming down. I ran north but quickly realized I would not outrun the collapse debris clouds. I saw one of the rescue apparatus and dove under it.
Somehow, I was protected from most of the debris, except that I was hit on the back with concrete. When the debris stopped raining down, two EMTs came up to me with a stretcher to attend to my injury. I couldn’t walk, but I did not want to leave the site. The EMTs wouldn’t listen. They brought me to a triage area in one of the buildings and then to St. Vincent’s Hospital. I was one of the few victims there. The hospital had geared up with all kinds of staff, but no injured were coming.
Fortunately for me, nothing was broken. I was released from the hospital late that afternoon. A fire department administrator gave me a ride back to headquarters.
National Guardsmen were everywhere. It was a war zone. For the rest of the night, I ran the Fire Operations Center from headquarters while the rest of the staff chiefs worked the site.
(2) Photo by FDNY Photo Unit.
Fire Operations Center
We were inundated with calls from the loved ones of missing firefighters and from out-of-state fire departments who wanted to help. We compiled a list of companies that had responded to the WTC and were missing. At 8:00 p.m., I joined Deputy Commissioner Tom Fitzpatrick and other commissioners to formulate a strategy for putting our fire department back together. We ordered new SCBA, apparatus, and other equipment.
At about 2:00 a.m., many of the chiefs returned from the site and gave us an update.
In the following weeks, I worked at the Fire Operations Center during the day and the site at night. I worked with many retired firefighters who were looking for their sons and with brothers who were looking for their lost brothers. We gained strength from them; you had to be strong for them and for the job.
SALVATORE J. CASSANO is chief of operations and a 33-year veteran of the Fire Department of New York. He was promoted to deputy chief assigned to Division 14 in 1993 and served as division commander in Divisions 15 and 1. He was promoted to citywide tour commander in 1999 and assigned to Manhattan, a position he held on September 11, 2001. He graduated from John Jay College of Criminal Justice with a BS in fire science.
