Newspaper article on NYC Authority clean air projects in Queens,

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-4 o o o Ji. to 00 oi Jose Perez Battaiiwi a EMT At 43th and Lexiin^on when Ik hevd a radio report of roc first hitting 1 guess because of all (he excitement and everything, came up. That’s my only possible explanation of what happened there. Then that stopped and 1 just watted around and kind of nothing else happened. 1 stood i!p, kind of brushed this noise that sounded like the subway train going by but magnified by a thousand, When we’hcard that noise. . . We didn’t bother to look out the window. We just made an exit out of that room. tower... 1 think the win­ dows . . . were already blown out. I’m pretty sure I went in ebrot^h a window . . . and we prcKeeded to go up. . . There were civilians coming down the stairway... TTwy stayed (^port»h8sfrow(o**causese- i '57.

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o o o c 3 fD we kind of just started to myself and kind of felt all There wasn’t any room In to one side, and we stayed to b: *ntejco«it 3 head down to some extent. 1 ray body parts. 1 said, “Well. the stairwell. It was loaded the other side and wor^d our lower court decision to Wack in buildaag^Sides., . . know all the south units OK. rm alive and I’m OK." Il with people. way up. I wasn’t positive of out tdentities of civilians ia V NoriasHi Siegel, a lawyt^ for were already down there. So was kind of a shock. Tliere So myself and a guy named what floors (he fire was on. I BM&eall-Iogs. The actual tapes (he fetnWes, hiled’die release., wc coded up at 11th and was nothing missing, nothing Schroder from 10 Engine went didn’t have any Inforraaiion. ■S of 911 calls were not re- "It is an acconsph'^hmeot aedfe Seventh In front of St Vin­ broken. n<M:liing. down the ballway and found a ’fbe handie-talkie informaflon fe: " leaMd-Wway.: < : \ : relief to finally recd^ if so we cent’s. Wc could see both of cliMiet, arid we darted into the was pretty sketchy al best, . . ■ b.;; a .'c^hiiefrttng ophrkMi, Asso- ■■ can wirtliwc (rymg M under' the towers. At ihat time closet We were in there •: •• • ? ■ Albert -RosePhlait stand and team fix>m the evertfs when we got down there, Toe south tower had fall­ Che court should have ofW said. "TheFfre t>e- they were both engulfed in en, but al that time ! didn't teqmred the unrodacted re- partmeot should haw released flames. know what it was. Ah T ?w' W the 911 emergency call these documents years ago.” At some point, we just saw beard was a tremendoue tescdtds. "’Americans,” he For some, the complex issue the first lower full, and we erplosioo. The tower 1 was wrote, "“deserve to have as frill of the radios was paramount. were amazed. I was with my in shook really bad ... I an accounat of that event as can . ferfy Ril^, a rerii^ fine Ueu- partnwer, foc Valdivia, and we thought it was another air­ ’<;• be responsibly fwpnished.’’ tenant said his son now wishes both were shaking our heads craft that hit the building. After so long, the release of to become a fire^htet. “If he and were shaking. We decid­ Wc continued to go up . • . tite records was something of a becomes a firefighter, 1 think ed to go down, and we took There was no one thing .media event at FDNY head- he should have the best equip- the West Side Highway. At that made me decide to get cpiarters in Brooklyn. Black- ment available." Rileysaid. some point, we just couldn't out. . . H was just the culmi- garbed fireGghteis stood guard. On his radio show Friday, go any further because |xx>- natson of intuJuon . . . I just About 50 reporters showed up, Mayor Michael Hlooniberg plc were starting to come up, deckled It was time to go including two in a shiny, black seemed to dowopUy any sig- so we threw It In park and ... the consensus was that chmiffeured car. ttifleance to the rele^ of tlte basically just helped as much we were gettiu out T re- Bifl it remained unclear what documents. as we can with everybwiy cetved no hani^-talkie com- impact the disclosures will have. Bloomberg not^ the release that was coming out. Th» f rauflications to get out . . . “I lost some gays, others sue- was made b^usc of Ihe New the second building 1. r made it up as high as the vived. ’This isn’t going to bring York Tunes lawsuit. “The city think for me it was ji ibe- 22ad floor ... It was painfril- them back.'’ said Battalion dMnot think dmtweshtwMre- lievabie, the whole ibipg. ly slow going down . . . I Ghief Eugene Kelty, formerly lease them. There’s all sorts of For the festdm, it was somethingd& I Wnght didn't really I prsl [■ V just kept telling myself, ‘Tm running out of time to »ct out of building . . ."i We ■I Im the commander of an engine privacy issues.'’he said. company located across the “People say things when they call 911, or thfi poiice offic­ had to convince Jny-^f (hat exited the building, and Che • ers and the firefighters talking it did. I just a-good sup­ y north lower started to TaH. to each other, that probably port system at my norae with : • : would be best^tor evi^bbdy my wife and family. ImraXMelHihr ■ (hat 11 just waB 0<:releaMe4^ Firefighter Tony James salutes at funeral of the Rev. Mychal EMT 5478. BattaBon 45 V A-} Ke did not elaborate on' why. Judge, who died giving last rites to firefighter at Ground Zero. Getttr^ coffee with her parW when Fire officials yet ag^ sought I Lt. James McGlynn Engine 39 Ok? necked fire in the You Gouldn'i breathe be­ to portray the departzneBts duty 1 W’WW Calling for 10 . On M floor of Tower 1 when orders Firaf^Mer Derek Bn^an maybe five to teu seconds. cause when the second plane S«e SEPT, n on 4 more roscue came to evacuate Engins ManhatUn Then we beard a knock on the hit, all that debris, it was like workers, a fire- I believe I was between Had dies! pains while going up- door. You couldn’t see any­ cement it just fUied up your fi^er stands atop (he second and third R<x>r on the half landing, and it start­ ds^rs » Twer 1 We started marching up thing. Dust, smoke, whatever it WHS. throat it filled up your lungs, yew CouW not breathe. You SI .a rubble on Sept. 14. ed to shake and vibrate. (he Stairs. AU the people Outside was a Port Authori­ were actually spring cwt huge Staff writer William l^a-phy oversaw ON THE COVER: Then I heard the sound of were coming down, "nicy ty cop. ’We dragged him in partkies. K was like it nunifest- the selecticm ol oral hisiorfes included A firefighter after floors imploding one on top were very calm. They would with us. We couldn’t get him aJ itself in your mouth be­ in this special section. the Trade Center of the other. You heard it yell from a couple floors up all the way in the room be­ cause it Was so small and It Staff writers Robert Polner and Katie collapse. eoromg. and you heard it that there was a Him victim cause be was laying on the fUled up. You couldn’t breathe. Thomas selected the excerpts of t^3ed getting louder and louder and louder and louder and coming down, and everyone plastered themselves up floor and his leg was hanging outside of the doorway. This It was just caked in your throat. w*»». I? transm/sskjns. Tape transmissions and oral histories things are coroing down on against (be wall and the burn wind came down (he ballway They teach you in (he 7- on which several stories also were top of you. victim would come down. It and blew the doors open that academy about the feeling of bas^ — were compile by staff writers I hit the floor, and I rolled to was amazing to see (hat they were in that office that we impending doom a patient Bill Meyer. Pete Bowles, Samuel ihc wall and just kind of cov- were actually smiling that were in. I remember me yell­ might feel. I have never had ^'ttchey, Katie Chaffer, Celeste Had- cr^ up into a fetal position (hey were almo.st down (he ing that his aoklc was getting that feeling up until that day. rick, Pr«dr»ya Joshi, Robed Kahn, Chau ' and started saying ray prayers. stairs. crushed outside the door. I knew ihal this wa.s it. I lam. Joseph MalHa, J<mathan Mummo* Finally that stopped, and the Maybe about the 13th floor The rumbling was so intense knew that this is how I'm Io, William Murphy, Christian Murray, debris started coming. When the loud banging slopped, I I started havbig chest pains. I had crossed my extra cylin­ tlrat we didn’t really know what had happened. We just going out. The only thing (hat ran through my mind Firefighters atop a fire engine wit Collin Nash, Tania Padgett, Liam Plev- eor Robert Polner, Rolando F. Pujol, lite said, “OK, at least I’m not going to get crushed or I’m not going to get crushed on im­ der over from one side to the other side. I started feelli^ better, and assumed that out building had been hit by another plane. Wc came down the center was — other (han saying the Our Father as 1 was running. “God, please don’t let this' command pose, which was the parking garage (here, and slnS wi Rayman, Hib»y Muss, Katie ■ ■■■■ Mary Vohorif ■■ MM pact.” we went up again, (c (he stair and were waiting in the hurt.” I thought it was going lined up with everybody, ^(ion Editor; Rosemary McManus Then (be debris kept com­ 23rd floor. There the chest lobby, wc went to walk outside to hurt Just “God. make it st<x>d there, waited until wc Assistant Section Editor: B^tjamln ing, and it started eovering pain was getting very irritat­ (he window... It looked like quick.” got orders. Weller nte up and I thought, oh. ing. They called mayday for it was raining bodies. The captain -— J think was Photo Editor: Jane Hwang God, I’m going to die and somebody to coroe up and The chest pains. I thought it Mike [INAUDIBLEl- came Designer: Joanne Utley just get buried alive. I said I give us oxygen, because was a heart attack. When the Kevin Gorman up and ordered all truck com­ would just rather die quickly there was rayself and two fourth floor was blocked. I Udder 22 panies to one side and then than get buried alive. Then guys from 9 Truck there. thought that our luck had run I Wcl arc on West Street brought us all to (he south that slopped. The guy from 9 Truck was out there. When we got to the and we hear an urgent mes­ tower. . . Then I felt this strange yelling that he couldn’t feel lobby, I thought our hick had sage. We were betweCQ the We headed down under­ flung like air rushing up. 'The his arms. run out there. ITien when the two toi^s. At that time, I neath the south pedestrian only thing 1 thought. “Am I So the Port Aulboriry ESU bodies came down when we would say wc heard an urgent walkway, stayed under there falling? Am I going to heav­ cops came up. They gave us were leaving the building, 1 message from OEM (.Office of because of all the debris, and en?" 1 think ray only explana- some oxygen. certainly thought that was our Emergency Manageraent]. it bodies and stuff, and then > tion is that that was the We were in an outer office last chance. said, where OEM informs us one by one we kind of ran § outside of the building tum- g bling tt> tJie. street and then on ihe 23rd floor on the south­ east comer, which I guess L€ Thoma# PlamMno (hat “There is a third plane cn route. Pull back to the com- into the hotel, you know. looking up. We ran into the =I faces Twer Two. Then we mand post.” •; ■§ "5 forcing air, in and chieji having nowhere Jp go but it < ;- felt rwble. You juM beacd Engine 65.. We jW^mi ,i > (. iuto the nottit So we pulled back to the . hotel lobby entrance, or I think it was the restaurant I