Newspaper article on NYC Authority clean air projects in Queens,

z Z o 33 <o o -4 Rescuer BW Bo SO 1 ” ' like they had worked together forever like two good partners Tl c 5 'IP o o o G) stories II SEFT.n from 2 department. I remember being those gray shirts, those uciforSMi, cutting thorn all up,, f found a watering — a o' ■D o ;q- 0)

CD D O) ptot, What do you call o as protecting the emotions of rel­ o those? c atives. “It is the department's hope that the release of the records will not cause our mem­ I •’■’4 Peo^ were conxingTo me,' dousing everybody. Fm tak- ■ Ing coptwl of the bathroom, I 3 o 3 T bers and their todies any addi­ b^ause it's chaotic. I can't tional pain or anguish,” a pre­ 5 let nobody in there because pared statement read. it’s going to be — they are Roberr Freeman, director of the state Conunissioc on Open Government, said despite the long, expensive legal battle, the fighting for water. They’re Unihg-up for mei Fm clean­ ing mem off, giving them rags, cleaning them off. I’m I disclosure of the records .shows that the Preedoro of Information Law “wrks reasonably well." looking at the door. You can’t fit nobody more In the lobby. There had to be.500, ft ,.M ''Four years is too long in my 600 people In the lobby. opinion to gain access to ii;

lecords." Freeman said. “How­ ever 'in terms of history, and Firefighter John Drumm «i1 Engine Co. 39. Manhstlart the value of records, it is akin Climbing to the'M Hoar of Tower I*:

to the wink of an eye. After all. One what could have been more dif­ We met some very nice ficult or wrenching?" people on the way up. They F.i'- Freeman said he did not offered the firemen water tbii^ the case set precedoot, ex­ cept in that it was a rare chance for the court to consider the ef­ fect infonnatlon about the de- and actually I want to put that in the record because it was a nice thing One civil­ fed ian offered to carry my rol­ ceased would have on their sur­ lup for a while at one point gg« viving relatives. I said, “Thank you very K nmeh, sir. but Fil get ft." How the oral histoHes :1 . . , Maybe wc wore on • were taken the 31st hallway for upproxi- mately five miiwtes when all & The inrerviews of fire per- of a sudden a crashing, sonnel collected after 9/U thundering, roatit^ — it's • were conducted informally. almost impossible to really Que^tons were few. and ap­ explain with those words, peared W be aimed at gently bur it was so much more pressing firefighters and others noise than I could ever real­ X to continue tcUiag their sto­ n ly explain clearly. The mem­ ries. bers that were nearby, we all Then Fire Conunwsioner went and got down on our Thomas Von Essen said at the hands and knees on rhe time he wanted to create a floor, not knowing what this 5fe: record of what happened was, walls, floor. I had no before individual memories idea. I had no idea what was faded and collective memory happening until 1 got out of formed. the building later in the day. The interviews were con­ After the noise had stopped, 5^" ducted by fire marshals, who usually investigate arsons, '^W' there was a transmission on the radio that I had, I was in a b and departmental Investiga­ position on 39 control that day, 5l i! tors who normally work on so 1 had a radio so 1 could bear disciplinary matters, a depart- it myself on my radio. .i' meat spokeswoman said There was a transMilssion 'Friday. ■ that I’m guessing was repeat­ ..

II The interviews were tran­ ed about five times; “Immi­ scribed by volunteers from , j>utside the departmeot. nent collapse, imminent Or collapse of the north tower. '-“It was hectic then, and Immediate evacuation.” At ,j|»y.w^-d<j|^:wbRncy6r 'pccfpk were available,” the eUB least five times I heard that, . . . After standing on the 3E1 . spokeswoman said, . floor and the collapse of the » , fian^g official of the ■ . / : d'ei^rt^nt were usually^ IJ^^ewed in theu- o£fice?>, aad t^lnbears oflhe low “ Kiak^' were Interviewed in I® south tower happening and maldng our way back into the stairwell, there was a lot less civilians. Most of the civilians hopefully at that point were I oi

w® their firehouses. One retired fire marshal said Friday that while he was already down. But there were still a few we ran Into on the way down. mi at Ground Zero, he decided K One woman we assisted. against being interviewed. She was having trouble A captain who was inter­ breathing. The only air we viewed said the oral history had left was a cylinder. One seemed to have been given of the members had a cylin­ so long ago that he didn’t der and I helped to purge it even l^her to review it to to let the woman get a nit see whether he wanted it off our mask. edited before release, as he 1? So we gave her the mask. was entitled to under the I 3 She was able to walk after a I court order forcing the Fire pep^tmeut to make them williamMUHWY MftTT Me0*W4OTT/C6S&f5 SYGMAPHOTO that, and she was with two civilian men that were going to stay with her the rest of the way down. : *(^wit>AV>M©roziW>W»KMOhK.fci; ■ : Is . ,, < 4 V 4