DEP organizational chart for 9/11 emergency response, Sept 2001

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

^UQh.. And crisscrossing Manhattan throughout Hie day was a cab driver, would take them to Manhattan. The No. 2 and No. 3 trains, along “We were notified there was a Manuel Jara, who admitted that the bomb threat and we were hurried terrorist attack had so dazed him with the N and R trains, had been that he was struggling to remember closed since the twin towers toppled, down the steps as fast as possible,” that Sixth Avenue travels north, not but late Wednesday night, the Fire said Bill Hewson, an employee for south. He had seen the smoke billow­ Department asked transit officials to the Visiting Nurse Service at 5 Penn ing in the immediate aftermath of shut down the No. 4 and No. 5 trains Plaza. the first tower’s collapse, and had as well, for fear that vibrations from He added that he expected similar tried to comfort a hysterical passen­ the trains would further weaken exercises of panic in the days to some buildings in Lower Manhattan. come, saying that “all you need is a ger. Police officers carrying bullhorns Sure, he said, people were hailing phone book, and to want disruption.” cabs in Manhattan again. But now, and barricades had to rush into the By 12:30 p.m., similar bomb he said, “it’s completely different.” station to restore order. threats had prompted some com­ With dawn came the confusing — In fact, the only trains bound from muters to call it a day. and often changing — information that central station for Manhattan On a train in Pennsylvania Station about rush-hour options. were the Q and the W, but for an hour bound for Princeton, there sat two The Holland Tunnel was closed, employees of Macy’s — one target of but the Lincoln Tunnel and the those two lines were down as well. a bomb scare — and Linda Engel, 39, Queens-Midtown Tunnel were open. “Why don’t they just shut this all who said that a bomb threat had The Brooklyn, Manhattan and Wil­ down?” screamed one woman, tears sounded at a building near hers in the liamsburg bridges were closed, but streaking her face. “Nothing is work­ fashion district. “People are erring the George Washington Bridge was ing anyway.” open, with routine, even comforting, At times during the day, it indeed on the side of caution,” she said. delays. seemed that nothing worked — and, After a bomb threat at the Conde Trains from Long Island, Connect­ then, that everything worked. Gov. Nast building in Times Square, em­ icut, Westchester County and New George E. Pataki announced that the ployees were told that the offices Jersey returned to normal weekday primaries that had been postponed would be closed until Monday, as a schedules, although officials report­ on Tuesday would be held on Sept. 25, precaution. ed that ridership was down by as and that the City Council would hold There were other threats and much as half. And by late morning. its regularly scheduled meeting in evacuations through the day: at the La Guardia, Kennedy International the afternoon (in the New York Pub­ Port Authority Bus Terminal, in the lic Library on Fifth Avenue and not Times Square subway station, at in City Hall, which remains closed). Grand Central Terminal, where uni­ Bomb scares, “The business of the city will go formed transit workers with mega­ on,” the governor said. phones kept shouting: “Everybody But on the first day of the city’s sporadic transit return to business, things got weird. to the streets! Everybody to the streets!” A man commuting into the city A police officer trying to contain and a lingering from Great Neck on Long Island the crowds pouring out onto 42nd wore a felt mask over his mouth Street was asked whether there had plurne of smoke. “because of a lot of the irritants that been a threat. “Yeah,” she said. are in the air.” On another Long “Go.” Island Rail Road platform, a woman in Manhasset began crying at the Last night, as the third day of^ and Newark International airports thought of returning to Manhattan; transformed New York City drew^P opened for their brief, limited at­ “Who knows what will happen any­ a close, the lights went on. tempt at operation. where?” Passengers in Mr. Jara’s cab asked that he turn off the radio; Down in Lower Manhattan, they For an hour beginning shortly af­ shined bright again upon the search- ter 8 a.m., Staten Island’s four they could not bear to hear any more. bridges were closed as police cruis­ American flags and blood-drive and-recovery workers still toiliog ers and unmarked black sedans posters began appearing in store­ above the ash-covered burial site f«w joined the Joint Terrorism Task front windows. Familiar landmarks thousands. And on Broadway, they Force in chasing a particular car — suddenly looked like inviting targets shined again upon actors trained .tn “a suspicious vehicle that might for terrorists, and routine sirens sud­ provoke thought about the human have b^n linked to the attack,” one denly sounded like cries of warning. condition. official said — that had driven onto In Lincoln Center, near Avery Women in silken dresses and nten the island from New Jersey and dis­ Fisher Hall, a 90-minute street dra­ in suits with crisp seams lined up or appeared. ma played out as police officers in­ the comedy or tragedy of th'^t In the context of the day, the isola­ vestigated the nature of an aban­ choice. tion of an entire New York borough doned and illegally parked Cadillac “We thought about canceling, but seemed almost routine. Later in the troupe de Ville, with a suitcase visi­ ble in its back seat. The immediate then decided against it,” said one day. Mayor Giuliani said, simply, woman in a black blouse. “Life has to “■nie Staten Island car turned out to area was cordoned off as members of the Police Department’s bomb go on.” ’3 be nothing.” But the inconveniences that the squad gingerly opened the suitcase, car chase caused in Staten Island which contained junk. paled when compared to those at At lunchtime there began a series certain subway lines. Shouting of bomb threats, many of them cen­ matches and at least one fistfight tered around Midtown. broke out at the sprawling station in Confused hordes of people ran out Brooklyn at Atlantic Avenue and Pa­ of several buildings along a stretch cific Street, as frustrated commut­ of Seventh Avenue just north of Mad­ ers struggled to find a train that ison Square Garden, only to stand around and wait for some guidance.

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