Fireman Recalls 'a Nightmare' in WTC

Sept. 10, 2002 -- My name is Billy Green and this is what happened to me on Sept. 11, 2001.

I am a fireman at Engine 6 of the New York City Fire Department, which is located just a few blocks away from the World Trade Center. I was working a 24-hour shift Sept. 10, to go off duty at 0900 hours on Sept. 11, 2001. It was a good tour. I was working with a great bunch of guys. We had a covering lieutenant supervising the company, Lt. Thomas O'Hagan [covering means substituting in another firehouse]. He seemed to fit right in with our company.

Paul Beyer had made a delicious chicken dinner. Tom Holohan and I were studying for the upcoming promotional exam. We were tossing questions back and forth. Paul was getting most of the questions right. Lt. O'Hagan was giving us pointers on how to study.

It was a pretty quiet night tour. Not too many runs. I had the late watch. I made some fresh coffee about 0715 hours.

At Approximately 0815 hours Engine 6 received an EMS run for a medical emergency at the Governor Smith housing project. Engine 6 responded with the men working this 6 x 9 tour [6 p.m. to 9 a.m.]: Paul Beyer, Tom Holohan, Jack Butler, Lt. O'Hagan and myself. We made contact with an unconscious Chinese woman in her 90s. We administered first aid and prepared her for transport. An ambulance arrived shortly afterwards and we assisted the EMTs to bring her down to the ambulance.

‘Looked As If a Bomb Had Exploded’

We were returning from this call, waiting at a stop sign at the corner of Avenue of the Finest and Rose Streets, which is right by 1 Police Plaza, when we heard a very loud explosion. I saw a police officer pointing towards the World Trade Center. We looked up and saw a large hole in the north tower of the WTC. It looked as if a bomb had exploded in the north wall. The hole looked to be on about the 80th floor. It was a big jagged hole maybe involving three stories. Many papers came flying out, and smoke started to pour out

Lt. O'Hagan reached for the department radio and transmitted a second alarm and a 10-60 signal for the World Trade Center. A 10-60 signal is a code for a disaster. We headed towards the scene. First, down Gold Street. A right on Beekman Street.

The firehouse is located on 49 Beekman St. Two firefighters had run out to the street with their bunker gear. It was Bill Johnston and Bob Emans. They were both scheduled to work the following 9 x 6 tour [9 a.m. to 6 p.m.]. They had heard the explosion too, and knew there was a job. They jumped on the apparatus.

We were all crowded in the rig. Bill was very excited. He said this was going to be some job.

‘It Was Hell’

When the engine arrived about a block away from the WTC complex there were already thousands of people in the streets, trying to get away. Thousands jammed Vesey and Church streets. The apparatus had to slowly push the people out of the way to get through. Like a plow. Slowly pushing the people out of the way so we could respond.

We were one of the first units on scene. The north tower had multiple floors on fire, and there were people jumping. It was hell. It was like a nightmare. That was one of my most dreaded fears of being a firefighter: to witness people jumping from a building. It looked as if a few were landing on the roof of 6 WTC.

We had to gather our equipment quickly and run in for fear that we would be hit by people jumping from the tower. Tom, Paul, Bill Johnston, Lt. O'Hagan and myself approached the entrance. Jack Butler, the engine operator, hooked up to the hydrant and prepared to supply the standpipe system. We entered through the front doors of the north tower.

The lobby was a disaster. Every window in the lobby appeared to be broken, with giant shards of glass hanging from the window frames. These windows were over two stories high. In the lobby our officer checked in at the fire command station. It was a few moments while the officers figured out what tactics we would use (attack stair, evacuation stair).

The rest of us were readying ourselves for fire duty. Buttoning up our turnout coats, checking the straps on our masks, turning our air cylinders on. We started to realize we would have to walk this one. The elevators weren't going to be usable.

‘This Would Be a Tough One’

Tom Holohan said, "Are you guys ready to walk" eagerly. Paul and I both shook our heads and said this would be a tough one.

As Lt. O'Hagan hurried over from the fire command station and notified us we were going to start climbing the "B" staircase, I heard a radio transmission that it was a confirmed plane crash on the 86th floor.

The members followed the Lieutenant to the "B" staircase, which was located in the core of the building, pretty much in the center. The elevator system was destroyed. Hoistway doors were ajar. Some were missing completely. I saw an elevator car in the shaft, twisted.

We advanced to the stairway. There was a lot of rubble in the corridor in front of the elevators. I remembered I looked up at the ceiling to see if it was charred and had fallen down. The ceiling in the lobby was maybe three stories high. The ceiling looked intact. We had to climb over and around this pile of rubble, which may have been three feet high in the middle. I thought maybe the floor had been blown upwards from below.

Later I was to find out that the rubble we climbed over was burnt bodies.

We started up the stairs of the north tower with our hose lines and tools. Many people were coming down the stairs while we were going up. The stairway was so congested. We were telling the people to stay to the right. One long line of people trying to get down the stairs.

Water was flowing down the steps like a rapid river. When we reached approximately the 10th floor the water stopped.

About the 14th floor I heard a handie talkie transmission someone screamed "a plane, another plane" then a small rumble. Someone said on the handie talkie that another plane had hit the other tower. The building shook a little and the lights flickered.

We continued to proceed up the stairs. One file of firemen going up. Many people coming down. Some of the people were wounded. Some burned. Some other people were carrying victims. These terrified people were encouraging us. They were patting us on the back.

"The firemen are here," they shouted.

The South Tower Collapses

When I reached the 17th floor my company was taking a blow [rest]. Lt. O'Hagan told us to take a blow while he headed up a little more. As I entered the corridor on the floor I saw a vending machine, which had a large glass panel. It had a lot of bottles of water and juice. Some of the firemen were seeing if they had change in their pockets. I grabbed the ax and smashed the glass panel. It took three hard blows to break the double-paned glass. We all laughed. Paul and I started handing out water to the other firemen on the floor and in the stairway.

We passed bottles of water to the people coming down the stairs evacuating. We rested for a few minutes more there on the 17th floor, and then we started to proceed up the stairs once again. People coming down the stairs were also handing us water bottles to drink from.

We started hearing rumors that the Pentagon was hit, the White House was hit, and the Sears Tower, too. We were all sweating a lot.

When I reached the 31st floor my company was waiting for me. The Lieutenant said let's take a blow here for a minute. Other companies were also taking a blow. A lot of men from Rescue 1 were there.

I remember that a member of Rescue 1 made a handie talkie transmission saying "be advised it takes an hour and 15 minutes to reach the 31st floor." I thought to myself, could he be right — that seemed like too long a time.

An officer from another company entered the 31st floor from the "A" stairway and asked Paul and me where the "C" stairway was. He said they wanted the civilians out of the "B" stair and directed towards the "C" stair. The whole corridor filled up with people. The "B" stair looked like it was mostly firemen now.

I remember Lt. Atlas from Engine 10 arrived on the 31st floor, and said, "Come on guys, we got to make a push." We were very fatigued from carrying our equipment and lengths of 2 1/2-inch hose lines. We decided to leave two roll-up hose lengths there, and use four men to carry two lengths of hose, alternating between them.

The officer and two men, Tom Holohan and Bill Johnston, started up the stairs. Paul Beyer took one roll up and I started shortly after them. We were trying to make the 44th floor since there was a report of an elevator there.

About the 37th floor the building shook violently. I donned my face piece quickly. The building really shook, tossing us around. Someone shouted, "The south tower has just collapsed."

Find out what happens in the next part of the story when Green escapes the north tower just before it collapses, as he runs through the streets nearly suffocating with dust and fire, fearing he would be struck and killed by debris at any moment.

Fireman Billy Green from FDNY's Engine 6 was among the first to arrive at the World Trade Center when the first plane crashed into the north tower on Sept. 11, 2001.

To help the familes of Engine 6, visit their Web site.