Inside: Firehouse.com's 9-11 Coverage

HEATHER CASPI
Firehouse.com News

SAN JOSE -- FDNY's Battalion Chief John J. Salka, Jr. drew hundreds of listeners to his "Initial Report on FDNY's Response to the World Trade Center Attacks" at the Fire Rescue West Conference and Exposition in San Jose, CA Tuesday.

The conference room was packed, with attendees standing along the walls and overflowing into the hallway to hear Salka's observations about the September 11 disaster.

"It was a lot of confusion. I have a hard time comprehending the enormity of this thing, and I was there," he told the crowd.

Salka illustrated his talk with a slide show and video, starting with pictures of the plane attacks on the WTC. He pointed to an outline of the plane in the gaping hole of the North tower.

When the first plane crashed the incident was already a "gigantic, once in a lifetime operation," Salka said. He was off duty at the time, getting his car fixed, and came in because he thought it would simply be the largest high rise fire he'd ever seen.

However, the already enormous operation was instantly multiplied by the second plane attack and the ensuing collapse of each tower.

Salka showed pictures where massive fire was visible in the towers, burning throughout five-floor sections in some areas and in locations as far as 20 floors below the places of impact.

He said the fire came down with the collapses and created secondary fires all over the surrounding area in buildings and cars. The most involved was the 47-story building next to the WTC, of which 35 floors were on fire.

Salka emphasized to the crowd the importance of having fire boats available in case of disaster.

Because so many water mains had been destroyed, two fire boats were vital in pumping enough water from the Hudson River to supply the firefighting operations at Ground Zero.

The department was lucky to have both of these boats on scene because one of them had actually been retired, Salka said. Fortunately, the boat's private owners had kept it in working condition and brought it to the disaster site.

But regardless of all the firefighting resources available, "The collapse destroyed the whole operation," the chief said.

Firefighters in the North tower started self-evacuating after the first collapse. Many were in shock after the collapses, and when the dust cleared they faced the agonizing task of searching for their missing brothers through 17 acres of rubble.

Salka created an analogy for the audience, although he said it wasn't meant to be funny. He compared the situation to looking at his son's bedroom and trying to figure out how to clean it up.

"You say well let's make the bed. You have to start somewhere," he said.

The only thing to do was to pick a little area of rubble and start working on it. It was impossible to think about the big picture, Salka said.

The firefighters dug by hand for the first few weeks, using garden spades and buckets. In order to scale the mountains of debris they tied together portable ladders and laid them atop the piles. Later, cranes and dumpsters were brought in.

Grappler machines would also pick debris off the piles and spread it out so that people could check through it. The machines could be so gentle with the material, Salka said, that he saw one of the giant claws delicately pick up a helmet "like picking up a child."

Salka said the 20 to 30-story sections of walls that remained standing at the site were a cause of concern at first in case of secondary collapse, but officials soon learned that these were incredibly stable and they stayed in place for weeks. Other wall sections fell from the upper floors of the towers and landed upside down, sticking up in the debris.

Salka also put up pictures of what looked like dust, and pointed to the outlines of fire trucks buried underneath. Several vehicles were found driven five stories down below street level, he said.

More recent images of Ground Zero showed a changed scene with the street visible again, cranes everywhere, and tents set up for command posts, food, supplies, morgues, etc.

There is also netting covering nearby buildings now to keep broken glass and debris from falling on rescue workers.

No one was killed or seriously injured in the aftermath of the attacks, though Salka mentioned the dangerous dust that all rescuers breathed in, which is being blamed for the illness of firefighters who worked in New York.

Salka offered to answer questions at the end of the session and got laughs when someone asked him about the conflict between firefighters, police and the city after the attacks, and he answered, "Any Other questions?"

The event ended with a standing ovation.

Attendees agreed that the presentation provided insight into the magnitude and scope of the incident.

"It was overwhelming," said firefighters from Garden Grove, CA.

Carmel Valley firefighters said it really showed the confusion of the incident, and a front line perspective that was absent in general news reports.

After the presentation, Salka answered even more questions for attendees and several news agencies.

"What I tried to get across was just awareness," Salka said. He also addressed concerns about how the the fire department will recover after the loss of so many experienced officials and with the psychological impact on the surviving firefighters.

"We're going to be fine," he said. "There's a tremendous amount of experience and dedication in the department."

Salka also had some advice for fire departments, in case something similar to the WTC attacks happens in another city.

"You know there's nothing you could have done to prepare for the operation," he said. But he suggests planning in advance about concerns such as where to put a morgue and where 500 rescue workers could sleep while they stay near a disaster site.

When asked if he wants to see the towers rebuilt and whether they are defendable, Salka declined to answer.

"Somebody somewhere is going to have to decide that. Whatever they do we're going to have to defend," he said.