LON SLEPICKA
Firehouse.com News
Photo by Michael Glenn
The picture is a moment in time that illustrates the saying, "If you think it’s bad now, just wait". When looking at it there is an urge to shout at
the people to get out of there. It was bad, real bad, and then it got worse.
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In the picture, the steel facade World Trade Center’s north tower gleams in
the bright sunshine. Polished Engine 10 is connected to a fire hydrant and
other engines are lined along the street. Several people including two in
helmets and bunker coats look up to the sky. They seem to be studying
something but there is little hint in the body language of an impending
crisis.
The picture is a moment in time that illustrates the saying, "If you think
it’s bad now, just wait". When looking at it there is an urge to shout at
the people to get out of there. It was bad, real bad, and then it got worse.
FDNY EMS Paramedic Michael Glenn took the picture. His wife awakened him
just after the first plane crashed into the World Trade Center. In five
minutes he was out the door of his Brooklyn home and 16 minutes later he was
at ground zero checking in with a command center in a garage entrance across
the street from North Tower #1.
Glenn parked his car and found the command post where he reported in
although he was not on duty that day. But at that time and place there was
nothing to do. He took his camera out and snapped a couple of pictures.
He decided to go back to check on his car and was about 100 feet from the
command post when the first tower came down. There was no warning. There was
no thought this would happen. "I would not have been taking these pictures
if we thought this was coming down," Glenn said.
And now things were different. Rescuers were dying. Glenn believes the two
men in helmets are Deputy Fire Commissioner Thomas Fitzpatrick on the left
and Deputy Fire Commissioner William Feehan on the right. Feehan was lost in
the tragedy. "I think it is the last picture taken of Feehan," Glenn said.
"Some went left and some went right. Some lived and some died."
Photo by Michael Glenn
"I would not have been taking these pictures
if we thought this was coming down," Glenn said.
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Glenn dashed into the World Financial Center and raced far to the back.
Along with eight or nine police officers and lobby security people they
waited.
Moving out of the building again, he found an EMS Chief who asked him if he
was attached to anyone. When he said no, the Chief said, "good, you are now
in charge of triage," and he set up a triage center in the Embassy Suites
Hotel lobby. There wasn’t much time there until reports came in that the
second tower was wobbling. He rushed to get people moved again and ended up
jumping into the back of an ambulance. "I just hoped I wouldn’t get
squished," he said.
Over the next 20 hours he worked ground zero and the triage center at
Chelsea Piers. At first there were some victims he said. Then they stopped
coming in. He spent his time treating other rescue workers for the injuries
the incurred while scrambling to find other victims.
Somewhere between the first and second tower collapses, he called his wife
to tell her he was OK. She had helped him pull his gear together as he was
rushing to leave the house. He has four children. When he saw the television
pictures he knew what he would do. "I wasn’t going to miss this. How could I
not go," Glenn said.
In the picture, where fire trucks and firemen are primed to deal with the
unthinkable, there is no question of their readiness to do what needed to be
done. But at that moment they did not know the price they would pay.
Glenn has been with FDNY EMS since 1995. Including the two paramedics lost
that day, eight close friends of his died in the tragedy.
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