From the April 2002 Firehouse Magazine
Firefighter Tom Caruso Ladder 48 - 6 1/4 years
I was on a 90-day detail to Engine 3. I was at 7th Avenue and Grove Street. I heard the explosion and ran out into the street and saw that a jet hit the Trade Center. I made it back to Engine 3 to get my gear. I jumped on a Con-Ed electric truck and was brought to the scene. I held my helmet out the window and the police let us through.
About three blocks away, I jumped out. At this time, both towers were burning. I took an airpack off a rig and found a halligan tool. I went into the north tower with a makeshift group of firefighters with a captain. A woman jumper hit a man about 35 feet away from us. I saw eight or nine people jump. I was amazed by it.
People were coming down the escalators near West Street. We made it into a stairway. There were numerous people coming down. It was tough going. I heard a transmission about the south tower suffering a partial collapse. We were still walking up. I think we were at the 11th floor. People were still coming down. In another minute or two we came down.
The lobby was pitch black. We were fumbling around. I tried a dozen times to get out. Finally outside I saw Ladder 12 with their bucket up. Then the north tower came down. I was on the opposite side of West Street. I heard the rumbling. I ran to a building and threw my halligan tool through the plate glass window. A whole bunch of people ran inside. It was pitch black. I could see the silhouette of a rig in flames.
We stayed in the store for a few minutes because of the dust. There was an eerie silence. We asked each other who’s here? Three or four engines were burning. Ladders 5 and 12 were smashed. Engine 3 was on the southbound side of the street and was all right. The high-rise unit was smashed under the north pedestrian bridge. We heard a Mayday given by a member of a ladder company.
When I ran into the scene, I never expected the towers would come down. My best friend, Firefighter Sergio Villanueva of Ladder 132, was killed.
