From the April 2002 Firehouse Magazine
Firefighter Heinz Kothe Tower Ladder 12 - 11 years
I came in for the day tour at 7:30 A.M. I relieved the chauffeur from the night tour. Firefighter Derrick Wilson was there. He had relieved me and I went home right before the 1993 bombing; now I relieved him.
I heard the commotion over the voice alarm. A few minutes later, Engine 3 responded with the high-rise unit. Chief Palmer and aide Steve Belson in the 7th Battalion responded. I saw the second plane hit and I knew we were going to go.
We all got dressed and were dispatched on the next box. The probie went as an extra roof man. We made the drive in record time straight down Seventh Avenue. The towers were right in front of us. I could see black smoke billowing from the towers. I said, this isn’t going to be a regular fire, we’re going to be there all day.
The guys in the back were looking out the side windows. They were saying, there goes another one (jumper). We pulled up on West Street. Already, all the tower ladders and rear-mounted aerials were going to be of no use. We grabbed extra air cylinders. As we got close to the building you had to watch out for debris falling down.
We followed a chief into the Marriott Hotel. I saw more death going in than after we came out. We really had to watch out as you ran in so no one jumped on you. The chief in the lobby said engines on this side and trucks on this side. We received an order to evacuate the 16th floor and above. We entered the C stairs on the south end of the hotel. Two or three civilians who we passed on the way up said, what do we do, keep heading down.
We walked up and saw other companies searching the lower floors. We made it up to 14 and took a breather. They were showing the probie how to force a door. I looked out a window and could see people on the rooftops of surrounding buildings that had jumped. We walked all the way to the north end and up to 17 or 18. The company was divided into two teams and we met at the south end landing outside the stairway. There was a rumbling and the building started to shake. The door blew open and blew the guys back. We crawled into a corner. The lights went out and the dust came in. I thought it might have been a bomb in the basement.
Some one said, if you start to choke, it might be a chemical, so put on your mask. On the 18th floor, I shined my light down the hallway. About 20 or 40 feet north of the south stairs the hallway was covered in rubble from when the tower collapsed. It apparently split the Marriott in half. Down to the fifth or sixth floor I was able to look out a window and saw a fire truck upended and wrecked. I could see part of the tower facade and said, what happened out there?
We were trying to get through on the radio. At the third and fourth floors you couldn’t go any further. The stairway was blocked. The roof rope was left on floor 17. Lieutenant Petti and Firefighter Angel Juarbe went to get the search rope. They also received a Mayday from a member of a ladder company. He reported that he was trapped and couldn’t get out. As they went upstairs the lieutenant said to see about finding a way out.
At the fourth floor we ran into a civilian we had seen before. A firefighter had found a way through the debris blocking the stairs. They tried to shimmy down a beam. Looking down at the stairs, the ceiling was collapsed, there was a three-foot space where you were able to slide down. I radioed the lieutenant that we found a way out. The firefighter from Ladder 4 said he was losing consciousness, he had fallen several floors. I said turn on your PASS device. He said he couldn’t reach it. Lieutenant Petti was between the eighth and 12th floors. Firefighter Mullen was waiting to show him the way we went.
I heard another roar, a deafening roar. The building started to shake. There was a pillar in front of me. I pressed up against it. It took 10 seconds for the north tower to collapse. I thought I was dead. Everything was rumbling and shaking around you. It tasted like you had 10 cotton balls in your mouth. I was trying to catch my breath. I lost my facepiece. I got my breath back. I fell forward and ping-ponged on other debris. I hurt my foot and ankle.
Outside the building the visibility was 20 to 40 feet. We kept calling on channel 3, but there was no answer. At a fire there is always someone outside to grab your arm and help you out. No one was there. I thought it might have been a nuclear bomb. I expected to see people tangled in debris. I saw no one dead on the way out. All that was visible was paper, rubble, steel and concrete. There weren’t any people, computers or desks.
Someone said we lost 150, 200 firefighters. I said I hope it’s not true.
