Sept. 11, 2001
Any date in the history of the American fire service will pale in comparison to the tragic events that unfolded when Manhattan alarm box 8087 was transmitted at 0847 hours on Sept. 11, 2001. The FDNY responded to a reported airliner collision into the north tower of the World Trade Center.
Arriving units were faced with a serious fire and rescue situation and immediately went to work. When a second plane crashed into the south tower at 0905 hours, it was apparent that the city was faced with a terrorist attack of monumental proportions.
Firefighters, police officers and emergency medical personnel continued working in the towers, battling fires, conducting searches, effecting rescues, evacuating civilians and treating the injured. Then the unthinkable happened - the 110-story south tower collapsed, followed a short while later by the collapse of the north tower.
As the dust cleared, the staggering situation began to reveal itself. The FDNY had suffered a devastating blow to every rank from the Chief of Department to Probationary Firefighter. A roll call revealed that 343 members of the department were killed or missing. The Port Authority Police reported 37 killed or missing, the NYPD 23 killed or missing, as well as two emergency medical technicians. The estimates of civilian casualties were more than 5,700. Other attacks in Washington, D.C., and in Pennsylvania left another 225 people killed or missing.
The FDNY was dazed momentarily, but as the search and rescue operations began, firefighters found a new resolve and plunged into the wreckage in hopes of saving lives.
The valor of the lost firefighters, police officers and emergency workers will never be forgotten. Our deepest sympathies go out to their families as well to all the families that were touched by these tragedies.
Paul Hashagen
Paul Hashagen, a Firehouse® contributing editor, is an FDNY firefighter assigned to Rescue Company 1 in Manhattan. He is also an ex-chief of the Freeport, NY, Fire Department. Hashagen is the author of FDNY 1865-2000: Millennium Book, a recently published history of the New York City Fire Department, and other fire service history books.
