Several of us from the firm (George Hud, Bob Cerra, Alex Gutman and myself)
were in Lower Manhattan this morning for a meeting; The "2 Broadway
Building". Several minutes before 9 am a security guard poked his head in
the door and announced that we needed to evacuate the building. We assumed
it was a routine false fire alarm. In retrospect, there was an unusual
amount of sincerity in his tone. Casually, and jokingly we took the
elevators to the lobby. At ground level we heard chatter that a plane had
hit the World Trade Center (WTC), and were moved into the street. Once on
the street, we saw a large amount of smoke above the buildings in the
direction of the WTC. We decided to get a "better view". We walked east to
what I believe was the corner of Trinity Place and Battery Place....maybe 6
blocks south of the WTC. We were looking north and had a clear view of Tower
1 with its fully engulfed fire at about 7/8ths of the way up. The fire we
could see was on the southwest corner and consuming several floors.
Within a minute there was a "take-off like roar" of an aircraft from the
left of our view, it was headed northeast towards Tower 2. It was very
close, and was a large commercial aircraft with a dark blue underbelly,
banking hard to it's left....it took maybe 3 seconds from "roar" to
"disappearance". It appeared that the plane was doing a fly-by and would
pass on the other side of the Tower from where we were; depth perception was
not working well. It then just buried itself into to Tower 2, at mid-height.
Like a knife into a cake. There was a huge fireball and we felt the
heat....then it was gone. No plane sticking out, nothing but a small fire,
billowing smoke and a large diagonal scorch mark on the south side of the
building....and then the huge flurry of office paper blowing east, downwind
from the hit. Like in a ticker tape parade. It was nothing less than
surreal. You know when you see such a scene in a "Hollywood" action film and
you think, "...that was so fake looking...". Well, it was totally fake
looking. The plane just disappeared, as though the building consumed it. No
protruding tail section, no falling plane parts..the plane was gone. A man
repeated screamed; "This is war! This is war!".
We scattered, three of us heading south to Battery Park, taking shelter next
to a large bronze statue in front of the gates to the old fort. Alex headed
in another direction. From there we manned the cell phones and viewed the
two burning Towers. At this point the air was filled with sirens and
emotions that consumed the crowd of business persons and tourists. Many of
the tourists having just stepped ashore from a tour boat that afforded them
a full view of the bizarre happenings. As minutes past, and nothing further
occurred, other than the consuming fire and the growing number of emergency
personnel, there was almost a calming effect. Then the reports that people
were jumping and the shout that "it" was toppling. I looked up and Tower 2
was falling down and slightly to the right (southwesterly). The sound was
unusual, not a crash, nor a roar, but more like the sound of a waterfall of
glass shards. The crowd ran towards, and past us. Thinking there no threat
of it actually falling on us we move only slowly to the southeast, towards
the water. However, the wind was out of the northwest, blowing the cloud in
our direction. But the cloud was not smoke, it was airborne debris. Sheet
rock dust..110 stories of it. A cloud rolled down all streets in all
directions. It stayed close to the ground and was funneled between the
buildings as a billowing tsunami. It approached rapidly. The crowd moved
more quickly, but not running and without panic. Conversations in all
languages were heard. At this point we had not much choice of where to go,
since we were at the southern end of the Battery; so we moved east along the
bulkhead. Unfortunately, this was in the path of the "cloud". People
fabricated masks. I tore off a sleeve of my dress shirt, doused it with
drinking water and tied it over my mouth and nose. George, Bob and I stayed
together, still moving along the bulkhead. The ash began to fall, visibility
diminished to a few feet, people were taking refuge in the bulkhead
structure; huddling in fetal positions. This is when I feared the worst. I
remembered accounts of the Mt. St. Helen's eruption, and how the majority of
the deaths were related to poisonous gas and particulate matter. Eventually
there was no where to go since the crowd could move no further, other than
into the water. The three of huddled and strategize. We needed to get up
wind. Fighting the flow of the crowd and against the advice of emergency
personnel, we doubled back to get west and upwind of the "cloud".
Unfortunately, we were getting closer to the WTC. However, we were
eventually in "clear air". Ironically, it was a clear, blue sky day with a
refreshing breeze. We were on the promenade looking towards Hoboken, NJ and
adjacent to the Museum of Jewish Heritage, possibly another irony.
From here we had a clear and close view of Tower 1. It was inevitable that
it would collapse; but our plan was for the next debris cloud to pass
downwind of us. The three of us "hunkered down". The crowd continued to move
in the direction from which we came. Emergency personnel advised us to
follow. Battle worn fire fighters passed by, some with victims on gurneys.
It was a scene from the Nightly News. We held our ground..."been there, done
that". Tower 1 soon collapsed. It fell floor by floor, in rapid succession.
The weight of each upper floor overloading the next. It did not fall over,
it collapsed downward. The debris clouds then rolled out in all directions.
Our planned paid off and the worst of it never reached us.
Ferries started arriving to shuttle people from the Battery over to New
Jersey. George elected for a ferry. Bob and I considered heading Up-town,
but not knowing how to get past what was left of the WTC we waited. Soon an
old rusted out retired fire boat pulled along the bulkhead. I think it was
the "Garvey". The captain announced that it would shuttle people to Pier 40
in Manhattan. We jumped on-board the "Garvey". Again the irony, a refreshing
boat ride up the Hudson River with a unique view of devastation. On our way
up the Hudson the crew noted that they had been ordered to drop us off and
quickly return to the scene to assist fire fighters as a pumper boat...the
Garvey retuned to service!
NYC subways and commuter rail service shutdown, all bridges, tunnels, and
airports closed. Bob and I walked from the Village to Mid-town. The roads
were closed and we walked north up 7th and 8th Avenues. People were huddled
around parked automobiles listening to the radio for bits of information. We
heard that the Pentagon had been hit. Faces were long, but the further we
got from the WTC, the more emotionally removed the people were from the
deviation. Bob and I feared that the wind would shift and send the cloud
north, straight up through Manhattan; no one else seemed to share this
thought. We moved on quickly. The two of us must have looked
strange...covered white in soot; me with only one sleeve, walking up the
middle of the street. We passed a large hospital. There was a receiving area
set up to handle the arriving emergency vehicles. There were lines of people
lined around the block and around the next, on both sides. There were people
every where; they were there to donate blood...New Yorkers were out in force
to do there part!
We reached our hotel, provisioned ourselves should the city run low on food
and have settled in to try understand what the hell took place; plus, give
hope to those that are missing, and not as fortunate. We all know people
that work in those buildings.
rick
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