The USS North Carolina (BB-55) My all-time favorite warship. As an elementary school student in North Carolina, I donated nickels and dimes to save this ship back in the early sixties.

Friday, September 10, 2021

Interviews With 9/11 First Responders Told the Story-- Part 1: Engine 7

From the Sept. 10, 2021, Chicago Tribune by Ron Grossman.

Fortunately the survivors of that day can speak for those they lost thanks to interviews made by the New York Fire Department shortly after 9/11.

Here are some of those excerpts:

Firefighter Thomas Spinard of Engine 7 stationed at a firehouse on Duane Street in lower Manhattan, began the day responding to a box alarm that proved false.

"As we were at the box, a plane passes us overhead real low,"  he said.  "You could hear it; you could feel it.  We turned around, and it just impacted the building, building one.  With that, everybody got on the rig.  We started driving."

American Airlines Flight 11 with its passengers and crew had been hijacked by al-Qaida terrorists after taking off from Boston.  At 8:46 a.m., it struck the 110-story north tower of the World Trade Center.

Engine 7 found a hydrant and started pumping water on the building.

"While we were still in the middle of the street, another plane comes in, makes a big circle, comes around from like the Statue of Liberty direction, and hits (Tower) 2," Spinard recalled.

Dazed by the impact and blinded by a cloud of debris and smoke, Engine 7's crew scattered.  Regaining their composure, they regrouped and resumed pumping water on the fire.


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