When we began to plan this issue, little did we know how many life-and-death stories occurred during that day. With such a response to this horrific tragedy, we continue to develop and uncover more stories, each more powerful than the other. The fires finally burned themselves out after several months. As this is written, 15 firefighters were just located in the debris during the constant day-and-night search. The area where these firefighters were found hadn't been searched before and may lead to additional recoveries. The emotional and physical toll on firefighters has been an enormous price to pay in working to recover their brother firefighters and also maintaining an up-to-strength FDNY. As one firefighter stated, brothers were looking for brothers, fathers were looking for sons, sons were looking for fathers. To date, the remains of over 150 firefighters have been identified.
Describing the scene is best left to those who were there. As Lieutenant Pete Lund of Rescue 2 explained the scene, "We were way past finding a needle in a haystack. We had been to collapses involving brick-and-wood-joist buildings, wood-frames, the enormity of this and the weights involved were way beyond anything we had ever experienced. There weren't many voids, no survivors, but we kept up hope." Lund continued, "The acts of heroism I saw from faceless, nameless firefighters during the first few days far surpassed anything I could ever imagine." Paul Hashagen of Rescue 1 explained, "This wasn't a building collapse, it was a neighborhood collapse." Ray Phillips of Tactical Support Unit 1 said that in his 28 years of service to the city, three as a police officer and 25 as a firefighter, "Nobody could ever train you for what you were about to see."
Contributing Editor Vincent Dunn, in his Safety & Survival column on page 22, addresses an open letter to Tom Ridge, Homeland Security director, in which he describes a dozen urgent needs of New York City firefighters in the fight against terrorism. These needs may benefit many other firefighters in the future, but all of them are realistic and need funding. As always the bottom line: funding.
FDNY Lieutenant John P. Flynn, who is a structural engineer, takes a look at lessons learned on not only the fire side, but in the engineering profession, both of whom work on the common goal of life safety. See his interesting perspective, "The Two Towers: A Challenge to Two Professions," which begins on page 112.
Curtis Massey, who last year alerted readers to the dangers of "telco hotels," is a retired firefighter and president of Massey Enterprises, the world's largest firm that pre-plans corporate and high-rise buildings. He tells a story from the heart as he worked helping officials in many ways in and around the site for 10 days. See "10 Days At Ground Zero" on page 122.
Just as 60 years later people are still writing books and making movies about Pearl Harbor, we will endeavor to present additional material about various aspects of this horrific attack and the aftermath when it becomes available. This is the first, but certainly not the last of our coverage.
I want to thank Jim Griffiths, author of Fire Department of New York - An Operational Reference, fourth edition (January 2002) for his help in the preparation of this issue. Copies of this remarkable book may be obtained from these suppliers: FSP Books & Videos, 800-522-8528, www.fire-police-ems.com; Clemco GTI, 800-303-8045, www.clemcogti.com; FDNY Fire Zone, 212-698-4520, www.fdnyfirezone.org; and FDNY Fire Museum, 212-691-1303, www.nycfiremuseum.org.
We are pleased to present the honorees in this year's Firehouse Heroism and Community Service Awards program. Without our sponsors, this program would not be possible. We would like to thank the following: The Charles Evans Foundation, V.H. Blackinton & Co. Inc., Code 3 Collectibles, The Waterous Company and The Foundation for American Firefighters. We would also like to thank this year's judges: Battalion Chief Robert Cobb of the Jersey City, NJ, Fire Department; Deputy Chief Mike Smith of Washington, D.C., Fire & Rescue; District Chief Mark McLees of the Syracuse, NY, Fire Department; and Chief Dennis Rubin of the Norfolk, VA, Fire Department.
