WEBVTT - 9/11 Survivor | Tom Canavan 0:00:05.881 --> 0:00:07.281 Approche Production. 0:00:10.801 --> 0:00:12.361 Welcome to Secrets of the Underworld. 0:00:12.641 --> 0:00:14.601 I am Neil the Muscle comments. 0:00:15.881 --> 0:00:19.441 And in this episode, I speak to Tom Canavan, survivor 0:00:19.481 --> 0:00:20.921 of the nine eleven terrorist attacks. 0:00:22.361 --> 0:00:25.160 And it hit behind us. When the plane hit, we 0:00:25.281 --> 0:00:27.681 jumped up again when they started bringing down people from 0:00:27.801 --> 0:00:31.761 upstairs that were burnt. Horrible. If your thing just came 0:00:31.801 --> 0:00:34.241 in and I was just placed it to the ground, 0:00:34.760 --> 0:00:39.640 she was there and then she wasn't. I heard noises 0:00:39.681 --> 0:00:43.361 around me and things started hitting around me, which it 0:00:43.441 --> 0:00:45.520 was people jumping, and I was starting to get hit. 0:00:45.561 --> 0:00:49.840 I was hit with a leg. Thanks for coming on, Tom, 0:00:50.361 --> 0:00:50.961 You're welcome. 0:00:51.281 --> 0:00:53.561 My question before we get into the nitty gritty, I 0:00:53.601 --> 0:00:56.721 just want to know about you as a person before 0:00:56.761 --> 0:00:59.241 we know, like living in New York and your family 0:00:59.361 --> 0:01:01.321 growing up, and then we'll. 0:01:01.121 --> 0:01:03.961 Get into how you got your job in the Twin Towers, 0:01:03.961 --> 0:01:04.641 if that's all right. 0:01:04.721 --> 0:01:07.721 Well, I'm from New York City originally, I'm born in 0:01:07.961 --> 0:01:11.321 New York City, Manhattan. When I was a baby, we 0:01:11.401 --> 0:01:14.681 lived in the Times Square area Hell's Kitchen, so I'm 0:01:14.721 --> 0:01:17.920 a Hell's Kitchen kid forty second Street, so kind of 0:01:17.920 --> 0:01:20.840 when you grow up in the city, you know your 0:01:20.881 --> 0:01:23.920 block is everything. Ye you fight with guys on the 0:01:23.961 --> 0:01:26.761 block over from you, but then if someone else picks 0:01:26.761 --> 0:01:29.280 on you, it's sort of like a brother thing. Then 0:01:29.601 --> 0:01:33.001 it's your two blocks against whoever is coming into your 0:01:33.000 --> 0:01:35.721 neighborhood at the time, you know, And that's been being 0:01:35.761 --> 0:01:39.681 a kid, a teenager. You sort of mine your own business. 0:01:39.681 --> 0:01:41.401 You don't people, you don't look people in the eye, 0:01:41.401 --> 0:01:45.521 but you're always aware of your environment around you. So 0:01:45.601 --> 0:01:47.360 that was I grew up there, and then when I 0:01:47.360 --> 0:01:49.401 was a teenager, we moved to one of the suburbs 0:01:49.441 --> 0:01:51.841 and Queens it's actually not a suburb, it's one of 0:01:51.841 --> 0:01:55.441 the five boroughs, but it was called Sunnyside, Queens very 0:01:55.561 --> 0:01:59.481 very Irish. I'm kind of in you know, Irish, you know, Irish, 0:01:59.521 --> 0:02:03.481 Irish bar every block and Sunnyside is only about nine 0:02:03.521 --> 0:02:06.241 blocks long and is at lee the twenty five bars 0:02:06.241 --> 0:02:11.481 on those nine blocks. So so again, growing up in 0:02:11.601 --> 0:02:14.241 you know, in the city, you you you become hardened 0:02:14.281 --> 0:02:17.440 to certain things, but you also become aware of what's 0:02:17.481 --> 0:02:21.441 going on around you. And as a kid, history has 0:02:21.481 --> 0:02:24.361 always been my favorite subject. And one of the things 0:02:24.361 --> 0:02:26.721 that I loved about history that I always read were 0:02:28.081 --> 0:02:32.481 sort of a disaster, the Titanic, the San Francisco earthquake, 0:02:32.561 --> 0:02:36.201 the Chicago fire. It always fascinated me, and I think 0:02:36.240 --> 0:02:40.401 I realized earlier that I'm reading this because people survived 0:02:40.401 --> 0:02:43.361 it and they got to tell the story. Otherwise no 0:02:43.401 --> 0:02:45.441 one would really know some of you know, some of 0:02:45.441 --> 0:02:48.041 the true things that go on. Of course, they're not 0:02:48.121 --> 0:02:51.441 being any internet. Everything was rumors back then. Now people 0:02:51.561 --> 0:02:54.001 just make up anything they want put it on the internet, 0:02:54.121 --> 0:02:57.681 you know. So, and as far as working in the building, 0:02:57.800 --> 0:03:01.441 I had been doing banking. It was First Union Bank 0:03:01.641 --> 0:03:04.881 at the time, was just turning into Wakobia Bank, and 0:03:05.081 --> 0:03:08.601 we had moved into the trade center. Now my second 0:03:08.721 --> 0:03:10.281 job that I had for twenty years, I was a 0:03:10.281 --> 0:03:13.560 project manager for commercial movies. So I had done a 0:03:13.601 --> 0:03:16.481 lot of jobs in the trade center. I also knew 0:03:16.561 --> 0:03:21.441 that when your company made money, you moved up in 0:03:21.481 --> 0:03:24.081 the building. When your company wasn't doing as well, you 0:03:24.121 --> 0:03:27.800 were moving to the lower flows. So because I had 0:03:27.800 --> 0:03:29.161 done a lot of work in the building, I knew 0:03:29.161 --> 0:03:31.641 where the elevators were, I knew where all the staircases were. 0:03:32.561 --> 0:03:35.921 And it just by happenstance, the company I was working for, 0:03:36.361 --> 0:03:39.881 we moved from down there Wall Street into the trade 0:03:39.921 --> 0:03:44.201 center of May of that year Memorial than weekend. So 0:03:45.281 --> 0:03:47.321 I was only on the forty seventh floor. I wasn't 0:03:47.401 --> 0:03:50.121 you know, only about not even halfway up in the 0:03:50.161 --> 0:03:53.881 North Tower. But that's how I ended up working there. 0:03:54.401 --> 0:03:56.601 But again I had knowledge of the building of the 0:03:56.721 --> 0:03:58.721 you know, of the interior of the building in the 0:03:58.761 --> 0:04:01.921 parking lot, and I sort of knew my way around 0:04:02.161 --> 0:04:02.641 the place. 0:04:03.001 --> 0:04:05.041 Okay, So now now we know that you've you've gone 0:04:05.121 --> 0:04:08.201 in there, talk me through the day before. 0:04:08.481 --> 0:04:10.881 A normal day at the tower for you, just a 0:04:10.881 --> 0:04:12.361 normal day, all right. 0:04:12.401 --> 0:04:14.401 Well, for my normal day, I would get up at 0:04:14.441 --> 0:04:18.961 about five o'clock in the morning. I lived. I was 0:04:18.961 --> 0:04:21.361 living ninety miles away at the time in the Lower 0:04:21.440 --> 0:04:25.361 Hudson Valley Fishkill, New York. So I would catch I 0:04:25.401 --> 0:04:28.801 would drive to the train station, catch the Metro North, 0:04:29.761 --> 0:04:32.081 take that train to Grand Central, hop on the subway. 0:04:32.281 --> 0:04:33.880 So it was about a two and a half hour 0:04:34.001 --> 0:04:36.681 ride each way, so about five hours a day I 0:04:36.721 --> 0:04:41.080 was traveling. Because of my job. I was doing what 0:04:41.201 --> 0:04:43.001 was pretty new at the time on Wall Street. It 0:04:43.041 --> 0:04:47.880 was Euroclear, it was called we were dealing with Europe 0:04:48.081 --> 0:04:50.440 mainly Cardiff. We were going to through Cardiff and Wales, 0:04:51.241 --> 0:04:54.081 so because the market opened earlier, instead of a nine 0:04:54.081 --> 0:04:57.001 o'clock start for my area, we had an eight o'clock 0:04:57.081 --> 0:04:59.801 start here, being with a time difference you know, over 0:04:59.841 --> 0:05:04.001 in England. So that was my day. I would get 0:05:04.041 --> 0:05:08.001 to the office between probably around seven point thirty to 0:05:08.161 --> 0:05:12.121 eight o'clock. On the nice days, I would when I 0:05:12.121 --> 0:05:14.881 got out of subway, i'd walk across the plaza. If 0:05:14.921 --> 0:05:17.721 it was crappy weather, i'd stay underground because you never 0:05:17.721 --> 0:05:20.681 had to leave the World Trade Center, you know. The 0:05:20.761 --> 0:05:22.601 mall in there had one hundred stores in it. You 0:05:22.601 --> 0:05:24.841 could do all your Christmas shopping. There were doctors, there 0:05:24.841 --> 0:05:30.281 were dentists everything. There was a post office in there. 0:05:30.440 --> 0:05:32.440 You know. You never had to leave the place if 0:05:32.440 --> 0:05:36.601 you didn't want to come outside. But so so i'd 0:05:36.641 --> 0:05:39.320 get there. Sometimes it was if I was really early, 0:05:39.401 --> 0:05:41.880 a little early, i'd have coffee outside on the plaza 0:05:41.921 --> 0:05:45.001 and then go upstairs to work, which was a kind 0:05:45.001 --> 0:05:46.561 of normal thing for a lot of people who worked 0:05:46.561 --> 0:05:50.801 in the trade center. But because of the markets, I 0:05:50.921 --> 0:05:53.001 had to be in by eight o'clock instead of nine o'clock. 0:05:54.041 --> 0:05:57.081 With the morning of the nine to eleven and when 0:05:57.081 --> 0:05:59.681 it all the chargity happened. Do you ever have you 0:05:59.721 --> 0:06:03.281 ever like, do you ever get suspicious or any to like, 0:06:03.521 --> 0:06:07.761 you know, like feel things differently when it happened later on? 0:06:07.841 --> 0:06:09.121 Did you ever feel that way? 0:06:09.761 --> 0:06:12.721 No, not at all. In fact, in the morning, coming in, 0:06:12.761 --> 0:06:14.880 I slept on the train because everybody sleeps on the 0:06:14.880 --> 0:06:17.721 train coming in. Everybody usually drinks on the way home, 0:06:17.761 --> 0:06:21.681 on the train going home. But no, it was. It 0:06:21.761 --> 0:06:25.440 was a normal day. I mean, it was what they 0:06:25.521 --> 0:06:27.561 used to call Indian summer. Now now it's called like 0:06:27.601 --> 0:06:30.241 global warming, I guess, but you know, it was September. 0:06:30.281 --> 0:06:32.720 It was beautiful out, no clouds, it was still warm. 0:06:32.801 --> 0:06:35.561 The summer was just about over. So I had, you know, 0:06:35.561 --> 0:06:38.001 a light jacket. But it was to me, it was 0:06:38.041 --> 0:06:40.961 just a normal day. It was a Tuesday. Every Tuesday. 0:06:41.001 --> 0:06:44.561 There was an Amish market that was out on the plaza, 0:06:44.880 --> 0:06:47.241 which I used to find funny because I used to think, well, 0:06:47.241 --> 0:06:49.080 they're Amish, But how did they get here? And I 0:06:49.121 --> 0:06:54.880 see trucks, like, but money's money, you know, But no, 0:06:55.041 --> 0:06:58.401 it was. It was just come in, go upstairs and 0:06:58.521 --> 0:07:02.881 start work. Nothing, nothing out of the ordinary, just just 0:07:02.880 --> 0:07:03.481 a Tuesday. 0:07:04.161 --> 0:07:08.401 Tell me if you can't remember fifteen minutes before it 0:07:08.440 --> 0:07:09.001 all happened. 0:07:10.321 --> 0:07:14.641 So At I was in my boss's office at the time. 0:07:15.161 --> 0:07:18.121 So we had the forty seventh floor of one World Trade, 0:07:18.121 --> 0:07:21.201 which is the North Tower, and our office was on 0:07:21.241 --> 0:07:23.161 the west side of the building, so we faced the 0:07:23.241 --> 0:07:26.281 Hudson River in New Jersey on the other side. So 0:07:26.401 --> 0:07:29.761 in the southwest corner in my boss's office, you'd be 0:07:29.801 --> 0:07:31.761 able to see the Statue of Liberty, New York Harver. 0:07:32.001 --> 0:07:36.161 You could see the bridge, the Barrizonal Bridge, plus all 0:07:36.161 --> 0:07:41.241 the Jersey Liberty State Park everything and Ellis Island. So 0:07:41.321 --> 0:07:43.641 her office, of course had the corner, and we were 0:07:43.681 --> 0:07:47.601 in there because we were on a meeting call with 0:07:48.081 --> 0:07:52.081 Our home office was in Charlotte, North Carolina, so that's 0:07:52.081 --> 0:07:56.921 where we were on a meeting with those At about 0:07:56.961 --> 0:07:59.761 eight thirty quarter to nine was the meeting, so we 0:07:59.761 --> 0:08:01.481 were all shoved in that off. There were about eight 0:08:01.841 --> 0:08:04.561 of us in that and the first plane hit at 0:08:04.561 --> 0:08:08.481 eight forty, so it hit my building, but it hit 0:08:09.081 --> 0:08:11.601 on the up. It hit them around the ninety second floor, 0:08:12.161 --> 0:08:13.921 so I was about halfway up to where it hit 0:08:14.961 --> 0:08:19.241 and it hit behind us when a lot of the 0:08:19.281 --> 0:08:21.561 debris went straight through the building. So as we were 0:08:21.601 --> 0:08:25.161 looking in south when the plane hit, we jumped up 0:08:25.761 --> 0:08:28.321 because the building actually rocks where you're almost thrown off 0:08:28.361 --> 0:08:32.361 your feet, and it sort of wobbled three times and 0:08:32.361 --> 0:08:36.681 then it righted itself. But I could see south stuff falling, 0:08:37.161 --> 0:08:41.641 panes of glass, concrete, things that don't register at the time, 0:08:41.681 --> 0:08:45.161 but when you think about it later, pieces of airplane 0:08:45.401 --> 0:08:49.921 like you see like seatbelt buckles or a seat. You know, 0:08:50.361 --> 0:08:52.841 there wasn't that much left of it, but yeah, So 0:08:52.921 --> 0:08:54.961 I went over by the window that faced south. I 0:08:55.001 --> 0:09:00.241 looked down the Married Hotel, which was twenty four floors, 0:09:00.401 --> 0:09:03.001 was attached to the south tower, and I could see 0:09:03.041 --> 0:09:05.761 the roof of that was on fire that were causing 0:09:05.841 --> 0:09:09.841 the street on fire. And my first thought was it 0:09:09.881 --> 0:09:12.641 was like a gas explosion of something, because you know, 0:09:12.721 --> 0:09:16.081 nobody envisions an airliner hitting your building. Yeah, you know 0:09:16.521 --> 0:09:20.161 in down in Manhattan. When it hit, we, like I said, 0:09:20.161 --> 0:09:22.121 we jumped up. We wobble back and forth. I went 0:09:22.161 --> 0:09:24.521 at it to the main office to see what was 0:09:24.561 --> 0:09:28.961 going on with the people out there. They were starting 0:09:29.041 --> 0:09:32.281 smoke starting to come in under some of the doorways 0:09:32.281 --> 0:09:35.001 that we had two doorways in our office that led 0:09:35.601 --> 0:09:39.481 two staircases out of the building. But another thing about 0:09:39.481 --> 0:09:42.081 growing up in New York City is when you learn 0:09:43.401 --> 0:09:46.001 with the fire departments. As a kid, when I when 0:09:46.001 --> 0:09:48.561 we called the cops, sometimes they didn't show up. When 0:09:48.561 --> 0:09:51.041 you called an ambulance, sometimes it didn't show up. But 0:09:51.121 --> 0:09:53.921 when someone rang that fire alarm, they were coming. So 0:09:54.081 --> 0:09:57.081 you have the utmost confidence in the New York City 0:09:57.081 --> 0:09:59.601 Fire Department. And I could see some of their rigs 0:09:59.641 --> 0:10:02.801 pulling up outside the building. So as people were panicked, 0:10:02.961 --> 0:10:04.521 starting to get a little nervous, I was telling them 0:10:04.561 --> 0:10:07.001 I'd fire apartments here, We're okay, it's above us, we 0:10:07.041 --> 0:10:10.841 can get out below some of the smoke coming in. 0:10:10.881 --> 0:10:13.041 I took my jacket from my desk and I shoved 0:10:13.081 --> 0:10:16.041 it under the door so the smoke wouldn't come in, 0:10:16.481 --> 0:10:18.241 and I took the back of my hand I was 0:10:18.281 --> 0:10:23.041 tapping it against the doorknob because heat conducts through the metal, 0:10:23.561 --> 0:10:26.001 and if the doorknob is hot, you do not open 0:10:26.041 --> 0:10:27.721 that door. That means it's fire on the other side 0:10:27.761 --> 0:10:30.481 of the door. But the smoke was coming in, it 0:10:30.561 --> 0:10:34.001 was like, all right, let's get our stuff together, let's 0:10:34.001 --> 0:10:37.321 get out again. We didn't. We didn't know the magnitude of, 0:10:37.641 --> 0:10:41.721 you know, what was going on upstairs. And because we 0:10:41.801 --> 0:10:44.041 worked in a bank, we had a lot of securities 0:10:44.081 --> 0:10:46.921 out that you just can't run out and leave. You know, 0:10:46.961 --> 0:10:50.361 they're worth a lot of money, and we had we 0:10:50.401 --> 0:10:52.161 actually had a vault on the floor with a little 0:10:52.161 --> 0:10:55.321 moat that you needed a bridge. It was like forty 0:10:55.361 --> 0:11:00.321 seven tons suspended in on our floor. So a lot 0:11:00.361 --> 0:11:02.561 of our employees were taking their bonds and stuff off 0:11:02.601 --> 0:11:04.681 their desk, putting it in their lock boxes and bringing 0:11:04.721 --> 0:11:07.841 into the vault. At which time I said, all right, 0:11:08.401 --> 0:11:11.361 you guys, do that. I went out into the hallway. 0:11:11.481 --> 0:11:13.881 We had the electronic eyes at the time you swipe 0:11:13.921 --> 0:11:15.601 your card to get in and out of the floor. 0:11:16.161 --> 0:11:18.401 I asked someone to hold the door open for me 0:11:18.441 --> 0:11:21.121 so I could get back in. We had a satellite 0:11:21.121 --> 0:11:25.441 office around the other side of the building, and each building, 0:11:25.441 --> 0:11:27.401 each floor was one acre. It was two hundred feet 0:11:27.401 --> 0:11:30.121 each side. So I ran to the satellite office. I 0:11:30.161 --> 0:11:32.281 know we had three girls working in there. I wanted 0:11:32.321 --> 0:11:34.881 to see if they were okay. When I got there, 0:11:35.121 --> 0:11:38.441 there was nobody in there. It turns out one was 0:11:38.481 --> 0:11:43.521 off that day. One was bringing her kid to first 0:11:43.561 --> 0:11:46.041 day of school, which was September eleventh that year, So 0:11:46.081 --> 0:11:47.881 that saved a lot of people from being in the 0:11:47.881 --> 0:11:51.281 building because first day of school, what a parents do, 0:11:51.321 --> 0:11:54.521 They bring their kids to school. So she wasn't in, 0:11:54.681 --> 0:11:56.441 and the third girl that was in there, as soon 0:11:56.481 --> 0:11:59.281 as the plane hit took off, smartest one out of everyone, 0:11:59.921 --> 0:12:03.681 she was out of there on her way out. So 0:12:03.721 --> 0:12:06.721 I went back to my office. Then people were putting 0:12:07.121 --> 0:12:10.121 wet rags over their faces, and on the way there, 0:12:10.161 --> 0:12:12.401 I passed one of the staircases. I opened the door. 0:12:12.441 --> 0:12:15.001 It was just a massive people coming down the steps. 0:12:15.361 --> 0:12:17.121 So by the time I got back to my office, 0:12:17.121 --> 0:12:19.321 I told everybody, we're getting out of here. Let's go. 0:12:21.281 --> 0:12:23.321 We went to that doorway, but by then it was 0:12:23.361 --> 0:12:26.961 so crowded you couldn't get in the staircase. But since 0:12:27.001 --> 0:12:30.761 I knew it that was stairwell C stairwell B, I 0:12:30.801 --> 0:12:32.281 knew it was in the center of the building, so 0:12:32.321 --> 0:12:35.481 I ran to stairwell B. There was like nobody in there. 0:12:35.921 --> 0:12:38.361 So by the time I got back, though we had 0:12:38.401 --> 0:12:42.121 sixty people working with us, they were about thirty left. 0:12:42.361 --> 0:12:44.881 The other thirty had squeezed into the staircase. I said, 0:12:45.081 --> 0:12:47.801 come on, come with me, there's an empty staircase, and 0:12:47.841 --> 0:12:53.081 then we proceeded down in stairwell B. It started to 0:12:53.121 --> 0:12:53.961 get crowded, though. 0:12:54.321 --> 0:12:57.601 You know by this time Tom is panic stations going 0:12:57.921 --> 0:13:00.441 like dramatically or He's all still kind of like what's 0:13:00.481 --> 0:13:00.921 going on. 0:13:01.761 --> 0:13:06.001 There's no panic. There was never a panic for when 0:13:06.001 --> 0:13:08.961 the plane hit again. You know, ignorance is bliss. We 0:13:09.041 --> 0:13:13.361 had no idea what was going on upstairs. It was 0:13:13.441 --> 0:13:15.201 sort of like being out for a walk with a 0:13:15.201 --> 0:13:18.561 lot of people. Everyone was very courteous coming down the steps. 0:13:18.561 --> 0:13:21.761 It was everybody was helping each other. There was no 0:13:21.881 --> 0:13:25.121 smoke in the stairwells because after the nineteen ninety three attack, 0:13:25.841 --> 0:13:29.521 the stairwells were reconfigured and air was pumped into them. 0:13:29.681 --> 0:13:33.521 The lighting was changed. There were fluorescent strips, so all 0:13:33.521 --> 0:13:36.601 the lights were on. Everybody was just walking down, helping 0:13:36.641 --> 0:13:39.641 each other. We got down into the twenties and then 0:13:39.721 --> 0:13:43.761 they they stopped us. There were some firefighters coming up, 0:13:44.121 --> 0:13:46.201 so we had to go single file on the steps 0:13:46.401 --> 0:13:50.121 on the right side. They were carrying, some of them 0:13:50.161 --> 0:13:54.801 seventy pounds of equipment. They estimated it took about a 0:13:54.841 --> 0:13:59.201 minute to walk one floor and they were going up 0:13:59.281 --> 0:14:01.361 ninety two floors, so it was gonna take them about 0:14:01.361 --> 0:14:04.401 an hour and a half to walk up there. And 0:14:04.441 --> 0:14:06.921 that was the before the start to even put out 0:14:06.961 --> 0:14:10.681 the fire, which at that time they believed they can do. Yeah, 0:14:11.601 --> 0:14:13.881 we didn't know also on the way down that the 0:14:13.921 --> 0:14:16.761 South Tower had been hit. We were in the staircase 0:14:17.601 --> 0:14:20.521 with all the noise in the footsteps and people talking. 0:14:20.601 --> 0:14:25.121 We really didn't, you know. Notice I didn't find out 0:14:25.201 --> 0:14:30.561 till much later the day anyway, But they stopped us. 0:14:30.601 --> 0:14:32.761 The fire department came up. We were passing up some 0:14:32.761 --> 0:14:36.041 of their equipment. Some of us were breaking into the 0:14:36.161 --> 0:14:38.441 vending machines, taking out some of the bottles of water 0:14:38.481 --> 0:14:42.041 and juice and giving it to the firefighters. I remember 0:14:42.081 --> 0:14:43.721 I took a bottle of water I poured over a 0:14:43.761 --> 0:14:46.161 firefighter's head. He was sitting sweating, and to which he 0:14:46.241 --> 0:14:49.001 yelled at me, you know, I'm kidding. You know you're 0:14:49.001 --> 0:14:51.481 trying to drown me. I'm not. You know, what are 0:14:51.521 --> 0:14:53.401 you doing? Go ahead, just get out, Just get out, 0:14:53.441 --> 0:14:56.201 they kept saying. And we got down to the teens 0:14:56.241 --> 0:14:58.641 at that point, and then they stopped us again. But 0:14:58.681 --> 0:15:02.721 they started bringing down people from upstairs that were burnt horrible, 0:15:03.001 --> 0:15:07.521 like yeah, they were even blinking. They just came down. 0:15:07.561 --> 0:15:10.961 There wasn't a sound and it got very quiet. I 0:15:10.961 --> 0:15:13.561 can see one lady, she must have had a cross 0:15:13.601 --> 0:15:15.881 on her chest. It was the indentation of it. The 0:15:15.921 --> 0:15:19.161 metal burnt into her chest. Some of the people the 0:15:19.241 --> 0:15:22.441 skin was peeled back, and I think at that point 0:15:22.521 --> 0:15:27.001 we started to realize, you know, something a little more important, 0:15:27.041 --> 0:15:30.281 bigger was going on than we knew upstairs. And once 0:15:30.321 --> 0:15:32.921 they got them past us, it was like, all right, 0:15:33.001 --> 0:15:37.881 let's start, get a move on a little faster. My 0:15:38.041 --> 0:15:42.121 staircase b you had the plaza level, which was on 0:15:42.161 --> 0:15:45.201 the street level, you had which also known as a mezzanine, 0:15:45.881 --> 0:15:49.521 and then you had the lower level, which was where 0:15:49.521 --> 0:15:53.881 them all was with the stores the concourse, and our 0:15:53.921 --> 0:15:57.401 staircase emptied out onto the concourse. So when we came 0:15:57.441 --> 0:16:01.001 out of the elevators, out of the steps the elevators 0:16:01.001 --> 0:16:02.961 that were down there, all the doors were blown off. 0:16:03.841 --> 0:16:07.561 The lobby of of the trade center at one time 0:16:07.641 --> 0:16:10.321 was beautiful white marble. A lot of the marble was 0:16:10.401 --> 0:16:13.841 on the floor cracked, and the walls were scorched or 0:16:13.881 --> 0:16:18.521 blackened by the elevators. There were piles of rags in 0:16:18.521 --> 0:16:23.041 front of the elevators, just smoking. And I remember asking 0:16:23.281 --> 0:16:25.321 some of the firefighters there, like I stopped and I'm 0:16:25.321 --> 0:16:27.041 looking at them, you know what is that? And they 0:16:27.041 --> 0:16:30.561 were just saying, just go down the concourse Headford Krispy 0:16:30.641 --> 0:16:32.761 Kreme Donuts because if you worked in the trades, said, 0:16:32.801 --> 0:16:35.921 everybody knew where Krispy Kreme was. They didn't want people 0:16:35.921 --> 0:16:40.161 going in the street with all the debris falling, people jumping. 0:16:41.081 --> 0:16:43.401 You know. Another thing we didn't know at the time. 0:16:44.121 --> 0:16:48.961 And as we started to exit out there onto the 0:16:49.001 --> 0:16:52.681 concourse level, all of the doors had been shattered. They 0:16:52.721 --> 0:16:55.801 had big, huge revolving doors, and it was that safety 0:16:55.841 --> 0:16:57.681 glass that you see in bus stops, a sort of 0:16:57.721 --> 0:17:01.121 half plastic and half glass where it doesn't really shatter, 0:17:01.241 --> 0:17:04.401 but it gets very slippery. And all of the sprinklers 0:17:04.401 --> 0:17:07.201 were on. So I was last in line of the 0:17:07.241 --> 0:17:11.960 forty people I was with. When we got to the 0:17:12.041 --> 0:17:14.480 front doors, now we were forty feet down. We were 0:17:14.481 --> 0:17:17.201 about four stories down at that point in the mall. 0:17:19.281 --> 0:17:21.121 I heard a noise behind me. There was an elderly 0:17:21.160 --> 0:17:23.761 couple coming through. They were sort of sliding around. They 0:17:23.801 --> 0:17:26.200 had some bags, and I told the people I was 0:17:26.241 --> 0:17:29.481 with keep going to where they want us to go. 0:17:29.640 --> 0:17:31.880 I'll catch up with you. And I turned around and 0:17:31.880 --> 0:17:34.120 went back inside. I helped the people through the doors, 0:17:34.761 --> 0:17:36.881 and I turned to catch up. I got maybe ten 0:17:36.921 --> 0:17:39.041 feet out, and all of a sudden I heard this 0:17:39.160 --> 0:17:43.640 rumble and felt like this heat pushing pushing down in 0:17:43.721 --> 0:17:46.880 a wind and a thumping noise. And one of the 0:17:46.921 --> 0:17:48.921 women with me that I had come down the whole way. 0:17:48.961 --> 0:17:53.241 Her name was Antonett Duger. She was maybe twenty feet 0:17:53.241 --> 0:17:55.400 in front of me, and she turned and stopped and 0:17:55.400 --> 0:17:57.360 looked at me, and I just looked at her, like, 0:17:57.561 --> 0:18:00.640 what's that noise? But it was getting faster and faster. 0:18:01.600 --> 0:18:05.521 I mean, I can't even describe a thousand locomotives coming down. 0:18:06.321 --> 0:18:09.681 And I yelled at her to get in a doorway, 0:18:09.961 --> 0:18:11.801 like they tell you to do an earthquakes, it's the 0:18:11.840 --> 0:18:15.001 most stable. I didn't even think I got that out 0:18:15.001 --> 0:18:17.400 of my mouth when all of a sudden, everything just 0:18:17.441 --> 0:18:20.080 came in and I was just plasted to the ground. 0:18:20.640 --> 0:18:25.680 She was there and then she wasn't. I don't know 0:18:25.681 --> 0:18:29.200 if I was knocked unconscious, but a peace fell like 0:18:29.241 --> 0:18:32.240 a tent leaned to and it hit the top of 0:18:32.241 --> 0:18:36.840 my head, knocked me down and buried me. So again, 0:18:36.880 --> 0:18:38.360 I don't know if I was knocked out, but my 0:18:38.481 --> 0:18:42.120 first thought was, wow, I'm dead. I mean it was 0:18:42.201 --> 0:18:45.001 I didn't hear anything, I couldn't see anything. And then 0:18:45.041 --> 0:18:47.961 it was like, wow, that wasn't too bad. I didn't 0:18:47.961 --> 0:18:51.001 feel anything if I'm dead, you know. But then I 0:18:51.120 --> 0:18:54.600 was thinking my son was turning three on September seventeenth, 0:18:54.721 --> 0:18:57.600 and my wife was pregnant with my daughter at the time, 0:18:58.600 --> 0:19:00.201 so I was like, okay, I'm not dead. I could 0:19:00.281 --> 0:19:04.880 taste grit in my teeth and sand, and by then 0:19:05.041 --> 0:19:08.360 there were little fires all over the place. But I 0:19:08.640 --> 0:19:11.001 couldn't really move. You couldn't. I couldn't even get on 0:19:11.001 --> 0:19:14.081 my knees. That's how compact it was. I felt concrete 0:19:14.120 --> 0:19:16.761 above my head and I fell for the edge and 0:19:16.801 --> 0:19:19.480 I said, all right, so the ceiling probably fell in. 0:19:19.561 --> 0:19:22.241 I'm gonna crawl out on top, and then I'm gonna 0:19:22.241 --> 0:19:25.200 follow everyone out because no matter what happens to you, 0:19:25.201 --> 0:19:29.281 your brain never catches up. I even think to this day, 0:19:29.360 --> 0:19:32.080 all the things that happened, it hasn't caught up. Yet, 0:19:33.041 --> 0:19:36.680 and I started moving and somebody grabbed my ankle and 0:19:36.840 --> 0:19:38.920 I said, who's that because I couldn't see who it was, 0:19:39.561 --> 0:19:42.840 and they said, I'm a security guard. If we stay here, 0:19:42.840 --> 0:19:45.120 they'll find us. And I said to him, if you 0:19:45.160 --> 0:19:47.080 stay here, you're either gonna suffocate or you're gonna burn 0:19:47.160 --> 0:19:50.321 to death. I said, I got a birthday party to plan, 0:19:50.521 --> 0:19:52.441 and I have to see my daughter be born. I'm 0:19:52.441 --> 0:19:56.001 out of here. And I started just crawling and then 0:19:56.281 --> 0:20:02.241 the gentleman came behind me. We tunneled up just over 0:20:02.880 --> 0:20:06.600 I don't remember any furniture glass. I remember his concrete rebar. 0:20:07.840 --> 0:20:10.561 Every now and then like muffled voices if someone wants 0:20:10.561 --> 0:20:12.120 to throw a blanket over you and throw you in 0:20:12.120 --> 0:20:16.080 a closet and shut the door. And that's sort of 0:20:16.120 --> 0:20:19.680 the only thing I heard at that point. And they 0:20:19.721 --> 0:20:22.241 askedimate about twenty minutes of digging. It would seemed like 0:20:22.281 --> 0:20:25.961 ten seconds for me. Yeah, but I felt some air 0:20:26.360 --> 0:20:28.200 and I stuck my hand through. I was out in 0:20:28.321 --> 0:20:32.400 the center of the plaza and I said to the guy, 0:20:32.481 --> 0:20:35.121 we're in the street. I said, I don't know how, 0:20:35.201 --> 0:20:39.441 but you know, And I couldn't fit through the rebody 0:20:39.481 --> 0:20:41.761 get out at that point, and I said to him. 0:20:41.961 --> 0:20:45.281 Now I could see him. He was thinner and older 0:20:45.321 --> 0:20:48.521 than me, and I said, I'll push you out. See 0:20:48.521 --> 0:20:50.881 if you can move some stuff so I could get out. 0:20:51.600 --> 0:20:54.041 And I did that and I waited. I didn't see anything, 0:20:54.321 --> 0:20:56.720 and then I stuck my head out. I'm getting like 0:20:56.761 --> 0:20:58.721 a prairie dog that you see they stick the head 0:20:58.721 --> 0:21:03.200 out of a hole. And he was walking away and 0:21:03.241 --> 0:21:06.960 I was like, yo, I can't get out, and he 0:21:07.120 --> 0:21:09.321 just kept saying, come on, come on. And I noticed 0:21:09.400 --> 0:21:11.160 at that point he had like his shoes must have 0:21:11.160 --> 0:21:14.160 got knocked off somewhere. He had no shoes on, and 0:21:15.001 --> 0:21:17.481