Speaker 1: You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Quick Takes Tim Stinovic on Bloomberg Radio. Well, it's
Speaker 1: difficult to believe, but it's been almost twenty one year
Speaker 1: since the nine eleven attacks. The New York Stock Exchange
Speaker 1: earlier taking a moment of silence this morning to commemorate
Speaker 1: the anniversary, and we're thinking a lot about it as
Speaker 1: we approached the twenty first anniversary on Sunday. Very pleased
Speaker 1: this afternoon to be joined by Joe Peiffer. It's a
Speaker 1: retired f d N Y Bertillion chief. He's also author
Speaker 1: of the book Ordinary Heroes, a memoir of nine eleven.
Speaker 1: Joe joins us this afternoon on the phone from the
Speaker 1: u N. Joe, good to have you with us this afternoon.
Speaker 1: How are you good? It's good to be with you.
Speaker 1: So you were the first f d N Y chief
Speaker 1: to respond to the nine eleven attacks, and your new
Speaker 1: book is a memoir and also a tribute to those
Speaker 1: who died and uh and also those who who didn't
Speaker 1: and survived the attacks. Um, what made you want to
Speaker 1: write this book now? I wanted to have some time
Speaker 1: of reflection. Twenty years and tell people the story of
Speaker 1: what it was like that day for me, for my firefighters,
Speaker 1: and for for the people that were in the greatest
Speaker 1: moment in need. And I took the title ordinary heroes
Speaker 1: for for a particular reason, because we think of firefighters
Speaker 1: as as superheroes, but we don't consider ourselves that at all. Um.
Speaker 1: What I saw that day was my firefighters going up
Speaker 1: to evacuate the building and to rescue those that were trapped. Um,
Speaker 1: and they went up doing some ordinary things by telling
Speaker 1: people who are coming down the same stairs, don't stop,
Speaker 1: keep going. You can make it out of here. And
Speaker 1: we know from people who survived that those simple words
Speaker 1: made a difference, you know, Joe, I Uh, it's just
Speaker 1: such catastrophic, heartbreaking losses for the fire department that day.
Speaker 1: I correct me if I'm wrong. I think it was
Speaker 1: more than forty firemen lost lost their lives that day.
Speaker 1: I can't imagine what it would be like to sit
Speaker 1: down and write this book. You know, you lost friends, colleagues,
Speaker 1: people you mentored. I'm sure. Um, was it a cathartic experience?
Speaker 1: Did it? Did it help you and sort of wrap
Speaker 1: your head around what happened in your mental state or
Speaker 1: or was it really painful to do well, it took
Speaker 1: a long time, and there was some moments of pain, uh,
Speaker 1: but it but it was also looking back and finding
Speaker 1: a sense of hope. UM. So in the in the
Speaker 1: darkness of the of the dust cloud which we all
Speaker 1: remember covered Lower Manhattan when the buildings collapsed. Um people
Speaker 1: also saw on TV the firefighters helmet and on helmets
Speaker 1: is a little flash flight, so a little beacon of
Speaker 1: light in the darkness. And I think writing the book
Speaker 1: um allowed me to look at those moments of of
Speaker 1: hope in in the darkest times, uh, for for us.
Speaker 1: You know, one thing that I've been thinking about, Joe
Speaker 1: over the last few years, when we do get to
Speaker 1: this anniversary, as I've been reflecting, is that each year
Speaker 1: more and more people exists who didn't experience it, whether
Speaker 1: or not they were in California in high school like
Speaker 1: like was my own situation, or they were in New
Speaker 1: Jersey and perhaps had friends parents perish like some of
Speaker 1: my friends. And I'm wondering how you think about that.
Speaker 1: The idea that you know, I met an intern here
Speaker 1: at Bloomberg this summer who he was, you know, in
Speaker 1: his early twenties, and was born after you knowleven m h.
Speaker 1: And it's just I mean, how do you think about
Speaker 1: something like that, because there was a shared experience for
Speaker 1: so many people, but that shared experience is kind of
Speaker 1: getting smaller. The experience is getting smaller. But what I
Speaker 1: noticed with writing the book, and I was really surprised,
Speaker 1: was the amount of emails I got from young people,
Speaker 1: the twenty year age group. UM, and they said, you know,
Speaker 1: I wasn't born or I was too too young at
Speaker 1: the time, but the documentaries UM and UM that I
Speaker 1: read your book and I just wanted to tell you that, UM,
Speaker 1: what was done that day, UM helped me go into
Speaker 1: public service. It inspired me by looking at the documentaries
Speaker 1: like nine eleven with Jules on Day UM that filmed
Speaker 1: me and uh um and then read the book. UM,
Speaker 1: we'll put it all in perspective for for them, so
Speaker 1: so there they weren't old enough for born, but the
Speaker 1: living experience in real time now through books and through documentaries,
Speaker 1: and it's just as personal for them as it was
Speaker 1: for us one years ago. You know, Joe. Obviously, here
Speaker 1: at Bloomberg we're sort of laser focused on financial markets
Speaker 1: and it markets. Whenever there's sort of this unexpected event
Speaker 1: that really changes everything. You know. They call it a
Speaker 1: black Swan event, and I can't help thinking of of
Speaker 1: nine eleven being a a black Swan event for the
Speaker 1: whole business and process of fighting fires. You know, something
Speaker 1: no one in their worst nightmare really expected, and then
Speaker 1: all of a sudden you're confront it with it in
Speaker 1: real time, right in front of you, and you have
Speaker 1: to make split second decisions on what to do about it. UM.
Speaker 1: I'm wondering what the lessons learned are for the the
Speaker 1: profession of firefighting. Has it changed a lot about how
Speaker 1: UM you train and how you think about responding to
Speaker 1: stuff like this? You know, is there a new paradigm
Speaker 1: of firefighting that's that's come out as a result of
Speaker 1: this fire? Firefighting has has changed. We look at the
Speaker 1: threat environment. We're connected to the intelligence community UM and
Speaker 1: see what's happening not only UM threats in the United States,
Speaker 1: but also threats around around the world. We also work
Speaker 1: very closely with our lower enforcement partners. No longer do
Speaker 1: we see this separation between fire employees UM, and particularly
Speaker 1: in New York. We train together and we we UM.
Speaker 1: We have the fire have the police officers run into
Speaker 1: for an active theater, for example, will run in and
Speaker 1: and engage the UH the shooter. But at the same
Speaker 1: time we'll bring in our medical folks of fire and
Speaker 1: m S medical folks to take care of patients. So
Speaker 1: we have to depend on each other. And and the
Speaker 1: police also depends on our our medics to come in
Speaker 1: in danger to rescue their their offices take care of
Speaker 1: the medical lead UH needs. So a lot of changes,
Speaker 1: a lot of changes. Joe, You've done so much in
Speaker 1: the last twenty years. You retired from the f d N.
Speaker 1: Why you wrote this book that you published last year,
Speaker 1: Ordinary Heroes and Memoir of nine eleven. Your director for
Speaker 1: Crisis Leadership at Columbia University or a senior fellow at
Speaker 1: the Harvard Kennedy School in the Combating Terrorism Center at
Speaker 1: West Point UM. You also this week participated in the
Speaker 1: United Nations Global Congress of Victims on Terrorism with u
Speaker 1: N Secretary General Antonio Gutierrez. What was that like? Um,
Speaker 1: I'm actually at the u N now and and and
Speaker 1: I wish with victims of terrorism throughout the world, and
Speaker 1: I hear the stories of losing loved ones. UM, their
Speaker 1: their their young children, their their parents, there, there, there,
Speaker 1: there their friends, UM, and it becomes very real. But
Speaker 1: the one thing where we realized here at at the
Speaker 1: u N is that that the we don't ignore that
Speaker 1: the pain of being a victim of terrorism. Instead, what
Speaker 1: we do is we give it purpose to changed, to
Speaker 1: change the world, to make a difference, because without a purpose,
Speaker 1: there is no hope, and without hope, there is no actions.
Speaker 1: So we're looking at it here at the u N.
Speaker 1: We're looking to two collectively, have our voices heard two
Speaker 1: UM combat terrorism and also to support the victims of
Speaker 1: terrorism and throughout the world. Yeah. So one of the
Speaker 1: most heartbreaking things about nine eleven was that so many
Speaker 1: firefighters spent so much time digging in the pit trying
Speaker 1: to find at first survivors than remains, and so many
Speaker 1: of them suffered some health problems later on. Has enough
Speaker 1: been done for for those victims of nine eleven? Do
Speaker 1: you think is there more that needs to be done? I?
Speaker 1: I think there's there's always more that needs to be done.
Speaker 1: And the reality is is is uh, it is difficult
Speaker 1: to comprehend. So in New York City Fire Department, we
Speaker 1: lost three hundred and forty three of our members on
Speaker 1: nine eleven. But post nine eleven, we've lost over two
Speaker 1: hundred and eighty of our our quirefighters and and E
Speaker 1: M S personnel that responded that day. And I think
Speaker 1: as we look at human rights throughout the world, UM,
Speaker 1: we have to think about the victims and their families
Speaker 1: and how do we support them. UM. One is is
Speaker 1: medical assistance, the other is UH psychles social assistance. And
Speaker 1: not just of the people that were there that day,
Speaker 1: but their families and their children who was the children
Speaker 1: of of of victims are are also affected. UM. So
Speaker 1: we have we have an obligation when a terist event
Speaker 1: occurs too to take care of the victims and their families.
Speaker 1: Joe Phifer is a retired f d N Y Bertillion Chief.
Speaker 1: He was the first f d N Y chief to
Speaker 1: respond to the nine eleven attacks. His book Ordinary Heroes,
Speaker 1: a Memoir of nine eleven. It was published last year
Speaker 1: the twentieth anniversary of nine eleven. Joe Phifer is also
Speaker 1: the Director of Crisis Leadership at Columbia University and a
Speaker 1: senior fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School and the Combating
Speaker 1: Terrorism Center at West Point. Joe joined us this afternoon
Speaker 1: from the U N Joe, thanks so much. Really appreciate
Speaker 1: you taking the time