1 00:00:02,800 --> 00:00:05,440 Speaker 1: He said to me, Timmy, this is really bad. And 2 00:00:05,720 --> 00:00:07,760 Speaker 1: that is for us to say that to each other 3 00:00:07,880 --> 00:00:10,920 Speaker 1: is significant because we do bad every day. And he 4 00:00:11,039 --> 00:00:14,960 Speaker 1: was saying, this is exceptionally bad, right, And I said, 5 00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:17,439 Speaker 1: I know, Chris, be careful. I love you, and he 6 00:00:17,520 --> 00:00:20,919 Speaker 1: said I love you. And after he said that, he 7 00:00:21,000 --> 00:00:23,279 Speaker 1: turned around and he went in the stairwell and he 8 00:00:23,320 --> 00:00:26,759 Speaker 1: went up to save the lives of people he didn't know. 9 00:00:34,200 --> 00:00:37,559 Speaker 2: Welcome to an army of normal folks. I'm Bill Courtney. 10 00:00:37,920 --> 00:00:40,680 Speaker 2: I'm a normal guy. I'm a husband, I'm a father, 11 00:00:40,880 --> 00:00:44,360 Speaker 2: I'm an entrepreneur, and I've been a football coach and 12 00:00:44,440 --> 00:00:48,080 Speaker 2: Inner City Memphis. And the last part it somehow led 13 00:00:48,120 --> 00:00:51,280 Speaker 2: to an oscar for the film by our team that's 14 00:00:51,320 --> 00:00:56,279 Speaker 2: called Undefeated. I believe our country's problems are never going 15 00:00:56,360 --> 00:00:58,680 Speaker 2: to be solved by a bunch of fancy people in 16 00:00:58,800 --> 00:01:02,800 Speaker 2: nice suits using words that nobody ever uses on CNN 17 00:01:02,800 --> 00:01:07,000 Speaker 2: and Fox, but rather by an army of normal folks. 18 00:01:07,720 --> 00:01:12,000 Speaker 2: That's us, just you and me, deciding hey, maybe I 19 00:01:12,160 --> 00:01:15,679 Speaker 2: can help. That's what Tim Brown, the voice you just heard, 20 00:01:15,720 --> 00:01:20,360 Speaker 2: has done. Tim is a nine to eleven firefighter who 21 00:01:20,440 --> 00:01:24,160 Speaker 2: saved lives that faithful day, but he doesn't view himself 22 00:01:24,160 --> 00:01:28,280 Speaker 2: as a hero. Tim lost one hundred friends on nine 23 00:01:28,319 --> 00:01:32,440 Speaker 2: to eleven, each of whom chose to save others, knowing 24 00:01:33,080 --> 00:01:36,120 Speaker 2: it would likely be the last act of their lives. 25 00:01:36,440 --> 00:01:39,440 Speaker 2: I cannot wait for you to meet Tim right after 26 00:01:39,560 --> 00:01:57,360 Speaker 2: these brief messages from our general sponsors. Well, first of all, 27 00:01:57,360 --> 00:02:02,360 Speaker 2: I want to say, welcome to a lived recording of 28 00:02:02,720 --> 00:02:05,280 Speaker 2: an army of normal folks. What is as Alex number 29 00:02:05,440 --> 00:02:08,400 Speaker 2: six we've done to these loved ones, maybe six or seven. 30 00:02:08,800 --> 00:02:11,480 Speaker 2: Alex has no idea, he's we're at a brewery and 31 00:02:11,480 --> 00:02:15,080 Speaker 2: he's already had his first beer. So the production, the 32 00:02:15,120 --> 00:02:19,720 Speaker 2: production quality just went through the basement. But anyway, we 33 00:02:19,880 --> 00:02:25,200 Speaker 2: are here in Memphis and have a very special guest. 34 00:02:25,320 --> 00:02:28,399 Speaker 2: But first I want to say to everybody who came 35 00:02:28,480 --> 00:02:31,279 Speaker 2: down tonight to meet our guests. 36 00:02:31,440 --> 00:02:33,720 Speaker 3: Thank you very much. Give yourself a round of applause. 37 00:02:33,840 --> 00:02:38,200 Speaker 2: Yeah, all right, So as you can hear, we've got 38 00:02:38,200 --> 00:02:42,360 Speaker 2: a number of folks here our guest today, Tim Brown. 39 00:02:42,760 --> 00:02:45,840 Speaker 2: If there's anybody in this room who listens to this 40 00:02:45,919 --> 00:02:48,920 Speaker 2: man for the next little bit and doesn't get a 41 00:02:48,960 --> 00:02:53,760 Speaker 2: lump in their throat or tearing their eye, you've missing 42 00:02:53,800 --> 00:02:58,480 Speaker 2: some of your humanity. Tim was a firefighter with the 43 00:02:58,639 --> 00:03:02,320 Speaker 2: FDN WIF for over twenty years. Tim responded to World 44 00:03:02,400 --> 00:03:05,520 Speaker 2: Trade Center bombing in nineteen ninety three as a member 45 00:03:05,520 --> 00:03:08,480 Speaker 2: of Rescue three, which is the Fire Department New York 46 00:03:08,480 --> 00:03:11,320 Speaker 2: Fire Department's version of the Navy Seals. To say that 47 00:03:11,400 --> 00:03:15,640 Speaker 2: Tim is high speed would be an understatement. In ninety five, 48 00:03:16,400 --> 00:03:19,840 Speaker 2: Tim joined New York Task Force one, which is a 49 00:03:19,880 --> 00:03:23,919 Speaker 2: FEMA urban search and rescue team, with whom he responded 50 00:03:23,960 --> 00:03:27,280 Speaker 2: to the Oklahoma City bombing that same year. In ninety eight, 51 00:03:27,360 --> 00:03:31,320 Speaker 2: Tim was detailed to the Mayor's Office of Emergency Management, 52 00:03:32,120 --> 00:03:38,080 Speaker 2: which was headquartered in seven World Trade Center. While Tim 53 00:03:38,320 --> 00:03:41,920 Speaker 2: helped to save the lives of many on nine to 54 00:03:41,960 --> 00:03:45,240 Speaker 2: one one, he does not view himself as a hero. 55 00:03:45,600 --> 00:03:48,120 Speaker 2: This man sitting next to me lost over one hundred 56 00:03:48,160 --> 00:03:53,040 Speaker 2: friends that day, including many Fire Department brothers who each 57 00:03:53,160 --> 00:03:56,320 Speaker 2: chose to save others, knowing, as you will hear soon, 58 00:03:56,760 --> 00:03:59,680 Speaker 2: that they went up the stairs expecting to die. During 59 00:03:59,680 --> 00:04:02,840 Speaker 2: this interview that we're really going to benefit from, Tim 60 00:04:02,880 --> 00:04:07,400 Speaker 2: will beautifully pay tribute to his heroic friends and share 61 00:04:07,440 --> 00:04:11,880 Speaker 2: a series of miracles, honest to goodness, miracles, y'all that 62 00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:16,000 Speaker 2: help this man survive hurricane force winds in a firestorm. 63 00:04:16,279 --> 00:04:18,640 Speaker 2: Before I say thank you and let him start, I 64 00:04:18,640 --> 00:04:21,200 Speaker 2: want to say something a little bit off script. I 65 00:04:21,200 --> 00:04:26,120 Speaker 2: think there's three occasions in our country's consciousness over the 66 00:04:26,200 --> 00:04:30,720 Speaker 2: last hundred years that we cannot forget. Certainly Martin Luther 67 00:04:30,800 --> 00:04:34,760 Speaker 2: King getting shot in Memphis, the Kennedy assassination, the Oklahoma 68 00:04:34,800 --> 00:04:37,919 Speaker 2: City bombing. Things like that are etched into history and 69 00:04:37,920 --> 00:04:41,760 Speaker 2: our memory, and they matter, But I don't think they 70 00:04:41,760 --> 00:04:45,680 Speaker 2: are transformative in the way that the three things that 71 00:04:45,760 --> 00:04:50,600 Speaker 2: I think are. One is the stock crash. It led 72 00:04:50,640 --> 00:04:53,800 Speaker 2: to the Great Depression, that led to countless suicides, and 73 00:04:53,880 --> 00:05:00,760 Speaker 2: today the Federal Reserve acts on economic princes taught to 74 00:05:00,839 --> 00:05:03,719 Speaker 2: us by the Great Depression of the crash one hundred 75 00:05:03,800 --> 00:05:04,320 Speaker 2: years ago. 76 00:05:04,960 --> 00:05:06,080 Speaker 3: It's transformative. 77 00:05:06,360 --> 00:05:12,080 Speaker 2: It's etched into the ethos of our American selves. The 78 00:05:12,120 --> 00:05:15,719 Speaker 2: second would be the bombing of Pearl Harbor. It's etched 79 00:05:15,839 --> 00:05:18,279 Speaker 2: into the ethos of ourselves. It could be argued that 80 00:05:18,320 --> 00:05:21,520 Speaker 2: our country would never have been in World War II. 81 00:05:22,480 --> 00:05:26,440 Speaker 2: Our island, protected by the Atlantic and Pacific was at 82 00:05:26,480 --> 00:05:30,520 Speaker 2: that time unreachable, and we were sucked into that war 83 00:05:30,600 --> 00:05:33,320 Speaker 2: as a result of Pearl Harbor. And I will tell 84 00:05:33,360 --> 00:05:36,800 Speaker 2: you that the relative peace we've lived in the last 85 00:05:36,839 --> 00:05:41,200 Speaker 2: seven decades a result of winning World War II and 86 00:05:41,520 --> 00:05:45,960 Speaker 2: our military and infrastructure being intact because all of Europe's 87 00:05:46,040 --> 00:05:49,680 Speaker 2: was destroyed, and our navy remaining intact, so as a 88 00:05:49,760 --> 00:05:53,919 Speaker 2: maritime power, the only maritime power, it was the time 89 00:05:54,000 --> 00:05:57,680 Speaker 2: after World War II that enabled the country, our country, 90 00:05:57,720 --> 00:06:01,400 Speaker 2: to be the world's sheriff, which led to what we 91 00:06:01,440 --> 00:06:05,440 Speaker 2: all recognize now or feel now is normalcy of globalization. 92 00:06:06,520 --> 00:06:12,840 Speaker 2: That doesn't happen. The world doesn't change without Pearl Harbor. 93 00:06:14,120 --> 00:06:18,200 Speaker 2: And I think that's etched into our memory. But you know, 94 00:06:18,240 --> 00:06:21,880 Speaker 2: you got to think about nineteen forty one. That's fifty nine, 95 00:06:22,720 --> 00:06:24,520 Speaker 2: seventy nine, eighty. 96 00:06:24,240 --> 00:06:25,839 Speaker 3: Three years ago. 97 00:06:25,920 --> 00:06:29,440 Speaker 2: If you were nine years old during Pearl Harbor, you 98 00:06:29,440 --> 00:06:33,000 Speaker 2: are today ninety two. If you're eighteen, you're one hundred. 99 00:06:33,279 --> 00:06:36,000 Speaker 2: There's very very few people walking the face of this 100 00:06:36,120 --> 00:06:39,359 Speaker 2: planet anymore that can tell us the realities of Pearl Harbor. 101 00:06:39,880 --> 00:06:43,200 Speaker 2: We live them through history, we live them through books, 102 00:06:43,480 --> 00:06:48,160 Speaker 2: we live them through documentaries, but we can't really talk 103 00:06:48,160 --> 00:06:51,360 Speaker 2: to anybody who knows it and feels it and understands it. 104 00:06:51,400 --> 00:06:51,880 Speaker 3: And if we. 105 00:06:51,920 --> 00:06:56,440 Speaker 2: Forget the lessons of the stock market crash, we're certainly 106 00:06:56,480 --> 00:07:01,039 Speaker 2: to repeat them in our banking system and are the 107 00:07:01,040 --> 00:07:04,000 Speaker 2: way we handle the FED. If we forget the lessons 108 00:07:04,040 --> 00:07:07,359 Speaker 2: of World War two, we're certainly going to pay for 109 00:07:07,440 --> 00:07:12,120 Speaker 2: that geopolitically one day. With that as a backdrop, If 110 00:07:12,120 --> 00:07:14,840 Speaker 2: we forget the lessons of nine to eleven, we will 111 00:07:14,880 --> 00:07:17,600 Speaker 2: certainly live to see it again. And it needs to 112 00:07:17,720 --> 00:07:22,160 Speaker 2: dawn on you that this may across our country. There 113 00:07:22,200 --> 00:07:26,360 Speaker 2: will be countless seniors graduating college. Who are the young 114 00:07:26,400 --> 00:07:29,280 Speaker 2: adults that are going to form the next three and 115 00:07:29,360 --> 00:07:32,760 Speaker 2: four decades of our policy and how our country works 116 00:07:33,200 --> 00:07:37,119 Speaker 2: that weren't even born on none one one. It doesn't 117 00:07:37,120 --> 00:07:39,280 Speaker 2: even feel that way to us, because we were all 118 00:07:39,360 --> 00:07:43,480 Speaker 2: alive as that's in our memory, but only a generation away. 119 00:07:44,640 --> 00:07:47,960 Speaker 2: Ask anybody twenty years younger right now, who sings your 120 00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:50,320 Speaker 2: favorite songs from the eighties, and they won't be able 121 00:07:50,360 --> 00:07:55,080 Speaker 2: to tell you. Ask who was in Saint Almo's Fire 122 00:07:55,240 --> 00:07:57,640 Speaker 2: and who was in Raiders of the Lost Arc and 123 00:07:57,680 --> 00:08:00,000 Speaker 2: these twenty something year old they won't even tell you. 124 00:08:00,200 --> 00:08:02,880 Speaker 2: And everyone in here knows the answer to that. Ask 125 00:08:02,960 --> 00:08:05,120 Speaker 2: them what happened on nine to eleven? And they won't 126 00:08:05,120 --> 00:08:08,600 Speaker 2: be able to tell you, and that is scary. It 127 00:08:08,680 --> 00:08:14,080 Speaker 2: is why Tim's story matters. Lest we forget, history will 128 00:08:14,080 --> 00:08:17,200 Speaker 2: repeat itself. And it is men like this who have 129 00:08:17,280 --> 00:08:20,200 Speaker 2: been through hors that most of us cannot imagine, that 130 00:08:20,320 --> 00:08:23,960 Speaker 2: will sit up here and courageously recount this for you, 131 00:08:24,480 --> 00:08:28,160 Speaker 2: not to be sensational, not to garner attention to himself, 132 00:08:28,400 --> 00:08:30,840 Speaker 2: but because men like him do not want you to 133 00:08:30,880 --> 00:08:34,600 Speaker 2: forget his friends who died in the service of their 134 00:08:34,640 --> 00:08:37,200 Speaker 2: fellow man. And it's men like him that don't want 135 00:08:37,360 --> 00:08:40,760 Speaker 2: us as a public to forget. Well, we must remember 136 00:08:41,080 --> 00:08:45,079 Speaker 2: lest we repeat it. Tonight will have a couple of laughs. 137 00:08:45,360 --> 00:08:49,480 Speaker 2: You will hear some somber stories. Most importantly, I hope 138 00:08:49,520 --> 00:08:53,960 Speaker 2: you're challenged to make sure we never forget Tim. 139 00:08:54,600 --> 00:08:57,199 Speaker 3: Welcome to Memphis, Thank you brother. Happy to be here, 140 00:08:57,320 --> 00:08:58,800 Speaker 3: my first time, your first time. 141 00:08:58,960 --> 00:09:02,640 Speaker 2: Yes, well you got a beer. 142 00:09:01,960 --> 00:09:04,880 Speaker 3: You're a New York firefighter. I think beer is part 143 00:09:04,920 --> 00:09:07,640 Speaker 3: of the diet. Well we're at a brewery, so yeah, 144 00:09:07,800 --> 00:09:11,160 Speaker 3: that's it. Here we go here in Memphis. That's it. 145 00:09:11,240 --> 00:09:11,720 Speaker 3: There is. 146 00:09:13,200 --> 00:09:18,880 Speaker 2: I am typically very engaged conversationally, and I'll interject when 147 00:09:18,880 --> 00:09:21,720 Speaker 2: I'm like, hold it, what I don't understand, because I 148 00:09:21,720 --> 00:09:24,520 Speaker 2: think maybe our listeners might not understand something you said. 149 00:09:24,800 --> 00:09:26,960 Speaker 2: I typically open army and normal folks, So tell me 150 00:09:26,960 --> 00:09:27,880 Speaker 2: where you came, come. 151 00:09:27,760 --> 00:09:29,600 Speaker 3: And all that. We're not going to do that. 152 00:09:30,040 --> 00:09:32,280 Speaker 2: One thing I got to say is when Tim and 153 00:09:32,280 --> 00:09:36,559 Speaker 2: I finish our discussion, we have a microphone out here 154 00:09:36,880 --> 00:09:40,040 Speaker 2: and the floor is open for questions, and I hope 155 00:09:40,040 --> 00:09:42,600 Speaker 2: you guys have them, because you're not going to get 156 00:09:42,600 --> 00:09:47,199 Speaker 2: many opportunities to talk to a hero, So you all 157 00:09:47,240 --> 00:09:49,760 Speaker 2: have an opportunity to speak up. And if you do, Hey, 158 00:09:49,760 --> 00:09:51,640 Speaker 2: you're going to be on a podcast and thousands of 159 00:09:51,640 --> 00:09:54,480 Speaker 2: people are here you so you might as well ask questions. Tim, 160 00:09:55,120 --> 00:09:59,760 Speaker 2: maybe give us a little background, just a little on 161 00:09:59,800 --> 00:10:03,319 Speaker 2: your time in the fire department, how you ended up 162 00:10:03,400 --> 00:10:06,680 Speaker 2: in the position you were in and reading the paper, 163 00:10:07,240 --> 00:10:11,200 Speaker 2: and from that step forward the events of not eleven. 164 00:10:11,400 --> 00:10:15,120 Speaker 3: Thanks for having me here in Memphis. It is my goal. 165 00:10:15,280 --> 00:10:18,440 Speaker 1: We said never forget right every firehouse in New York City, 166 00:10:18,480 --> 00:10:22,240 Speaker 1: every fireman's car on the bumper was a bumper sticker 167 00:10:22,280 --> 00:10:25,600 Speaker 1: that said never forget. That is our mantra after nine 168 00:10:25,640 --> 00:10:30,480 Speaker 1: to eleven, and I live that every day of my life, 169 00:10:31,240 --> 00:10:35,800 Speaker 1: and I think it's very important that we continue, as 170 00:10:35,800 --> 00:10:38,679 Speaker 1: you said before, to live that mantra and pass it on, 171 00:10:39,200 --> 00:10:40,960 Speaker 1: especially now to the next generation. 172 00:10:42,600 --> 00:10:46,680 Speaker 3: I was a bad kid. I was a bad kid. 173 00:10:46,720 --> 00:10:51,079 Speaker 1: When I was twelve, thirteen, fourteen, my parents were getting divorced. 174 00:10:52,720 --> 00:10:55,560 Speaker 1: I got lost in the shuffle of five kids, and 175 00:10:56,679 --> 00:11:00,800 Speaker 1: I was lashing out. I guess I had no direction, 176 00:11:00,920 --> 00:11:03,760 Speaker 1: I had no mission. I had nothing that interested me 177 00:11:04,760 --> 00:11:06,760 Speaker 1: until I found out that I could be a junior 178 00:11:06,840 --> 00:11:10,360 Speaker 1: fireman at fifteen years old in Newington, Connecticut. 179 00:11:10,679 --> 00:11:12,880 Speaker 3: And that changed my life. 180 00:11:13,400 --> 00:11:17,040 Speaker 1: I stopped doing the bad things you can imagine, and 181 00:11:17,840 --> 00:11:20,800 Speaker 1: I started focusing on being a junior fireman and emt 182 00:11:21,520 --> 00:11:23,680 Speaker 1: And I say this because I encourage young people to 183 00:11:23,880 --> 00:11:26,640 Speaker 1: take this path, because it will give you direction and 184 00:11:26,800 --> 00:11:29,959 Speaker 1: meaning and mission and purpose, which is what it did 185 00:11:30,000 --> 00:11:33,600 Speaker 1: for me. And I was a volunteer fireman, and I 186 00:11:33,679 --> 00:11:37,040 Speaker 1: was a paid fireman in Connecticut. But then in night 187 00:11:37,120 --> 00:11:39,160 Speaker 1: am I allowed to say how old I am in 188 00:11:39,240 --> 00:11:40,080 Speaker 1: nineteen eighty four? 189 00:11:40,280 --> 00:11:42,400 Speaker 3: Holy crap, your old? 190 00:11:44,320 --> 00:11:47,400 Speaker 1: In nineteen eighty four, I was blessed by being hired 191 00:11:47,480 --> 00:11:49,920 Speaker 1: in the New York City Fire Department. I worked in 192 00:11:50,080 --> 00:11:53,439 Speaker 1: what some people might remember in the South Bronx as Ford, 193 00:11:53,480 --> 00:11:56,640 Speaker 1: Apache That was my first assignment for seven years, so 194 00:11:57,160 --> 00:11:59,880 Speaker 1: you can imagine we were pretty busy there with fires 195 00:12:00,240 --> 00:12:03,040 Speaker 1: and helping people that needed help. I went to Times 196 00:12:03,040 --> 00:12:04,720 Speaker 1: Square for a bit, and then I went back to 197 00:12:05,040 --> 00:12:09,880 Speaker 1: what I call the Bronx Harlem Special Operations Command Rescue 198 00:12:09,880 --> 00:12:14,120 Speaker 1: Company three. We were also the building Collapse company for 199 00:12:14,160 --> 00:12:17,360 Speaker 1: the entire city, so we were very busy with quite 200 00:12:17,400 --> 00:12:20,679 Speaker 1: a lot of emergencies and fires and such. But then 201 00:12:20,720 --> 00:12:24,960 Speaker 1: in nineteen ninety eight, I had become friends with Mayor Giuliani, 202 00:12:25,640 --> 00:12:28,720 Speaker 1: and he convinced me, he and his team convinced me 203 00:12:28,760 --> 00:12:32,960 Speaker 1: to go to his newly formed Mayor's Office of Emergency Management, 204 00:12:32,960 --> 00:12:35,480 Speaker 1: and I took off my fireman helmet and I put 205 00:12:35,480 --> 00:12:38,360 Speaker 1: on a tie, and I went to seven World Trade 206 00:12:38,400 --> 00:12:41,880 Speaker 1: Center on the twenty third floor, which was our office, 207 00:12:41,920 --> 00:12:43,840 Speaker 1: and I became a supervisor within. 208 00:12:43,640 --> 00:12:46,600 Speaker 3: That group and our job. 209 00:12:46,920 --> 00:12:51,640 Speaker 1: Our job, my group was to respond to major disasters 210 00:12:51,679 --> 00:12:54,640 Speaker 1: and emergencies in New York City and represent the mayor. 211 00:12:54,920 --> 00:12:58,400 Speaker 1: So that's a very quick summary of how I got 212 00:12:58,440 --> 00:13:02,400 Speaker 1: there to the more of September eleventh, two thousand and one. 213 00:13:02,679 --> 00:13:05,680 Speaker 2: Along the way, you lived with these guys, you eat 214 00:13:05,720 --> 00:13:08,800 Speaker 2: with these guys, You bathed with these guys. You literally 215 00:13:08,840 --> 00:13:13,200 Speaker 2: become brothers with firefighters. And even though you find yourself 216 00:13:13,240 --> 00:13:16,880 Speaker 2: in the mayor's office with a snazzy tie, you're still 217 00:13:16,920 --> 00:13:19,400 Speaker 2: at the heart of yourself, you're a firefighter. Give us 218 00:13:19,400 --> 00:13:22,160 Speaker 2: a sense of the relationships that exists. So I think 219 00:13:22,200 --> 00:13:24,800 Speaker 2: you nailed it there a bit. Like we did everything together. 220 00:13:24,880 --> 00:13:30,600 Speaker 1: We went to horrific emergencies, fires, building collapses, car crashes. 221 00:13:32,360 --> 00:13:37,240 Speaker 1: We carried our own out of these disasters, our own 222 00:13:37,280 --> 00:13:41,400 Speaker 1: who heroically went in and got injured badly, and we 223 00:13:41,440 --> 00:13:44,400 Speaker 1: carried them out. We carried out little kids, you know, 224 00:13:44,520 --> 00:13:49,000 Speaker 1: innocent little kids. We carried out innocent grandmas. And we 225 00:13:49,080 --> 00:13:51,760 Speaker 1: did all this stuff together, and we worked together. All 226 00:13:51,800 --> 00:13:55,120 Speaker 1: talk in a little bit about firefighter Chris Blackwell in 227 00:13:55,520 --> 00:14:01,840 Speaker 1: September eleventh, But firefighters like Chris were exceptional, and Captain 228 00:14:01,920 --> 00:14:06,720 Speaker 1: Terry Hatton and Captain Patty Brown who saved dozens and 229 00:14:06,800 --> 00:14:12,280 Speaker 1: dozens and dozens of lives. And we would come back 230 00:14:12,320 --> 00:14:17,760 Speaker 1: from some horrible thing and and we would eat together, 231 00:14:17,960 --> 00:14:21,280 Speaker 1: we would sleep in the same room. We would you know, 232 00:14:21,600 --> 00:14:23,600 Speaker 1: we actually built a steam room because the smoke was 233 00:14:23,720 --> 00:14:26,120 Speaker 1: very bad for you. So we you know, we would 234 00:14:26,160 --> 00:14:28,040 Speaker 1: take a steam at the end of work and maybe 235 00:14:28,200 --> 00:14:30,520 Speaker 1: maybe have a beer after work. 236 00:14:30,440 --> 00:14:32,960 Speaker 3: Or from maybe maybe, but. 237 00:14:32,920 --> 00:14:34,560 Speaker 1: You could actually when you sit in the steam room, 238 00:14:34,600 --> 00:14:39,640 Speaker 1: you could actually see the the stream of black soot 239 00:14:39,920 --> 00:14:43,280 Speaker 1: draining out of your body. And and that was the 240 00:14:43,320 --> 00:14:45,560 Speaker 1: poisons leaving the poisons that we're going to give us 241 00:14:45,600 --> 00:14:48,960 Speaker 1: cancer leaving our body. So we would stay there after 242 00:14:49,000 --> 00:14:53,520 Speaker 1: work and we would hydrate and and and let this 243 00:14:53,800 --> 00:14:55,760 Speaker 1: poison out of our bodies, and we would talk about 244 00:14:56,080 --> 00:15:01,320 Speaker 1: the day. I mean, these guys were like my real brothers. 245 00:15:02,840 --> 00:15:05,520 Speaker 1: You loved them, every one of them. 246 00:15:05,720 --> 00:15:11,800 Speaker 2: Everyone. And now a few messages from our general sponsors. 247 00:15:11,880 --> 00:15:17,200 Speaker 2: But first allow me to throw throw an idea out 248 00:15:17,200 --> 00:15:21,040 Speaker 2: there for you guys. If you do a good deed 249 00:15:21,520 --> 00:15:25,680 Speaker 2: one time, or maybe it's weekly service that you do, 250 00:15:27,480 --> 00:15:31,760 Speaker 2: would you consider sharing it on social and including a 251 00:15:31,800 --> 00:15:36,480 Speaker 2: message like join an army of normal folks. Together we 252 00:15:36,560 --> 00:15:40,360 Speaker 2: can solve our problems and tag us in the copy 253 00:15:40,480 --> 00:15:45,640 Speaker 2: At an Army of normal folks. We hope to share 254 00:15:45,720 --> 00:15:48,800 Speaker 2: many of your posts on our accounts. Now, this isn't 255 00:15:48,800 --> 00:15:52,040 Speaker 2: about bragging about what you're doing, because then you'd be 256 00:15:52,080 --> 00:15:55,240 Speaker 2: a turkey person. But it's about sharing the power of 257 00:15:55,280 --> 00:15:59,160 Speaker 2: what normal folks can do so that more normal folks 258 00:15:59,200 --> 00:16:01,880 Speaker 2: can realize that they can do it too, and hopefully 259 00:16:01,920 --> 00:16:04,160 Speaker 2: grow the army. I hope you'll give it a try. 260 00:16:04,520 --> 00:16:17,880 Speaker 2: We'll be wiped back. What's that to stay morning look like? 261 00:16:17,920 --> 00:16:18,160 Speaker 3: For me? 262 00:16:18,880 --> 00:16:21,520 Speaker 1: So I go into work seven World Trade Center, and 263 00:16:21,600 --> 00:16:23,760 Speaker 1: I go in a little early, you know. I got 264 00:16:23,760 --> 00:16:27,040 Speaker 1: in around seven forty five or eight am. And I 265 00:16:27,120 --> 00:16:31,080 Speaker 1: always our office was a seven twenty third floor, and 266 00:16:31,960 --> 00:16:33,840 Speaker 1: I always went to the third floor first, and that 267 00:16:34,000 --> 00:16:37,840 Speaker 1: was our cafeteria floor. So I would go there into 268 00:16:37,840 --> 00:16:40,720 Speaker 1: the cafeteria, get my cheerios, my orange juice, and my 269 00:16:40,760 --> 00:16:44,760 Speaker 1: hot tea, and I would I would I say this 270 00:16:45,280 --> 00:16:46,880 Speaker 1: when there's a lot of young people in the audience. 271 00:16:47,200 --> 00:16:51,000 Speaker 1: We used to have something called newspapers back in the day, 272 00:16:51,320 --> 00:16:54,240 Speaker 1: because you couldn't get your information from anywhere else. You 273 00:16:54,240 --> 00:16:56,880 Speaker 1: didn't have a smartphone, And so I would have all 274 00:16:56,880 --> 00:16:59,160 Speaker 1: the local newspapers and I would sit there and eat 275 00:16:59,200 --> 00:17:03,480 Speaker 1: my cheerios and go through all of that, all those papers. 276 00:17:04,080 --> 00:17:06,400 Speaker 1: The power went out in the building all at once, 277 00:17:06,960 --> 00:17:10,680 Speaker 1: a bit unusual for the for a modern high rise 278 00:17:10,720 --> 00:17:14,560 Speaker 1: building in New York, and I knew something big had happened, 279 00:17:15,680 --> 00:17:19,120 Speaker 1: but I didn't hear or see anything. So the power 280 00:17:19,200 --> 00:17:21,679 Speaker 1: went out, and within five seconds the power came back on, 281 00:17:22,480 --> 00:17:25,399 Speaker 1: and I knew our backup generators for the building had 282 00:17:25,480 --> 00:17:28,520 Speaker 1: kicked in. And the people who were sitting at the 283 00:17:28,600 --> 00:17:32,760 Speaker 1: glass windows facing the North tower of one World Trade 284 00:17:32,800 --> 00:17:35,720 Speaker 1: Center all at once like jumped up and started running 285 00:17:35,920 --> 00:17:38,679 Speaker 1: toward the exit, running by me. And I had to 286 00:17:38,680 --> 00:17:42,359 Speaker 1: grab one young lady by the shoulders and like shake 287 00:17:42,400 --> 00:17:44,960 Speaker 1: her back to reality and look her in the eyes, 288 00:17:45,080 --> 00:17:47,400 Speaker 1: and I said, what happened is? She said, a plane 289 00:17:47,480 --> 00:17:49,719 Speaker 1: hit the tower. And that was the first that I 290 00:17:49,760 --> 00:17:53,159 Speaker 1: had or knew of it. You know, we call it 291 00:17:53,200 --> 00:17:55,719 Speaker 1: the big One. You know, we'd try to do our 292 00:17:55,760 --> 00:17:58,120 Speaker 1: best to train and drill and prepare as much as 293 00:17:58,119 --> 00:18:01,879 Speaker 1: we can for the big one. This one turns out 294 00:18:02,119 --> 00:18:06,000 Speaker 1: it was something you could not really prepare for. I 295 00:18:06,040 --> 00:18:08,119 Speaker 1: mean a little bit, but you could even imagine it 296 00:18:08,280 --> 00:18:11,479 Speaker 1: when you first hit it, when it first happened. And 297 00:18:11,520 --> 00:18:16,200 Speaker 1: you're there, are you thinking small plane, helicopter? I mean 298 00:18:16,200 --> 00:18:20,320 Speaker 1: you're not thinking. No, it's not even you can't even 299 00:18:20,400 --> 00:18:23,840 Speaker 1: fathom what's what we now know? Right, So what's going 300 00:18:23,880 --> 00:18:24,320 Speaker 1: through your head? 301 00:18:24,440 --> 00:18:26,280 Speaker 3: Yeah? Small plane, maybe a helicopter. 302 00:18:27,359 --> 00:18:29,280 Speaker 1: We had had that happen in New York City before, 303 00:18:30,080 --> 00:18:32,919 Speaker 1: and you know, you see now it still happens. So 304 00:18:33,200 --> 00:18:37,760 Speaker 1: I don't think anybody initially imagined that it was a 305 00:18:37,760 --> 00:18:40,919 Speaker 1: passenger jet, and so that's what I was thinking, you know, 306 00:18:40,920 --> 00:18:42,800 Speaker 1: I think, you know, it's a big thing, but we're 307 00:18:42,840 --> 00:18:43,960 Speaker 1: going to be able to take care of it. 308 00:18:44,400 --> 00:18:47,120 Speaker 3: So what do you do? So it's my job to go. 309 00:18:47,400 --> 00:18:49,720 Speaker 1: To the command post, not to be the incident commander, 310 00:18:49,760 --> 00:18:53,040 Speaker 1: but to support the incident commander who is the fire chief, 311 00:18:53,119 --> 00:18:56,480 Speaker 1: and support him with all things other than kind of 312 00:18:56,520 --> 00:18:59,960 Speaker 1: his primary focus, which is the firefighters and stuff like that, right, 313 00:19:00,280 --> 00:19:06,280 Speaker 1: so anything else he needed, the utility companies, the ems 314 00:19:06,760 --> 00:19:08,600 Speaker 1: a little bit, but you know, there's all kinds of 315 00:19:08,640 --> 00:19:11,280 Speaker 1: people we need when something like this happens. And so 316 00:19:11,320 --> 00:19:13,000 Speaker 1: it was my job to kind of stand there at 317 00:19:13,000 --> 00:19:15,840 Speaker 1: the command post, and the incident commander would turn to 318 00:19:15,880 --> 00:19:19,040 Speaker 1: me and say get me ABC, D and E, and 319 00:19:19,359 --> 00:19:21,159 Speaker 1: he would not have to worry about it, and we 320 00:19:21,200 --> 00:19:23,240 Speaker 1: would take care of it. What does command posts look like? 321 00:19:23,640 --> 00:19:26,840 Speaker 1: So there's an actual structural command post in the lobby 322 00:19:26,880 --> 00:19:29,840 Speaker 1: of both the North and South Tower, which the Fire 323 00:19:29,880 --> 00:19:36,000 Speaker 1: Department frequently uses and frequently practices and drills with a lot. 324 00:19:36,119 --> 00:19:39,159 Speaker 1: Because there are two hundred and ten story buildings. We 325 00:19:39,760 --> 00:19:41,280 Speaker 1: go to a lot of alarms there, we go to 326 00:19:41,320 --> 00:19:46,040 Speaker 1: a lot of emergencies. Each floor is at one acre big, 327 00:19:46,840 --> 00:19:49,720 Speaker 1: so that's one hundred and ten acres each tower. And 328 00:19:49,760 --> 00:19:51,679 Speaker 1: so you can imagine the number of people and the 329 00:19:51,760 --> 00:19:55,359 Speaker 1: number of emergencies and the number of problems that we 330 00:19:55,960 --> 00:19:57,880 Speaker 1: would go there for every day. 331 00:19:58,080 --> 00:19:59,560 Speaker 3: I guess what I hear that. 332 00:20:00,280 --> 00:20:04,920 Speaker 2: But if you have an emergency management center, there's got 333 00:20:04,920 --> 00:20:08,600 Speaker 2: to be I'm imagining maybe I've watched too many movies, 334 00:20:08,640 --> 00:20:12,280 Speaker 2: but I'm imagining about a thousand of those TVs and 335 00:20:12,680 --> 00:20:18,240 Speaker 2: cameras and connections and communications, almost a hub of information. 336 00:20:18,320 --> 00:20:21,119 Speaker 1: So it's two different things. There's a command post inside 337 00:20:21,640 --> 00:20:24,199 Speaker 1: one World Trade Center, which is in the lobby, the 338 00:20:24,240 --> 00:20:26,960 Speaker 1: people setting up doing the work. Yeah, and right, the 339 00:20:27,600 --> 00:20:30,800 Speaker 1: fire chief, the incident commander says, one in the north tower, 340 00:20:30,880 --> 00:20:35,480 Speaker 1: is one in the South tower. Our oem command center 341 00:20:35,760 --> 00:20:40,360 Speaker 1: is what you're talking about with it's Star Wars. It's 342 00:20:41,119 --> 00:20:47,320 Speaker 1: five hundred screens, it's five hundred computers of workstations, and 343 00:20:47,400 --> 00:20:52,080 Speaker 1: that is to support a citywide emergency or disaster, in 344 00:20:52,160 --> 00:20:55,200 Speaker 1: support of the real incident commander in the end, who 345 00:20:55,240 --> 00:20:58,800 Speaker 1: is the mayor? Right, so everyone reports to the mayor. 346 00:20:58,880 --> 00:21:01,879 Speaker 1: So in the end for policy deciding, it was the 347 00:21:01,920 --> 00:21:05,880 Speaker 1: mayor and that's what our twenty third floor command center 348 00:21:06,119 --> 00:21:06,800 Speaker 1: was built for. 349 00:21:07,000 --> 00:21:09,479 Speaker 2: Well at that time in the morning, was everybody at 350 00:21:09,480 --> 00:21:10,600 Speaker 2: a station or did you have no. 351 00:21:10,680 --> 00:21:13,800 Speaker 1: We would call them in. Yeah, so we would manage it, 352 00:21:13,840 --> 00:21:15,040 Speaker 1: but we had to bring them in. 353 00:21:15,160 --> 00:21:18,800 Speaker 2: So at this point the World Trade Centers got a 354 00:21:18,840 --> 00:21:21,320 Speaker 2: fire on it. You think a helicopter something said, But 355 00:21:21,359 --> 00:21:23,360 Speaker 2: it's still a big deal. 356 00:21:24,040 --> 00:21:27,520 Speaker 1: Were so part of the story is that are what 357 00:21:27,560 --> 00:21:31,520 Speaker 1: we call Watch Command, which is our communications hub, has 358 00:21:31,560 --> 00:21:33,280 Speaker 1: to make up to one hundred and fifty or so 359 00:21:33,400 --> 00:21:36,960 Speaker 1: phone calls to bring people in from our federal, state, local, 360 00:21:37,520 --> 00:21:40,920 Speaker 1: and private sector partners to help us manage this disaster. 361 00:21:41,240 --> 00:21:43,320 Speaker 3: And we had done this many times. 362 00:21:43,000 --> 00:21:49,160 Speaker 1: Before citywide health emergencies, West Nile virus and things like that. 363 00:21:49,240 --> 00:21:53,880 Speaker 1: But this is more of an instant shock to the system. 364 00:21:54,560 --> 00:21:56,880 Speaker 1: But we knew the right people to call, we knew 365 00:21:56,880 --> 00:21:59,119 Speaker 1: the right people to bring in, and you know, we 366 00:21:59,160 --> 00:22:01,760 Speaker 1: had people on the world very quickly to come support us. 367 00:22:02,240 --> 00:22:05,520 Speaker 1: My job was to go into the North Tower to 368 00:22:05,720 --> 00:22:09,639 Speaker 1: that command post and assist the incident commander of the 369 00:22:09,640 --> 00:22:10,440 Speaker 1: fire chief there. 370 00:22:11,240 --> 00:22:13,600 Speaker 2: So you're calling everybody in and you're saying, we're go 371 00:22:14,000 --> 00:22:15,400 Speaker 2: I'm coming up, making up. 372 00:22:15,320 --> 00:22:18,920 Speaker 3: Words, but we're all in, all in, yeah, yeah. 373 00:22:19,280 --> 00:22:22,160 Speaker 2: And then once you get that set up at your office, 374 00:22:22,640 --> 00:22:23,840 Speaker 2: you're headed to the trade site. 375 00:22:23,840 --> 00:22:26,240 Speaker 1: They're doing that while I'm doing the while I'm running 376 00:22:26,280 --> 00:22:28,159 Speaker 1: to the World Trade Center. So I go to my 377 00:22:28,240 --> 00:22:30,680 Speaker 1: car and I took off my tie and my dress 378 00:22:30,720 --> 00:22:33,400 Speaker 1: shirt and my jacket, and I put on leather, heavy 379 00:22:33,480 --> 00:22:36,560 Speaker 1: leather boots, a jacket that said Mayor's Office on the 380 00:22:36,560 --> 00:22:39,479 Speaker 1: breast and on the back, and then they made us 381 00:22:39,480 --> 00:22:44,400 Speaker 1: wear this stupid green helmet, which was really embarrassing, really 382 00:22:44,480 --> 00:22:48,119 Speaker 1: embarrassing after wearing my fireman helmet for twenty years or whatever, 383 00:22:49,320 --> 00:22:51,080 Speaker 1: so they could identify us. So I put on the 384 00:22:51,080 --> 00:22:57,560 Speaker 1: stupid green helmet. And we're trained as firefighters when you 385 00:22:57,640 --> 00:23:00,959 Speaker 1: go into a building under destruction, before you go in, 386 00:23:01,040 --> 00:23:02,880 Speaker 1: you try and look at three sides of the building 387 00:23:03,240 --> 00:23:07,320 Speaker 1: to get a current size up of that building. And 388 00:23:07,359 --> 00:23:09,800 Speaker 1: I wanted to take a second that morning to do that. 389 00:23:09,960 --> 00:23:11,879 Speaker 1: So in order to do that, I had to go 390 00:23:12,000 --> 00:23:15,879 Speaker 1: up like one and a half stories from street level 391 00:23:16,400 --> 00:23:19,240 Speaker 1: to plaza level, the plaza that was in between the towers, 392 00:23:20,040 --> 00:23:21,399 Speaker 1: and in order to do that, I had to go 393 00:23:21,520 --> 00:23:27,040 Speaker 1: up a concrete staircase exterior. So I ran up that staircase. 394 00:23:27,200 --> 00:23:29,240 Speaker 1: It's an important part of the story because later that 395 00:23:29,480 --> 00:23:33,920 Speaker 1: concrete staircase becomes the biggest heaviest artifact in the nine 396 00:23:33,920 --> 00:23:37,959 Speaker 1: to eleven Museum. And they call it the Survivor's staircase 397 00:23:38,040 --> 00:23:39,320 Speaker 1: because I. 398 00:23:39,359 --> 00:23:40,280 Speaker 3: Ran up early on. 399 00:23:40,560 --> 00:23:43,879 Speaker 1: But later on in the morning, hundreds or thousands of 400 00:23:43,960 --> 00:23:48,080 Speaker 1: civilians ran down that staircase and ran away to live. 401 00:23:48,840 --> 00:23:51,360 Speaker 1: And I make that point really because it's what we 402 00:23:51,440 --> 00:23:55,560 Speaker 1: do our military, our first responders, our police officers, are firefighters, 403 00:23:55,600 --> 00:24:00,239 Speaker 1: are paramedics and others. When something happens, we run toward it. 404 00:24:00,920 --> 00:24:03,040 Speaker 1: We will run towards the problem because there are people 405 00:24:03,040 --> 00:24:06,160 Speaker 1: in trouble. And and that's how the morning started out 406 00:24:06,200 --> 00:24:09,240 Speaker 1: for all of us, all the firefighters and police officers 407 00:24:09,280 --> 00:24:12,160 Speaker 1: and EMTs and paramedics and and others. 408 00:24:12,520 --> 00:24:13,000 Speaker 3: Authority. 409 00:24:13,359 --> 00:24:16,240 Speaker 1: Yeah, well yeah, all of all of them, you know, 410 00:24:16,440 --> 00:24:22,640 Speaker 1: ran toward this impending disaster. So so I looked out 411 00:24:22,640 --> 00:24:25,400 Speaker 1: over the plaza, and why do you check three corners 412 00:24:26,200 --> 00:24:28,399 Speaker 1: to get a current size up of what's happening with 413 00:24:28,440 --> 00:24:32,000 Speaker 1: the three corners, tell you, well, it's hard, it's we 414 00:24:32,040 --> 00:24:34,359 Speaker 1: would do four, but then you have to run all 415 00:24:34,400 --> 00:24:37,359 Speaker 1: the way around the building and it takes too much time. 416 00:24:38,040 --> 00:24:41,080 Speaker 1: So very quickly you can kind of get three sides 417 00:24:41,359 --> 00:24:42,240 Speaker 1: of a building. 418 00:24:42,280 --> 00:24:44,280 Speaker 2: Are you trying to see if it's structurally sound or 419 00:24:44,280 --> 00:24:45,000 Speaker 2: it's on fire? 420 00:24:45,160 --> 00:24:46,000 Speaker 3: For both? 421 00:24:46,440 --> 00:24:50,000 Speaker 1: So in the end, you know, I had to look 422 00:24:50,080 --> 00:24:53,200 Speaker 1: up like this ninety stories. You can't really see much. 423 00:24:53,840 --> 00:24:56,679 Speaker 1: So it was less helpful to me than it was 424 00:24:56,720 --> 00:24:59,400 Speaker 1: to my best friend, Captain Terry Hatton, who is coming 425 00:24:59,400 --> 00:25:01,960 Speaker 1: down the West Side Highway and rescue one. With binoculars, 426 00:25:02,200 --> 00:25:04,680 Speaker 1: he could see that there were seven or eight or 427 00:25:04,720 --> 00:25:08,560 Speaker 1: nine or ten floors that were already on fire. 428 00:25:09,240 --> 00:25:11,920 Speaker 2: All right, I think this is a question a lot 429 00:25:11,960 --> 00:25:15,520 Speaker 2: of people have. Maybe other people know it, but hey, 430 00:25:15,520 --> 00:25:17,280 Speaker 2: it's my show and it's my question, sar get to 431 00:25:17,320 --> 00:25:20,720 Speaker 2: ask it, and I'm here for you. At this point, 432 00:25:21,040 --> 00:25:23,960 Speaker 2: you've got one hundred and ten story one of the 433 00:25:24,080 --> 00:25:27,879 Speaker 2: tallest buildings of the world with six some stores on fire. 434 00:25:28,960 --> 00:25:30,480 Speaker 3: That's bad. It's very bad. 435 00:25:30,520 --> 00:25:33,359 Speaker 2: Do you think a small plane or helicopter hit it? 436 00:25:33,600 --> 00:25:36,120 Speaker 2: And you know people are burning and dying and trapped 437 00:25:36,160 --> 00:25:40,000 Speaker 2: and that's bad. What I'm dying to understand is, did 438 00:25:40,040 --> 00:25:42,920 Speaker 2: you ever conceive at that time that this building could 439 00:25:42,960 --> 00:25:45,399 Speaker 2: fall down? Was that even part of the calculus at 440 00:25:45,440 --> 00:25:49,720 Speaker 2: this No. I mean, the question that was asked early 441 00:25:49,800 --> 00:25:55,960 Speaker 2: on was two things, who can we save? And is 442 00:25:56,000 --> 00:25:57,000 Speaker 2: it going to collapse? 443 00:25:57,480 --> 00:25:59,840 Speaker 3: So that was a question. There was a question from 444 00:25:59,880 --> 00:26:03,919 Speaker 3: the mayor that why would they even conceive of it collapsing? 445 00:26:04,280 --> 00:26:10,920 Speaker 2: Honestly, I think part of the collective nation's gasp was not. 446 00:26:10,880 --> 00:26:13,240 Speaker 3: That it was on fire, but the damn thing fell down? 447 00:26:13,440 --> 00:26:15,600 Speaker 3: How you know? Now we know how? 448 00:26:15,680 --> 00:26:19,560 Speaker 2: But I just so you're saying, even then people had 449 00:26:19,680 --> 00:26:20,720 Speaker 2: enough foresight to think. 450 00:26:21,119 --> 00:26:23,600 Speaker 1: But the answer was no. The answer was no. The 451 00:26:23,640 --> 00:26:26,439 Speaker 1: answer was no, we collapse. Well, we've never had that 452 00:26:26,520 --> 00:26:30,200 Speaker 1: happen in a in a steel high rise building before 453 00:26:30,200 --> 00:26:31,159 Speaker 1: in America. 454 00:26:30,920 --> 00:26:33,320 Speaker 3: So it's not going to happen. So well, we don't 455 00:26:33,320 --> 00:26:33,679 Speaker 3: think we. 456 00:26:34,640 --> 00:26:37,800 Speaker 1: We are Our best judgment was that it was not 457 00:26:37,880 --> 00:26:40,600 Speaker 1: going to happen, and and the other the other answer 458 00:26:40,800 --> 00:26:43,240 Speaker 1: was we can save everybody below the point of impact. 459 00:26:44,119 --> 00:26:47,280 Speaker 1: And that was very sobering in the moment, very early on, 460 00:26:47,400 --> 00:26:50,119 Speaker 1: because basically I said that people at are above the 461 00:26:50,160 --> 00:26:52,080 Speaker 1: point of impact, we probably can't help them. 462 00:26:52,560 --> 00:26:57,879 Speaker 2: You just said one guy's name, which which of your 463 00:26:57,880 --> 00:27:01,440 Speaker 2: friends did you say? Was looking through binoculars, Captain Terry Hatton, Okay, 464 00:27:01,440 --> 00:27:08,479 Speaker 2: I have my best friend. Yeah, we'll get to him. 465 00:27:08,640 --> 00:27:09,560 Speaker 3: We'll be right back. 466 00:27:23,560 --> 00:27:26,800 Speaker 2: Okay, so you've checked the three corners. It's on fire. 467 00:27:27,119 --> 00:27:28,560 Speaker 2: We don't think it's going to collapse. 468 00:27:29,040 --> 00:27:32,719 Speaker 1: I looked out over the the plaza and there were 469 00:27:32,720 --> 00:27:35,320 Speaker 1: a lot of building parts and plane parts that were 470 00:27:35,359 --> 00:27:41,240 Speaker 1: on fire and other debris, and I started to doubt 471 00:27:41,520 --> 00:27:45,360 Speaker 1: my initial assumption that it was a small plane, but. 472 00:27:45,320 --> 00:27:47,639 Speaker 3: I couldn't prove it. You know, I didn't know. 473 00:27:47,960 --> 00:27:50,760 Speaker 1: I didn't know, And so I went into the north 474 00:27:50,840 --> 00:27:54,879 Speaker 1: tower at that level, and in order to go to 475 00:27:54,960 --> 00:27:57,760 Speaker 1: the command post at the street level, I had to 476 00:27:57,800 --> 00:28:01,680 Speaker 1: go down an escalator inside the building, and there were 477 00:28:01,760 --> 00:28:04,760 Speaker 1: hundreds of civilians kind of like a funnel, trying to 478 00:28:04,760 --> 00:28:07,880 Speaker 1: get onto that escalator to go down. They were trying 479 00:28:07,880 --> 00:28:14,080 Speaker 1: to evacuate them underground. And something struck me as I 480 00:28:14,160 --> 00:28:17,600 Speaker 1: approached this group was that they weren't doing what you 481 00:28:17,680 --> 00:28:20,760 Speaker 1: might think. They weren't pushing each other out of the way, 482 00:28:21,280 --> 00:28:24,600 Speaker 1: they weren't trampling each other. In fact, for every person 483 00:28:24,640 --> 00:28:30,160 Speaker 1: who was disabled or obese, or injured or pregnant, there 484 00:28:30,160 --> 00:28:33,840 Speaker 1: were four or five civilians, not firefighters or police officers, 485 00:28:34,520 --> 00:28:37,560 Speaker 1: helping that person out. And it gave me hope because 486 00:28:37,640 --> 00:28:43,960 Speaker 1: I said, that's the truth of humanity, of ninety nine 487 00:28:43,960 --> 00:28:47,280 Speaker 1: percent of humanity. If someone if we go outside right 488 00:28:47,360 --> 00:28:50,560 Speaker 1: now and someone trips on the sidewalk, you'll see four 489 00:28:50,640 --> 00:28:53,600 Speaker 1: or five people reach down to try and help them, 490 00:28:53,800 --> 00:28:57,120 Speaker 1: because that's humanity. Is there evil in the world, Yeah, man, 491 00:28:57,160 --> 00:28:59,480 Speaker 1: there's evil, but there's a lot of good in the 492 00:28:59,480 --> 00:29:02,920 Speaker 1: world too. And it gave me hope that no matter 493 00:29:02,960 --> 00:29:05,880 Speaker 1: what happened that day, that we were going to be okay, 494 00:29:06,480 --> 00:29:09,720 Speaker 1: because that's the truth of humanity. 495 00:29:09,600 --> 00:29:11,960 Speaker 2: Kind of the power of an army of normal folks, 496 00:29:12,360 --> 00:29:14,840 Speaker 2: just normal people, right, they just came to work. 497 00:29:15,680 --> 00:29:19,760 Speaker 3: They're just trying to do their job on a tower. 498 00:29:19,920 --> 00:29:22,480 Speaker 1: They're doing that right, and they're and they're they're following 499 00:29:22,520 --> 00:29:25,400 Speaker 1: their heart, and they're they're following their kindness and their 500 00:29:25,440 --> 00:29:31,440 Speaker 1: love of their fellow humans. And and I and I 501 00:29:31,520 --> 00:29:35,160 Speaker 1: like that one example lifted me up. And it wasn't 502 00:29:35,280 --> 00:29:38,640 Speaker 1: firefighters or police officers. I could talk about them all 503 00:29:38,680 --> 00:29:43,240 Speaker 1: all this whole thing, but the regular people were doing 504 00:29:43,240 --> 00:29:46,400 Speaker 1: God's work, in my opinion, when when they were called 505 00:29:46,440 --> 00:29:50,800 Speaker 1: to it, and and I and I got into that 506 00:29:50,800 --> 00:29:54,040 Speaker 1: that crowd, that kind of funnel of people, and I'm 507 00:29:54,120 --> 00:29:56,800 Speaker 1: going down this big, long escalator. 508 00:29:56,800 --> 00:29:58,680 Speaker 3: The lobby was like two stories tall. It was a 509 00:29:58,680 --> 00:29:59,280 Speaker 3: big lobby. 510 00:30:00,760 --> 00:30:03,920 Speaker 1: And as the lobby revealed itself to me and I 511 00:30:03,960 --> 00:30:07,120 Speaker 1: looked out over the lobby, I could see hundreds of 512 00:30:07,160 --> 00:30:10,960 Speaker 1: firefighters awaiting their orders to go up. 513 00:30:12,400 --> 00:30:13,400 Speaker 3: At the command post. 514 00:30:13,600 --> 00:30:16,920 Speaker 1: And they all had their protective gear on with their 515 00:30:17,000 --> 00:30:21,000 Speaker 1: yellow reflective stripes and all their equipment. You know, they 516 00:30:21,040 --> 00:30:23,240 Speaker 1: say sixty pounds, It wasn't sixty. It was more than 517 00:30:23,240 --> 00:30:25,400 Speaker 1: one hundred, one hundred and twenty pounds, because they were 518 00:30:25,400 --> 00:30:28,000 Speaker 1: carrying extra equipment up. 519 00:30:29,400 --> 00:30:30,680 Speaker 3: More way more than normal. 520 00:30:32,680 --> 00:30:37,920 Speaker 1: And I had to actually do something that firefighters are 521 00:30:38,080 --> 00:30:41,880 Speaker 1: very reluctant to do. And I had to admit that 522 00:30:41,920 --> 00:30:46,680 Speaker 1: the cops were right, and we are very reluctant to 523 00:30:46,720 --> 00:30:50,400 Speaker 1: do that. And I had to admit to myself that 524 00:30:50,440 --> 00:30:53,200 Speaker 1: the cops were right because they called us, they called 525 00:30:53,240 --> 00:30:56,680 Speaker 1: us bumblebees. And now I'm looking out over the lobby 526 00:30:56,720 --> 00:30:58,840 Speaker 1: with all these firemen in their yellow stripes. 527 00:31:00,000 --> 00:31:00,560 Speaker 3: They were right. 528 00:31:00,680 --> 00:31:04,360 Speaker 1: It looked like a whole hundreds of bumblebees awaiting their 529 00:31:04,480 --> 00:31:08,600 Speaker 1: orders to go up. As I processed this in my mind, 530 00:31:09,400 --> 00:31:12,280 Speaker 1: I wind up giving it the nickname the Hive of Heroes, 531 00:31:13,360 --> 00:31:18,280 Speaker 1: because that's what I was looking at, at these firefighters 532 00:31:18,320 --> 00:31:22,000 Speaker 1: who were willing to go up and save the lives 533 00:31:22,040 --> 00:31:24,160 Speaker 1: of people they don't know. So I got to the 534 00:31:24,200 --> 00:31:26,520 Speaker 1: bottom of the escalator and I looked to my right, 535 00:31:27,840 --> 00:31:30,840 Speaker 1: and I saw it was a bumblebee. And I looked 536 00:31:30,880 --> 00:31:33,840 Speaker 1: up at his face, and it was my very good friend, 537 00:31:34,000 --> 00:31:37,600 Speaker 1: firefighter Chris Blackwell from Rescue three where at the Bronx 538 00:31:37,600 --> 00:31:41,360 Speaker 1: Harlem Rescue Special Operations Command where I worked. And I 539 00:31:41,400 --> 00:31:44,000 Speaker 1: worked with Chris for seven years on the same shift. 540 00:31:44,240 --> 00:31:46,240 Speaker 1: So as we said before, he was like a real 541 00:31:46,320 --> 00:31:49,360 Speaker 1: brother to me. I love this man with all my heart. 542 00:31:50,280 --> 00:31:52,800 Speaker 1: And we were the Bronx Harlem guys. We didn't follow 543 00:31:52,840 --> 00:31:53,800 Speaker 1: the rules so much. 544 00:31:54,400 --> 00:31:54,840 Speaker 3: We didn't. 545 00:31:55,240 --> 00:31:57,719 Speaker 1: We were very busy. We didn't have time to follow rules. 546 00:31:57,760 --> 00:32:02,280 Speaker 1: But he wouldn't shave all the time, and and and 547 00:32:02,280 --> 00:32:05,760 Speaker 1: and his face was smudge of smoke, and his reflective 548 00:32:05,800 --> 00:32:08,840 Speaker 1: stripes were kind of hanging off of his coat from 549 00:32:09,240 --> 00:32:11,880 Speaker 1: being burned up, and and his helmet would would sit 550 00:32:11,960 --> 00:32:14,880 Speaker 1: a little crooked on his head because of all the 551 00:32:14,920 --> 00:32:18,720 Speaker 1: fires that we went to in our careers. And and 552 00:32:19,680 --> 00:32:22,360 Speaker 1: I love I love this man. I love this man. 553 00:32:23,040 --> 00:32:25,680 Speaker 1: And so when I saw him, he saw me. We 554 00:32:25,760 --> 00:32:29,400 Speaker 1: always greeted each other the same way. And so we 555 00:32:29,480 --> 00:32:33,440 Speaker 1: turned toward each other like this, and we came to attention, 556 00:32:35,480 --> 00:32:37,520 Speaker 1: and he would reach around with his arm in a 557 00:32:37,560 --> 00:32:40,920 Speaker 1: big arc like this and take the unlit stub of 558 00:32:40,960 --> 00:32:42,200 Speaker 1: a cigar out of his mouth. 559 00:32:42,880 --> 00:32:46,320 Speaker 3: This guy, Fault Flowers was a cigar. Oh yeah, oh yeah. 560 00:32:46,440 --> 00:32:49,400 Speaker 3: It was just an old school it was all. It 561 00:32:49,480 --> 00:32:50,880 Speaker 3: was all part of the character. 562 00:32:51,600 --> 00:32:53,800 Speaker 1: And and and he took it out, and he put 563 00:32:53,840 --> 00:32:57,880 Speaker 1: it down to his side, and we both bent at 564 00:32:58,040 --> 00:33:01,160 Speaker 1: the hips and we leaned in and we kissed on 565 00:33:01,200 --> 00:33:05,000 Speaker 1: the lips. And we came back to attention, and he 566 00:33:05,080 --> 00:33:07,480 Speaker 1: went like this with a cigar, and he put the 567 00:33:07,520 --> 00:33:08,640 Speaker 1: cigar back in his mouth. 568 00:33:09,120 --> 00:33:10,360 Speaker 3: And we did that. We did that. 569 00:33:10,400 --> 00:33:12,520 Speaker 1: We did that every time we saw each other, because 570 00:33:12,560 --> 00:33:14,120 Speaker 1: we loved each other like brothers. 571 00:33:14,120 --> 00:33:14,760 Speaker 3: We really did. 572 00:33:15,040 --> 00:33:18,959 Speaker 2: I imagine people the firehouse are like, y'all are gross. Yeah, yeah, 573 00:33:18,960 --> 00:33:22,280 Speaker 2: well so we also The second reason we did it 574 00:33:22,320 --> 00:33:24,040 Speaker 2: is because it freaked out all the cops en frorement 575 00:33:24,080 --> 00:33:28,200 Speaker 2: around us, and we just loved watching the reaction. It 576 00:33:28,240 --> 00:33:30,720 Speaker 2: was a good it was a good, funny moment, but 577 00:33:31,040 --> 00:33:35,920 Speaker 2: also an expression of true love, you know, and true brotherhood. 578 00:33:36,560 --> 00:33:40,840 Speaker 2: And after we after we did that, he said to me, Timmy, 579 00:33:40,840 --> 00:33:41,680 Speaker 2: this is really bad. 580 00:33:42,440 --> 00:33:43,640 Speaker 3: And that is. 581 00:33:43,680 --> 00:33:45,680 Speaker 1: For us to say that to each other is significant 582 00:33:45,680 --> 00:33:48,520 Speaker 1: because we do bad every day. And he was saying, 583 00:33:48,560 --> 00:33:52,840 Speaker 1: this is exceptionally bad, right, And I said, I know, Chris, 584 00:33:53,080 --> 00:33:55,480 Speaker 1: be careful. I love you, and he said, I love you. 585 00:33:56,360 --> 00:33:59,120 Speaker 1: And after he said that, he turned around and he 586 00:33:59,160 --> 00:34:02,200 Speaker 1: went in the stairwell and he went up to save 587 00:34:02,280 --> 00:34:06,360 Speaker 1: the lives of people he didn't know, right, he had 588 00:34:06,440 --> 00:34:10,080 Speaker 1: free will, right, he said the words to me, Timmy, 589 00:34:10,120 --> 00:34:10,919 Speaker 1: this is really bad. 590 00:34:10,960 --> 00:34:13,880 Speaker 3: He knew that he was possibly. 591 00:34:13,480 --> 00:34:15,600 Speaker 1: Going to lose his life, or even likely going to 592 00:34:15,640 --> 00:34:17,880 Speaker 1: lose his life, but he still turned around and went 593 00:34:17,920 --> 00:34:20,600 Speaker 1: in the stairwell and went up. So why, Like the 594 00:34:20,680 --> 00:34:23,160 Speaker 1: question we ask is why why? Because he took an 595 00:34:23,200 --> 00:34:28,120 Speaker 1: oath fifteen years earlier, as all firefighters and police officers 596 00:34:28,120 --> 00:34:32,320 Speaker 1: and military and others do. And in that oath it says, 597 00:34:32,800 --> 00:34:35,480 Speaker 1: I'm willing to give my life for my friend for 598 00:34:35,600 --> 00:34:39,759 Speaker 1: my neighbor, even for someone I don't know. Firefighters and 599 00:34:39,800 --> 00:34:43,680 Speaker 1: police officers right around here take the same oath. You 600 00:34:43,800 --> 00:34:45,759 Speaker 1: never know when that moment is going to come, when 601 00:34:45,760 --> 00:34:47,960 Speaker 1: that challenge is going to come, right, But he took 602 00:34:47,960 --> 00:34:53,000 Speaker 1: the oath. So Chris chose to fulfill his words in action. 603 00:34:53,320 --> 00:34:59,440 Speaker 1: And indeed, he chose to follow his words to go 604 00:34:59,560 --> 00:35:02,719 Speaker 1: up and hel people he didn't know. He had free will. 605 00:35:02,960 --> 00:35:04,719 Speaker 1: He could have turned around and gone back to his 606 00:35:04,800 --> 00:35:08,680 Speaker 1: loving wife and children and lived. But that's not the 607 00:35:08,760 --> 00:35:13,480 Speaker 1: choice he made. So when I think about this and 608 00:35:13,520 --> 00:35:16,799 Speaker 1: what all these firefighters and police officers did that day, 609 00:35:17,320 --> 00:35:21,680 Speaker 1: they all, as the last act of their lives, perform 610 00:35:21,840 --> 00:35:22,480 Speaker 1: acts of the. 611 00:35:22,480 --> 00:35:25,440 Speaker 3: Greatest love, as it says in the Bible. 612 00:35:26,400 --> 00:35:31,080 Speaker 1: And every not one of them said no, not one 613 00:35:31,080 --> 00:35:35,360 Speaker 1: of them turned around and left. They all went forward, 614 00:35:35,440 --> 00:35:38,160 Speaker 1: and they all went up, And every one of them 615 00:35:38,320 --> 00:35:43,960 Speaker 1: deserves that to be known. It is the most courageous, brave, 616 00:35:44,480 --> 00:35:50,600 Speaker 1: selfless act that humanity knows. And each one of them 617 00:35:50,640 --> 00:35:54,000 Speaker 1: did that that day. And I use Chris as then example. 618 00:35:54,040 --> 00:35:57,160 Speaker 1: He's the first one I encountered. I encountered others. My 619 00:35:57,160 --> 00:36:00,720 Speaker 1: best friend carried Captain Terry Hatt and my friend firefighter 620 00:36:00,800 --> 00:36:05,160 Speaker 1: Michael Lynch, and many others who I witnessed. 621 00:36:05,239 --> 00:36:07,480 Speaker 2: I witnessed with my own eyes. I want to hear 622 00:36:07,520 --> 00:36:09,480 Speaker 2: those two stories. Tell me about Dave. 623 00:36:09,360 --> 00:36:13,840 Speaker 1: Woo Yeah, well, Dave Woolley, and I will say this 624 00:36:13,920 --> 00:36:18,399 Speaker 1: plainly because we have to tell the whole truth. Dave 625 00:36:18,440 --> 00:36:21,640 Speaker 1: Willie as all of these heroes and all the twenty 626 00:36:21,719 --> 00:36:25,720 Speaker 1: nine hundred and seventy seven innocent human beings from ninety countries, 627 00:36:25,760 --> 00:36:30,360 Speaker 1: by the way, every one of them was murdered intentionally 628 00:36:31,160 --> 00:36:35,400 Speaker 1: by Islamist al Qaeda terrorists, and that is the truth. 629 00:36:36,360 --> 00:36:42,759 Speaker 1: And all this other nonsense about the government did it, 630 00:36:43,680 --> 00:36:47,000 Speaker 1: conspiracy theory. They blew up, you know, George Bush, blew 631 00:36:47,080 --> 00:36:51,759 Speaker 1: up the buildings. It's all bs. And that angers me 632 00:36:52,520 --> 00:36:54,920 Speaker 1: to no end because it takes away from the truth 633 00:36:54,920 --> 00:36:56,879 Speaker 1: of who did it and why they did it, and 634 00:36:56,960 --> 00:37:00,760 Speaker 1: it's it's just that simple Ismus terras intentionally murdered twenty 635 00:37:00,840 --> 00:37:05,200 Speaker 1: nine and seventy seven people on American soil. So Dave 636 00:37:05,280 --> 00:37:07,480 Speaker 1: Woolley was my captain when I was in Times Square 637 00:37:07,520 --> 00:37:11,719 Speaker 1: for just under two years, and he was also a 638 00:37:11,760 --> 00:37:15,799 Speaker 1: ghetto fireman before he went up the ranks, and so 639 00:37:15,840 --> 00:37:22,280 Speaker 1: he understood my craziness and and my being very aggressive 640 00:37:22,320 --> 00:37:24,360 Speaker 1: in Times Square, which is a very different way to 641 00:37:24,400 --> 00:37:28,120 Speaker 1: fight fires in Times Square. And I got myself in 642 00:37:28,160 --> 00:37:34,799 Speaker 1: trouble one night because in midtown Manhattan there's a lot 643 00:37:34,840 --> 00:37:38,040 Speaker 1: of emergencies that you would never encounter in the outer 644 00:37:38,120 --> 00:37:41,319 Speaker 1: boroughs or anything. So we had a high pressure steam 645 00:37:41,400 --> 00:37:45,120 Speaker 1: leak in a sub basement of a high rise building. 646 00:37:45,840 --> 00:37:51,200 Speaker 1: And a high pressure steam is invisible. It's very loud, 647 00:37:51,280 --> 00:37:53,799 Speaker 1: but it's invisible. You can't see it. And there was 648 00:37:53,880 --> 00:37:58,799 Speaker 1: a report of an employee missing and trapped. And so 649 00:37:58,880 --> 00:38:00,560 Speaker 1: I'm the ghetto fireman. 650 00:38:00,680 --> 00:38:01,200 Speaker 3: So I am. 651 00:38:01,320 --> 00:38:04,279 Speaker 1: I am down down in the sub basement, and I'm 652 00:38:04,320 --> 00:38:07,560 Speaker 1: going for this guy. I didn't understand the high pressure 653 00:38:07,600 --> 00:38:15,319 Speaker 1: steam thing, and and Captain Woolley knew my act and 654 00:38:15,400 --> 00:38:18,080 Speaker 1: he grabbed me by the collar and he yanked me 655 00:38:18,160 --> 00:38:19,799 Speaker 1: back away from the steam. 656 00:38:20,320 --> 00:38:22,480 Speaker 3: Look it was like a jet engine. You couldn't hear anything. 657 00:38:23,080 --> 00:38:27,040 Speaker 1: And he put a wooden hook in my hand, the 658 00:38:27,120 --> 00:38:29,759 Speaker 1: hook we used to pull ceilings. And he said to me, 659 00:38:30,080 --> 00:38:34,040 Speaker 1: if this hook disappears out of your hands, stop and 660 00:38:34,120 --> 00:38:37,120 Speaker 1: turn around, because he knew that steam would chop me 661 00:38:37,160 --> 00:38:37,560 Speaker 1: in half. 662 00:38:38,360 --> 00:38:41,200 Speaker 2: And as I understand it, you can't see it. You 663 00:38:41,239 --> 00:38:43,359 Speaker 2: can hear it, that's right. Well, because you can't see it, 664 00:38:43,360 --> 00:38:46,839 Speaker 2: it's such a strong steam that literally will slice you. 665 00:38:46,920 --> 00:38:49,440 Speaker 1: That's right. It would have chopped my head off. It 666 00:38:49,440 --> 00:38:53,239 Speaker 1: would have chopped my head off. And I had no 667 00:38:53,640 --> 00:38:57,120 Speaker 1: clue about that. And and he saved my life. 668 00:38:57,760 --> 00:39:01,880 Speaker 2: Did the hook disappear? The hook disappeared? No, kidd you? 669 00:39:02,040 --> 00:39:02,760 Speaker 3: Oh and I stopped. 670 00:39:02,840 --> 00:39:07,000 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, no it he saved my life. And uh, 671 00:39:08,360 --> 00:39:11,200 Speaker 1: the worker got out. There was a back door that 672 00:39:11,280 --> 00:39:13,080 Speaker 1: nobody really knew about it, that he worked there. He 673 00:39:13,160 --> 00:39:15,279 Speaker 1: knew about it, so he got out whatever, but we 674 00:39:15,320 --> 00:39:17,960 Speaker 1: didn't know about it. And but I would have been 675 00:39:18,000 --> 00:39:19,239 Speaker 1: you know, he would have been okay, and I would 676 00:39:19,280 --> 00:39:24,879 Speaker 1: have been dead if it weren't for Captain Woolley's heroic Like. 677 00:39:25,120 --> 00:39:29,000 Speaker 2: How are you not brothers with people that literally cited life. Yeah, 678 00:39:29,280 --> 00:39:34,279 Speaker 2: to just enrich the understanding of the depth of your 679 00:39:34,280 --> 00:39:35,080 Speaker 2: love for one of them. 680 00:39:35,560 --> 00:39:39,160 Speaker 1: I when when I after nine to eleven in the 681 00:39:39,239 --> 00:39:43,880 Speaker 1: in the hours, days and weeks, I had my younger 682 00:39:43,880 --> 00:39:46,000 Speaker 1: brother Chris with me. He was a firefighter in Providence, 683 00:39:46,080 --> 00:39:48,799 Speaker 1: Rhode Island, and my friend Paul Conway, who was a 684 00:39:48,880 --> 00:39:52,000 Speaker 1: chief in Milwaukee, fire department, so they came to spend 685 00:39:52,040 --> 00:39:56,160 Speaker 1: time with me and basically keep me alive after nine 686 00:39:56,160 --> 00:39:58,960 Speaker 1: to eleven, and they would know that I was going 687 00:39:59,040 --> 00:40:03,440 Speaker 1: to hear another name of a firefighter who I loved, 688 00:40:04,200 --> 00:40:06,839 Speaker 1: and they would come behind me under each arm because 689 00:40:06,840 --> 00:40:10,360 Speaker 1: they knew I was going to collapse. And that happened 690 00:40:11,200 --> 00:40:12,600 Speaker 1: a lot. 691 00:40:14,040 --> 00:40:17,840 Speaker 2: And that concludes Part one of my conversation with Tim Brown, 692 00:40:17,880 --> 00:40:20,160 Speaker 2: and you don't want to miss part two. That's now 693 00:40:20,360 --> 00:40:23,920 Speaker 2: able to listen to you together. Guys, we can change 694 00:40:23,960 --> 00:40:27,120 Speaker 2: this country, but it starts with you. I'll see you 695 00:40:27,120 --> 00:40:27,719 Speaker 2: in part two