On September 11, 2001, 343 members of the Fire Department of New York perished while trying to rescue people trapped in the World Trade Center. Scott Pelley speaks with firefighters who were there that day and the loved ones of those who never made it home.
In the neighborhoods of New York, there are 217 firehouses. Each holds a memorial to firefighters who answered the call 22 years ago and never returned. As we first told you in 2021, 343 members of the Fire Department of the City of New York perished on 9/11, in the greatest act of gallantry ever bestowed on an American city. This is their story.
Dan Nigro: And all the dispatcher could say is,"We're coming for you." So, we like to keep our promises. You know, we told them we're coming. We're coming. At FDNY headquarters, in Brooklyn, 54-year-old Chief of Department Peter Ganci Jr. raced to his car. He was the boss, leading the second-largest fire department in the world—after Tokyo. Dan Nigro was his number two.
Peter Hayden: Right away I got a deep sense that we were going to lose a lot of firefighters this day. 1,355 people were trapped above the fire. The Boeing 767 had severed all three stairwells—leaving one way out.Radio Transmission: Alright Division 1 be advised, Battalion 2 advised he has jumpers from the World Trade Center.
Peter Hayden: You know, the more and more firefighters they kept coming in, they took their assignments with no question, pretty tough to do. Peter Hayden: It was, it was, but I could tell that when I gave the assignments out, I could see the look in their eyes. I remember seeing firefighters hugging each other. And heading up.Joe Pfeifer: Nobody refused to go in.
Scott Pelley: Was Ganci the kind of boss that you did things for because you feared him, or because you desperately did not want to let him down?Scott Pelley: What kind of man was Peter Ganci? Dan Nigro: None of us expected the building to come down. We expected the fire to keep burning, and conditions to get worse. But if we could just get one route above in each building, perhaps we could bring some folks down, at least.Orio Palmer receives orders in the lobby of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001No one would do more with time than Orio Palmer. That's him on the right with the mustache.
Radio Transmission from Orio Palmer: I'm going to need two of your firefighters"adam" stairway to knock down two fires, we have a house line stretched, we could use some water on it, knock it down, K. 10-45 code 1's were fatalities, more than he could count. Palmer pressed toward 79, climbing at about one floor a minute. As he rose, Melissa Doi, speaking to 911 from the 83rd floor, thought she heard someone.
In a four-second video, at the far left of the screen, you see Rich Zarrillo's blue shirt. He's delivering the warning to Pete Ganci. Zarrillo hardly got the words out when Ganci's attention was drawn to a roar from the South Tower above him. Scott Pelley: Palmer's last radio transmission was Battalion 7 to Ladder 15, and there's nothing after that. That's when the tower collapses. He must have known that with every step he ascended, his chance of survival dropped.
Ganci's streetside command post had been set up next to an underground garage in case shelter was needed. Captain John Sudnik, Ganci and the chiefs dove into the entrance. As he had before, Ganci went into the debris to save his men himself. In the still standing North Tower, many firefighters refused the order to evacuate while they were still carrying the wounded and disabled. Ganci sent Sal Cassano to set up a new command post. Twenty-eight minutes later, Cassano was on his way back.
Peter Hayden: Every once in a while, you'd hear the radio, the dispatcher on a radio trying to contact somebody. Among them was John Chipura, her mentor and her savior. Regina Wilson was assigned to the doomed Ladder 105, but early that morning, before the attack, John Chipura asked to switch jobs, which put her among the survivors of Engine 219.Regina Wilson: I try to honor him by talking his name. And that's how it is in the African American culture. When you speak the name of an ancestor or you speak the name of a loved one, then they live. And so, every time I say John's name, he lives.
Peter Hayden: I yelled out, you know,"We just lost a lot of guys here today. Let's have a moment of silence." And well-- I took my helmet off. And we held it. I held it. And after a while, I put my helmet back on. They put their helmets back on. I said,"Okay, we have a job to do. Let's do it."Sal Cassano: Yeah. I didn't think about it as much. We were crazy busy. I was working 18 hours a day, and then it hit me. I says,"I'm here.
Josephine Smith: I always wanted to be like my father. I always wanted to be brave like him, and strong and willing. The Palombo brothers' dad, Frank Palombo, was 46 when he died—Ladder 105. In a sense, it wasn't 9/11 that made the Palombo boys firefighters, it was September the 12th —and all the days that followed.
Mike Florio's dad, John Florio, was 33 years old on 9/11 -- Engine 214, the same house where his son works today. Dan Nigro, Chief Ganci's number two on 9/11, was promoted to chief of department and became the city fire commissioner. Among the others in our story, John Sudnik, a captain on 9/11, rose to chief of department, and so did Peter Hayden. Sal Cassano became fire commissioner.