Having severe OCD issues, this time of year I start reviewing information I've gathered about the the emergency response to the attacks on the Twin Towers. Several of the instructors at the firefighting school I went to in the '90s were from FDNY, and while no one I knew personally was on duty that day several other firefighters and instructors I knew through reputation were and lost their lives. There's a practical side to my obsession (at least I like to think some good can come from it), and that's to analyze who did what where and why. What did the first responding units find? Where were they sent? Why was this unit or that unit parked or tasked or staged wherever? So, I save stories from survivors, newspaper articles about conditions in the building, and try, try, try to find photos taken before the second collapse. The latter has become something of a fools errand.
Google locates scads of sites dedicated to showing that the 9-11 attacks were a home-grown conspiracy. The number is astonishing - I can't imagine the manhours it took to create these sites, not to even go into the postings and responses on fora. It is mindboggling to consider what could have been accomplished had the time and creativity been spent in something a bit more useful.
Fortunately, I did come across at least two sources when I searched "wtc1 'command post.'" One was the McKinsey report for the City of New York which looked closely at response and command issues: http://www.nyc.gov/html/fdny/html/mck_report/index.shtml
The other is the compilation of work done by the National Institutes of Standards and Technology: http://wtc.nist.gov/pubs/
In addition to what is listed there, Google revealed some PDFed PowerPoint presentations used at different Project meetings. (Research subjects were divided into "projects;" i.e. Project 7 was Occupant Behavior, Egress, and Emergency Communications. There are eight projects to wade through.) Searching through Google using the phrase: "project 7" site:wtc.nist.gov will reveal Project 7's material. There are also presentations from conferences. Most notably one held in 2005 can be found using the search: "wtc" (and/or "towers")site:wtc.nist.gov/WTC_Conf_Sep13-15/session# (#=1-8)
The latter led me to a collection of photos taken by John Labriola. Mr. Labriola was employed by the Port Authority and took photos on his way to work on the 71st floor of WTC1 (the north tower - first one struck, second to collapse). As he evacuated he met firefighters on their way up at around the 35th or so floor and fortunately (IMHO) began taking photos once again. Some of his collection is at the Smithsonian Institution's site: http://americanhistory.si.edu/september11/collection/record.asp?ID=62
Some different shots are posted here: http://tampabaycoalition.homestead.com/files/0911FirstMomentsPics.htm
I'd be remiss in not mentioning the oral interviews conducted by the city that are available from the New York Times': http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/html/nyregion/20050812_WTC_GRAPHIC/met_WTC_histories_full_01.html
along with recordings of some of the emergency communications.
However, this Port Authority recording from their much maligned repeater holds much more detail than what the city reluctantly released: http://www.thememoryhole.org/911/firefighter-tape.htm
My wife, Colleen, asked my why I do this every year. I told her it was just in case I had to deal with something like it. Why lose all those lessons learned at so high a price?
This rainy September 11 will be spent in honor of the murdered the way I spent that sunny day six years ago. I'm going to ignore the news and play with my kid.
Google locates scads of sites dedicated to showing that the 9-11 attacks were a home-grown conspiracy. The number is astonishing - I can't imagine the manhours it took to create these sites, not to even go into the postings and responses on fora. It is mindboggling to consider what could have been accomplished had the time and creativity been spent in something a bit more useful.
Fortunately, I did come across at least two sources when I searched "wtc1 'command post.'" One was the McKinsey report for the City of New York which looked closely at response and command issues: http://www.nyc.gov/html/fdny/html/mck_report/index.shtml
The other is the compilation of work done by the National Institutes of Standards and Technology: http://wtc.nist.gov/pubs/
In addition to what is listed there, Google revealed some PDFed PowerPoint presentations used at different Project meetings. (Research subjects were divided into "projects;" i.e. Project 7 was Occupant Behavior, Egress, and Emergency Communications. There are eight projects to wade through.) Searching through Google using the phrase: "project 7" site:wtc.nist.gov will reveal Project 7's material. There are also presentations from conferences. Most notably one held in 2005 can be found using the search: "wtc" (and/or "towers")site:wtc.nist.gov/WTC_Conf_Sep13-15/session# (#=1-8)
The latter led me to a collection of photos taken by John Labriola. Mr. Labriola was employed by the Port Authority and took photos on his way to work on the 71st floor of WTC1 (the north tower - first one struck, second to collapse). As he evacuated he met firefighters on their way up at around the 35th or so floor and fortunately (IMHO) began taking photos once again. Some of his collection is at the Smithsonian Institution's site: http://americanhistory.si.edu/september11/collection/record.asp?ID=62
Some different shots are posted here: http://tampabaycoalition.homestead.com/files/0911FirstMomentsPics.htm
I'd be remiss in not mentioning the oral interviews conducted by the city that are available from the New York Times': http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/html/nyregion/20050812_WTC_GRAPHIC/met_WTC_histories_full_01.html
along with recordings of some of the emergency communications.
However, this Port Authority recording from their much maligned repeater holds much more detail than what the city reluctantly released: http://www.thememoryhole.org/911/firefighter-tape.htm
My wife, Colleen, asked my why I do this every year. I told her it was just in case I had to deal with something like it. Why lose all those lessons learned at so high a price?
This rainy September 11 will be spent in honor of the murdered the way I spent that sunny day six years ago. I'm going to ignore the news and play with my kid.
