911 - firefighters etc. outside testimonies

http://patriotsquestion911.com/survivors.html#McIntyre

Beth Fertig

Beth Fertig – WTC survivor.  Senior Reporter, WNYC Radio News 1995 - present.  Frequent contributor to National Public Radio.   Recipient of the prestigious Alfred I. duPont Columbia University Award for broadcast journalism.  Former newspaper reporter in Boston. Women Journalists at Ground Zero by Suzanne Huffman and Judith L. Sylvesterby (2002):  Ms. Fertig was standing near the World Trade Center recording the sounds and her impressions of the impact of the planes when WTC 2 (South Tower) began to collapse.  She gave this interview to the authors after the event. "I heard this huge rumbling noise like an elevated train above my head.  I'm staring at this in disbelief.  I just held my microphone out to get the sound of it and, after a few seconds started narrating what I'm seeing. ... It just descended like a timed explosion - like when they are deliberately bringing a building down.  It was the strangest thing to see.  It was coming down so perfectly that in one part of my brain I was thinking, 'They got everyone out, and they’re bringing the building down because they have to.' "   http://books.google.com

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Deputy Chief Raymond Downey

Father John Delendick

Deputy Chief Raymond Downey – WTC victim.  Commanding Officer of the Special Operations Command (SOC), FDNY.  39-year veteran.  Most heavily decorated firefighter in FDNY history.

Chief Downey was a renowned expert on building collapses.  In testimony before the U.S. Senate, Battalion Chief and Executive Officer of Hazardous Material Operations, Robert Ingram, FDNY referred to him as “the premiere collapse expert in the country.”  In a public hearing of the 9/11 Commission, Commissioner Timothy Roemer described Chief Downey as a “very, very respected expert on building collapse."

According to Fire Engineering Magazine, "Chief Downey was nationally known for his pioneering efforts in the field of technical rescue and was the unofficial leader of the FEMA Urban Search and Rescue Teams he trained for disaster response throughout the United States and the world. Chief Downey commanded rescue operations at many difficult and complex disasters, including the Oklahoma City Bombing, the 1993 World Trade Center Bombing, and many natural disasters worldwide."

Father John Delendick – WTC survivor.  Chaplain, FDNY.

• Statement of Father John Delendick recorded by FDNY on 12/6/01:
  
  Father Delendick:  The top of the building [South Tower] kind of started to rumble, and we all looked up. ... We heard a rumbling noise, and it appeared that that first tower, the South Tower, had exploded, the top of it.  That's what I saw, what a lot of us saw. ...
  
  I remember asking Ray Downey was it the jet fuel that blew up.  He said at that point he thought there were bombs up there because it was too even.  As we've since learned, it was the jet fuel that was dropping down that caused all this.  But he said it was too even. ... So his original thought was that he thought it was a bomb up there as well. ...
  
  [After the collapse of the South Tower]  A whole group of us started moving north again.  I'm not sure who I was with.  We just started moving north.  When we got to the corner of West and Vesey, we heard that kind of same rumbling noise.  And someone just yelled run, and we all started running.  Some people ran north.  I ran with a whole bunch of people going towards the river.  [And then the North Tower collapsed.] http://graphics8.nytimes.com



• The Last Men Out (2004) by Tom Downey (nephew of Chief Downey):
  
  "Since the second plane hit, at 9:03, the scene has become even more chaotic. Downey check in with the Chiefs, who are trying to formulate a plan to deal with the chaos.  Downey says he is worried about secondary devices in the towers, explosive devices that could hurt the firemen. ...
  
  [Chief Downey said to Capt. Al Fuentes, head of the Marine Division, FDNY]   'Al, tell the guys to watch out for secondary devices.'  Downey still thinks there might be bombs in there ..."

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   Deputy Fire Commissioner
Thomas Fitzpatrick

Deputy Fire Commissioner Thomas Fitzpatrick – WTC survivor.  Deputy Commissioner for Administration, FDNY.  In 2001, he was serving his 32nd year with FDNY. He began his career at Ladder Company 38 in the Bronx and later served in Ladder Company 4, and Rescue Company 1 in Manhattan. He served in the Marine Division and the Division of Training. He served as Senior Policy Advisor and an Executive Officer to three successive Fire Commissioners.

• Statement recorded by FDNY 10/1/01: Regarding the collapse of WTC South Tower.  "We looked up at the building straight up, we were that close.  All we saw was a puff of smoke coming from about 2 thirds of the way up. Some people thought it was an explosion.  I don't think I remember that. I remember seeing it, it looked like sparkling around one specific layer of the building.  I assume now that that was either windows starting to collapse like tinsel or something.  Then the building started to come down.  My initial reaction was that this was exactly the way it looks when they show you those implosions on TV.  I would have to say for three or four seconds anyway, maybe longer.  I was just watching." http://graphics8.nytimes.com

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Assistant Fire Commissioner Stephen Gregory

Assistant Fire Commissioner Stephen Gregory – WTC survivor.  Bureau of Communications, FDNY

• Statement recorded by FDNY 10/3/01: "I don't know how valid this is with everything that was going on at that particular point in time, but for some reason I thought that when I looked in the direction of the Trade Center before it came down, before No. 2 [South Tower] came down, that I saw low-level flashes.  In my conversation with Lieutenant Evangelista, never mentioning this to him, he questioned me and asked me if I saw low-level flashes in front of the building, and I agreed with him because I thought -- at that time I didn't know what it was. I mean, it could have been as a result of the building collapsing, things exploding, but I saw a flash flash flash and then it looked like the building came down.
  
  Q. Was that on the lower level of the building or up where the fire was?
  
  A. No, the lower level of the building. You know like when they demolish a building, how when they blow up a building, when it falls down? That's what I thought I saw. And I didn't broach the topic to him, but he asked me. He said I don't know if I'm crazy, but I just wanted to ask you because you were standing right next to me. He said did you see anything by the building? And I said what do you mean by see anything? He said did you see any flashes? I said, yes, well, I thought it was just me. He said no, I saw them, too. ....
  
  Q. On the television pictures it appeared as well, before the first collapse, that there was an explosion up on the upper floors.
  
  A. I know about the explosion on the upper floors. This was like eye level. I didn't have to go like this. Because I was looking this way. I'm not going to say it was on the first floor or the second floor, but somewhere in that area I saw to me what appeared to be flashes. I don't know how far down this was already. I mean, we had heard the noise but, you know, I don't know." http://graphics8.nytimes



• Editor's note: Despite hundreds of eyewitness reports of explosions throughout the Twin Towers by doomed victims, survivors, emergency service personnel, reporters, and bystanders, the 9/11 Commission Report contains virtually no mention of them and entirely ignores them in its conclusions.  Graeme MacQueen's analysis of oral histories of 9/11 taken from 503 FDNY survivors reveals more than 100 FDNY personnel reported explosions in the Twin Towers.