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Story of NYFD Battalion Commander Richard Picciotto, Who Survived 09-11

Aired April 30, 2002 - 11:35   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Hard to believe, but cleanup at World Trade Center site is expected to wrap up in June and reconstruction can begin. Among the first projects, rebuilding a damage stretch of the subway line. When tower one collapsed on September 11th, fire department battalion commander Richard Picciotto was in the stairwell on the sixth floor. That section of the stairwell survived the collapse, and so did he. And commander Picciotto has written about his experiences on 9-11. His book is called "Last Man Down."

And commander Picciotto joins us from New York this morning.

Chief, good morning. A pleasure to have you with us.

RICHARD PICCIOTTO, FDNY BATTALION COMMANDER: Good morning, Daryn.

KAGAN: Fascinating. I get a chance to read from your book yesterday. And starting right from the beginning, you knew these buildings. And when you watched these planes hit, you called in, and you said, I need to go there, because I know these buildings, I have been there a bunch, and you of course also worked on the '93 bombing of the World Trade Center.

PICCIOTTO: Correct. I was -- in '93, I was one of the first arriving officers in '93, and I was actually in charge of the evacuation of the north tower in '93. So I knew the buildings pretty well, and I knew people would need me, and I wanted to get down there.

KAGAN: Much of the book talks about what happens when you were in the stairwell and went up and down trying to evacuate these people, and you tell fascinating stories I haven't seen anywhere else about some of the people you came upon adds you tried to rescue them, including the room of all of these people who were in wheelchairs or had broken legs, or they were already disabled going into the day. How did they end up all clustered in one room?

PICCIOTTO: After the south tower collapsed, I was on the 35th floor of the north tower, when we realized we started going down. On the way down, there is three stair wells in the building. Two of them were clogged with debris from the south tower. I'm assuming that the slow people, the nonambulatory people in wheelchairs and crutches and such, they couldn't get past the block in the stairwells, so they all started congregating on the 12th floor. There were approximately 50 people congregating there.

KAGAN: So when you came upon them, how did you organize get them down safely?

PICCIOTTO: I knew the B stairwell was open. I found that out a few minutes earlier. And I just started taking the firemen that were there that we were evacuating, and took them, take the ambulatory people first, the helpless, and then we started taking the nonambulatory people, the people in wheelchairs, walkers, crutches and started moving them to the B stairwell and going down.

KAGAN: And so you were able to get so many people out, but you weren't able to get yourself and so many people out before the north tower collapsed. How do you think it is? Was it just a freak the way that it collapsed, that you managed to survive and you weren't crushed?

PICCIOTTO: Without a doubt. Out of both towers, there is only one little area that remained in tact, and It really wasn't remained in tact but a void was created that myself, 11 other firemen, 12 firemen all together.

KAGAN: And a couple civilians.

PICCIOTTO: And one Port Authority police officer and one civilian, an African-American woman named Josephine, we were banged around, but we were alive in this area. We were covered with debris and had the wreckage all around us. Actually, we thought we were in a cave. It was a cave-like area, but we were alive and calling for help.

KAGAN: And did you lose hope in that moment, because it took time to get out of there?

PICCIOTTO: Never lost hope. I didn't think the odds were too good that we were going to get out. Always held on to that sliver of hope. But I really didn't think we were going to get out.

KAGAN: When you finally did get out and you finally were rescued, and you finally ended up in the hospital and you talk about some of your injuries, I was fascinated with your conversation with your wife. You said, I'm done, and it's time to hang it up. Are you really done, or have you gone back?

PICCIOTTO: I'm back in a limited capacity. I'm doing light duty. I have 29 years, close to 30. I was going to retire in 30 years. I'm going to retire very soon.

KAGAN: Where does the department go from here?

PICCIOTTO: It's got to go on. I would like to see it rebuild. We are not back to the strength or the staffing we were before 9-11. And unfortunately, they are talking about further cuts in the department. I'd like to see the department rebuilt and organized better, and more supervision, not less. KAGAN: One part that tells the story so well of the fire department, I just want to show this, on the first page of your book. You take the first 12 or 13 pages or your book, and you just list all of the names of the firefighters who lost their lives and their assigned unit as well. And this really struck me as I looked at this, and I thought, OK, here is a list of the names. Then I turn the page and you keep turning the page and keep turning the page, and it takes, like I said, some 12 or 13 pages to get through it.

These are names on a page to me. To you, these are people that you knew, and that you worked with and that you lived with. How does the department and how does someone like you go on from there without all these people?

PICCIOTTO: It is going to be tough. I think someone said the amount of experience lost that day, we lost 343 firefighters, 343 of my brothers. I think someone figured out that it was over 4,000 man years of experience. It's tough to regroup from that. A lot of people, like myself, who have their time in, are thinking about retiring.

KAGAN: So in a way, the department will lose even more men.

PICCIOTTO: It is. It is. And hopefully that, you know, the men that are remaining can pass on the traditions and the -- of the fire department. There is tremendous tradition. Guys are great. But the fire department, like most of the firemen down there, most of the firemen in the city, we go on one day at a time. It is tough, but we have no alternative.

KAGAN: And finally, how did it help to you tell your story?

PICCIOTTO: It was very cathartic to write this book. Like I said, we had terrible tragedy that day. And my story happened to be one of the good ones of survival. And most of the firemen wanted to hear it. And I have told it hundreds of times, and I will tell it hundreds of more to firemen. Basically that's what I started doing. I wrote the book it tell firemen my story. They wanted to hear it. They wanted to know how I survived, what the circumstances were, and I tried to tell them.

KAGAN: It is not just a firefighter's story. For people with who think they heard it all from 9-11, they haven't. There are fascinating aspects. To be inside and fight for people's lives. I definitely enjoyed it. So thank you for writing it, and thank you for sharing it with us today.

Once again, the book is "Last Man Down." It is written by New York Fire Department battalion commander Rich Picciotto.

Thank you.

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