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American Morning

Faces of Ground Zero: Interview With WTC Elevator Engineer

Aired September 06, 2002 - 08:30   ET

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

PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: We've been hearing some amazing stories of survival this week in our series "Faces of Ground Zero." And Arlene Charles and Carmen Griffith worked as elevator engineers in the north tower of the Trade Center. When American Airlines flight 11 struck tower one, they were both on the 78th floor just below the impact. Carmen was badly burned, and it was Arlene who actually helped her friend to safety.
To this day, Carmen has limited use of her hands and Arlene Charles, her rescuer, is with us this morning.

Good morning.

ARLENE CHARLES, WTC ELEVATOR ENGINEER: Good morning.

ZAHN: How are you?

CHARLES: Trying. You know, I'm not 100 percent since 9-11. I'm taking it a lot and stuff like that, and I'm grieving a lot because I lost a lot of my coworkers, my boss, stuff like that. That morning, I was on 78th floor. Go to work every morning at 5:30, start work at 6:00. Standing on 78th floor, minding my business, you know, didn't know what would happen.

And at the time I was standing there, I hear this explosion, the whole place was in darkness, people screaming, and oh, everything was just falling down. I don't know. Something hit me. I fell down. At the time when I look up, I see the whole place in darkness and smoke. Everything was all over the place. So I went all under the desk. We had a desk on the 78th floor. I went under the desk. At the same time, I heard this lady was screaming. I don't know who it was at the time, because everybody was screaming.

And then a person scream out my name. It was Carmen who asked me to help. I said I can't, because I was so scared for myself. My walkie-talkie was on the desk, and my boss calling me, everybody calling me. I could not answer, because I was scared to even get up because of the walkie-talkie, so they thought I was dead, because they weren't hearing no response.

So when Carmen scream out to me, and I tell her, follow my voice, we talk to each other, and she came where I was, and when she came to me, she was on fire. I didn't know what to do at the time, so I asked the security guard who was over there, I said, "Can you help me with her?" He panicked, because he said, I don't which to go, I don't know if he's alive now, if he did make it out of the building or what. So I ask God to give me the strength to help her, so I get up, and take her jacket off, and out (ph) and stuff like that, then this guy came out of his office and he asked us to come in there, because he said, a plane hit the building, we don't know what happened, but in his office, it is more safe.

But Carmen keep on saying, no, Arlene, let's get out of here, it's not safe. I say, let's go in there, get some water. She was screaming so much, so we like throw water on her.

ZAHN: Tremendous pain.

CHARLES: Yes, in a lot of pain, me and this lady named Audrey, tenants who work on the floor. Every morning, she say good morning to us, and she just passed me and Carmen standing on 78th floor, so she didn't want to just leave and go downstairs, so she stayed and help us, too.

ZAHN: How long did it take you to get Carmen out of the building, and how did you get out?

CHARLES: I don't know how long it did. But all what I know, Carmen tell us go, so we started working down some 78th floor all the way down.

ZAHN: At this point, she's severely burned? She has no control of her hands?

CHARLES: Yes, so what we did, we just keep on throwing water, her leg was on fire. Everywhere she get burned. We were throwing water on her. And these two guys was going down the step and saw -- they pass us. And she was screaming, because at the time, we sit down like trying to help her, me and this lady named Audrey. We went down, these two gentlemen came down and ask if we want water, we say yes. He give us some water. They help us. We keep on sopping on her.

So we keep on going down. She was really hurting, she was in pain and stuff like that. But, at the moment, people was like giving us room to pass by, because they see she was trying to help to get her down.

ZAHN: I guess that's what so amazing to those of us who have heard these stories, just how helpful everybody seemed to be.

CHARLES: Everybody was helpful that day.

ZAHN: Where they turn around and let you come through. So you finally get to the street, what kind of help did you get there?

CHARLES: I didn't get all the way to the street. When we reach like 50 something, 40 something floor, these two gentlemen pass us, and they came back up and ask us, if I needed help, because they see, we was struggling with Carmen. We said, yes.

So both of them help Carmen from the floor, so I was walking behind them. And they was calling me on the walkie-talkie and asking me what floor we was on, my boss, everybody was calling. My coworkers who came out, they was calling and asking us. I was saying we are on this floor and that floor. One of my cousins end of calling me on my cell phone, too, and she was begging me and asking me to get out of the building. I said, Alana (ph), I'm trying, just tell everybody, I'm alive, you know, it's OK, but she didn't want to hear that, she wanted to hear me out of the building, you know.

ZAHN: We have some incredible pictures of you and Carmen. She is obviously so grateful that you saved her life. As you move up on this one-year marker, how do you plan to spend that day?

CHARLES: I plan to spend it at home, and just stay home with my kids and pray that I'm alive, because what we went through. And my kids went through a whole lot, especially my older boy. He's 14.

ZAHN: He thought you had died?

CHARLES: Yes, he thought I had died. Because you know, every morning, I go to 106th floor for breakfast, and that morning I didn't go up that morning for breakfast.

ZAHN: Thank God.

CHARLES: And he run away from school because he thought I had died. He told the whole school his mom has died. The principal, everybody was calling my house.

ZAHN: Everybody...

CHARLES: Yes.

ZAHN: ... who was spared obviously has a lot of gratitude.

CHARLES: Gratitude, yes.

ZAHN: And we salute you for what you did to Carmen and hope she continues to heal. I know she was going to join us today, but she's having trouble in therapy as well. Well, continued good luck to you, and thank you for sharing your story with us, Arlene.

CHARLES: Thank you very much.

ZAHN: Good luck.

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