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CNN Live At Daybreak

America Recovers: Firefighter Reality Show Remembers Fallen NYFD Members

Aired October 11, 2001 - 08:01   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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: A few weeks before New York lost more than 300 of the city's bravest, a film crew was preparing a documentary on the men and women of the New York Fire Department.

CNN's Michael Okwu reports the documentary team discovered what it takes to be a firefighter.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Searches are under way. Heavy fire.

MICHAEL OKWU, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Most of the firefighters you are about to see and hear are dead or missing. Firefighters like Kevin O'Rourke, William Lake, and Daniel Libretti.

DANIEL LIBRETTI, NEW YORK CITY FIREFIGHTER: Just when you start to feel confident of yourself, this job has a way of humbling you. Just when you think you know what you're doing, you get into -- a curve ball.

OKWU: They were among the first units who responded to the attacks on the World Trade Center. Manhattan's Rescue 1 and Brooklyn's Rescue 2 lost 18 men that morning.

These pictures were shot by producers of a new syndicated reality program called "The Bravest" just weeks before September 11. "The Bravest" creator: Russell Best.

RUSSELL BEST, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, "THE BRAVEST": These guys were the bravest people you could ever imagine meeting.

OKWU: From July to August, they harnessed cameras to the firemen and captured images of some of the last blazes battled and won, and ironically, their final reflections about their professions.

UNIDENTIFIED FIREFIGHTER: Yes, I'm going. Hey I'm born for firefighting.

WILLIAM LAKE, NEW YORK CITY FIREFIGHTER: It sounds very cliche if you kiss your old lady when you leave and you might not come home, but it's real.

KEVIN O'ROURKE, NEW YORK CITY FIREFIGHTER: Sometimes you can have the most experienced guys and everything on the scene, it's just certain situations that are outside of our control.

OKWU: Rescues 1 and 2 are elite units specifically trained to save lives in the most dire of circumstances and to rescue other firefighters -- to be on hand even when a hero needs a hero.

BEST: These guys are like, you know, they want the high-rise, you know, fires. That's the adrenaline rush. They want to get in there and save people, so we knew that they were down there. The feeling was shock. We were shocked.

OKWU: For all the carnage, more than 25,000 people escaped from the Twin Towers. Eyewitnesses tell stories about firefighters returning into the building to save more lives -- going to hell and back.

BEST: I really believe that if they sent them to hell, they would put it out. The World Trade Tower collapse was worse than hell.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're using all hands for a one-story...

OKWU: And still, Joseph Angelini may have gone back. At 63, Angelini was the oldest active member of the fire department. He had been cited for bravery 14 times. People who spent time with him called him a man of few words, loved by his colleagues, and fueled by an unwavering desire to save people.

JOSEPH ANGELINI, NEW YORK CITY FIREFIGHTER: My sons are on the job. My son, Joe, is over in Ladder 4, which is in the theater district, and we catch fires sometimes together, which is a good thing and it's fun.

OKWU: Joseph, Sr. is dead and Joseph, Jr. is missing.

BEST (voice-over): Watching tape of firefighters who are no longer with us is painful. And watching tape of firefighters who are still with us is painful, because they're in agony.

OKWU: Here, their faces, enduring images of a nation's pride and of unfinished promise.

Michael Okwu, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: How sad.

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