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American Morning
War Against Terrorism Began with Horrifying Events 100 Days Ago
Aired December 19, 2001 - 07:10 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: Of course, the war against terrorism began with the horrifying events exactly 100 days ago, as we watched the scenes of unbelievable destruction at the site, we've come to call ground zero.
Joe Allbaugh, head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, toured the World Trade Center site yesterday and he has just announced that nearly $65 million in federal disaster funds will go to ground zero operations. That as Congress approved an $8 billion aid package for New York.
Well, this morning on top of all this a frightening report that some of the firefighters in New York City may have lost their lives because of radio problems. The "New York Daily News" says some firefighters may not have heard critical communications, particularly communications with commanders telling them to get out of the buildings.
We are joined this morning by the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Joe Allbaugh, who has been the government's point man on the recovery efforts for 100 days.
Welcome back. Good to see you, sir.
JOE ALLBAUGH, FEMA DIRECTOR: Good morning, Paula.
ZAHN: What do you think of this "Daily News" report? The fact is they're saying they believe because there were poor radio communications -- they don't know how many firefighters lost their lives -- but they believe clearly there were some that lost their lives because of bad communications.
ALLBAUGH: I travel the country extensively and this is the single most common complaint that I hear from firefighters and police officials all across the country. Communication is the key to saving lives. I hope that that report is not totally true. But I'm afraid that a sizeable portion of it is true.
Radios that are outdated -- and one of the cornerstones of my tenure, I want to make sure that if there's one thing the federal government can do, it's improve communication among our emergency and initial responders.
ZAHN: Because in the city here, they were relying on these handy talkies.
ALLBAUGH: Right.
ZAHN: And they were saying because one of the transponders was knocked out in the first attack they probably could not communicate with any of the firefighters above the 50th floor.
ALLBAUGH: We need to have state of the art equipment and a redundancy built into whatever systems we have, whether it's at the Port Authority, the fire department, police department here in New York City, and then all across the country. Those individuals who are putting their lives at risk need to be able to count upon the systems that they have that they can save not only lives of citizens, but their own lives in times of danger.
ZAHN: This is an extraordinary photo and this is the first time any of us have seen this. Describe to us what we're seeing. Is this a fire truck?
ALLBAUGH: This is Monday evening late during the rain. They retrieved a ladder truck out of Ladder 4, one of the very first responders to the scene. To give you some perspective, I believe this is in the southeast corner of Building 2, which would be the south tower. And these men and women working the scene would not leave until they had retrieved this truck out of the rubble.
ZAHN: So this was compressed...
ALLBAUGH: Compressed...
ZAHN: ... several stories below?
ALLBAUGH: Three or four stories below. That just gives you some perspective on the amount of weight that was above ground that forced everything into the ground.
ZAHN: Give us your most recent update on the status of where the recovery and cleanup efforts are.
ALLBAUGH: Well, I'm deeply impressed. It was 10 days since I was here last. They've now removed over, almost 900,000 tons of debris. The winter weather is setting in so that's going to hinder operations. Obviously when it's wet and rainy and cold it becomes even a more dangerous situation to those workers down there.
I have to applaud the city officials, DDC, Ken Holden (ph), Mike Burdon (ph) and their team. They've done a fabulous job, along with New York City's finest, police and fire. They're making remarkable progress. I think the only building yesterday afternoon that was still standing above ground was the customs house and they were in the process yesterday afternoon of starting to pull that down.
So by the first of the year, they'll be completely at grade level, at ground level. And then that will allow the workers to work inside the remaining six floors below ground.
ZAHN: And the $65 million fund you're announcing today goes directly to these efforts down at ground zero?
ALLBAUGH: Part of it does. About $20 million of that goes to the New York City Fire Department to start replenishing their vehicles, replenishing the ladder truck that we just saw from Company 4.
ZAHN: How about buying new radios?
ALLBAUGH: Buying new radios. That is a part of it. We are going to have an entire system that we can offer to New York City and then hopefully with the terrorism package that the president is going to come forward in early spring, we will have additional money so we can bring every department across the country up to speed.
ZAHN: So you're telling me this morning you think there's enough money to pay for everything that's needed here?
ALLBAUGH: I believe there is. Absolutely. Even if we were to give New York City immediately $20 billion or $30 billion, I'm not sure the city could spend it effectively. We are giving New York City and the residents the necessary money that they need to take care of the business at hand. I hope that this ground zero will be cleaned up by May, June. I'm afraid it may be as late as Labor Day. But even at that, plans are being made to rebuild, which is what the city has to do.
ZAHN: We have to hit a commercial break so I need an answer in 10 seconds.
ALLBAUGH: Sure.
ZAHN: There are still people who are not willing to go downtown and register who have money coming to them.
ALLBAUGH: Right. I'm worried about that.
ZAHN: Whether it's pride or whether they're scared of going through the craziness you have to go downtown...
ALLBAUGH: And they're using all their savings right now. They don't need to do that. They need to get registered. 1-800-462-9029. The government's here to help and we'll be here for a very long time.
ZAHN: Joe Allbaugh, thank you very much for dropping by.
ALLBAUGH: Thanks, Paula. Merry Christmas to you.
ZAHN: Good luck to you and I hope you have a peaceful holiday.
ALLBAUGH: Thank you.
ZAHN: As the rest of our nation and world.
ALLBAUGH: Good to see you.
ZAHN: Good to see you, as well. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
