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CNN Sunday Morning
The Heroic Story of the Firefighters of Ladder Six
Aired September 30, 2001 - 08:34 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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Here in New York City, firefighters from Ladder Company 6 and Engine 9 are in Chinatown. They were among the first to respond after terrorists hit the World Trade Center 19 days ago. The towers collapsed while many of them were still inside. However, they're ending was much better. They survived.
CNN's Brian Palmer and the story from Ladder 6's Bill Butler.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN PALMER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bill Butler smiles and poses for a photographer, but at times like this, it doesn't come naturally. He was just about to go off-duty the morning of September 11.
BILL BUTLER, FIREFIGHTER: All of the sudden, there was a loud crash and then smoke was coming out around the buildings here that block it, so we immediately knew that it had gone into the Trade Center.
PALMER: Butler and the firefighters of Ladder Company 6 sprinted into the North Tower to rescue those trapped on the 80th floor.
BUTLER: We saw a shadow go over, and it was actually the second plane coming in to hit the second tower, and it was at that point that my captain had come back and met up with us and he said they're trying to kill us.
PALMER: As the streets outside were engulfed in fire, devastation, and an erupting cloud of debris, people were fleeing the towers, filling the stairwells.
As they headed down, Butler and Ladder 6 kept going up the stairs of the North Tower.
BUTLER: About every 10 floors, we would take a break, but all this while we're going up we have people coming down that are severely burned and, to the point where they were actually -- they had no clothes on. There were men taking their sport coats off that were coming down and wrapping the women up, you know, so they would be, you know, they could keep their privacy. And people were actually, you know, go get them, guys. God bless you, guys, you're the best.
PALMER: When the other tower collapsed, the firefighters were ordered to evacuate, but they kept doing their job all the way down. On the 15th floor, Butlers job became helping an injured woman named Josephine to safety. She was exhausted already from hiking down 60 flights of stairs. They paused to encourage her.
BUTLER: So, I said, do you have grandchildren. And she said, yes, I do. And I said, well, Josephine, we need to get you out of here today and we need to get you -- your grandchildren want to see you at home tonight. You need to -- we need to get you moving down these stairs.
PALMER: Then, the North Tower collapsed. Miraculously, around them but not on top of them.
BUTLER: Her legs were weak. I mean, she was actually dipping down. I was carrying most of her weight, probably.
PALMER: 11 of them were trapped in, but protected by a three story high pocket of mangled steel and crushed concrete.
BUTLER: We had no idea of the severity of the collapse at this point. We had no idea. You know, we're telling them that, you know, you come in the front door, you make a right, and our stairwell is like 50 to 100 feet away.
PALMER: Ladder 6 still didn't know the tower above them had disintegrated.
BUTLER: Well, at one point, the sun actually shined in, and it was at this point we were able to see out. The smoke cleared, it was like the parting of the Red Sea.
PALMER: Butler called his wife from a fading cell phone.
BUTLER: I said, listen, don't cry right now, this is not the time to cry, and she kind of like bit her lip, I guess. And I said you need to call -- make some phone calls for us.
PALMER: Those calls finally led rescuers to them, almost five hours later.
Butler still can't explain why they survived, but they believe Josephine, the grandmother they had saved, had something to do with their survival.
BUTLER: Her pace just put us right in the right spot. I mean, had we been a little bit quicker, we may have been in the lobby and crushed in the lobby. Had we been a little bit slower, maybe we may have still been on the seventh floor and, like I said, the only -- it collapsed below, like, the sixths floor. Just so many different little factors took place that put us in that spot.
PALMER: One factor the firefighter leaves out gracefully, the courage of he and his men who were saved by a woman they were sent to rescue.
Brian Palmer, CNN, New York. (END VIDEOTAPE)
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