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CNN Saturday Morning News

Firefighter Discusses Role in Terrorist Response

Aired September 15, 2001 - 09:11   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: Joining me right now is Harold Schaitberger, who is with the International Association of Firefighters. He joins us from Denver this morning and has some very strong thoughts about what kind of impact this might have on firefighters across the nation.

Welcome, Mr. Schaitberger, appreciate your time.

HAROLD SCHAITBERGER, INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF FIREFIGHTERS: Good morning.

ZAHN: Good morning. Yesterday I was interviewing some of your colleagues, and they said what makes this tragedy even more profound is that you all are instinctively trained to go where the flames are. And he felt of the initial fire, 400 firefighters that were sent in, they probably didn't even give any thought to the fact that these towers might eventually collapse.

SCHAITBERGER: Well, first of all, it's not a matter of not giving any thought to that. The firefighters throughout this nation, and certainly New York's absolute bravest, one of the finest fire departments in the world, there's only one way to do this job. You have to go in.

Those firefighters were initiating a tactical mission that included search and rescue, evacuation of civilians from the building, and ultimately setting up an initial attack on the fire. And there's only one way to do this job. That is, men going in those stairwells, up in that building, and performing their work.

ZAHN: Well, absolutely, Harold, and I didn't mean that in a pejorative way at all. I think what those firefighters were telling me, because you are such selfless -- you know -- selfless creatures, that, you know, that is what you're trained to do, go in those stairwells and help those folks that were trying to get out.

SCHAITBERGER: You know, you're really talking about this nation's domestic warriors. These are well-trained but brave, selfless individuals, that when everybody else is leaving the scene of a catastrophe, it's the nation's firefighters that are responding in and going in.

And it is a unique breed, it is a unique profession, and one that has such a close, a close bond. It's hard for a lot of people to understand that bond among firefighters unless you've really been in the business.

ZAHN: Harold, one of the points they raised with me, these colleagues of yours, who actually came from the midsection of the nation, is, given how the nature of war has changed, they actually view firefighters as much more than firefighters. They call them the new breed of soldier.

SCHAITBERGER: Well...

ZAHN: Is that what you think your role will come to or has come to?

SCHAITBERGER: Well, certainly if you take a look at this horrific last five days, if you look at the Murrah Building in Oklahoma City, if you look at virtually every disaster, natural or manmade, it is the nation's firefighters who are the foot soldiers that are first on the scene.

As catastrophic and unbelievable as this incident was, I can only be thankful that we had no biological or chemical agents involved in this. That's one of the reasons why we've been pushing on the federal government to provide more resources for training of firefighters who are first in, so that they can not only do their job more effectively, but so that they can have a better opportunity for survivability themselves, and not, in effect, be the canaries in the cage, as they were in the -- as they used in the mines so many years ago.

ZAHN: You raise, I think, a very interesting point, and that is the need for more resources to better train these firefighters in this new environment. One of the frustrations your brethren expressed to me yesterday is they know for a fact there was not enough respiration equipment supplied downtown. I mean, how frustrated are you by the state in which firefighters all over the country operate today?

SCHAITBERGER: Well, the first thing...

ZAHN: Particularly in urban areas, you know, the areas probably that'll be the most likely obvious targets.

SCHAITBERGER: Well, that's the thing I do want to make clear. New York has the finest fire department, really, I think, in this country, and nothing could prepare any department, equipment or otherwise, for the horrific, unbelievable tragedy that we saw unfold Tuesday morning.

Having said that, the fact of the matter is that we have far too many departments all over North America, United States and Canada, that do not have adequate resources, that are not staffed properly, are not receiving some of the training that they should be provided. And certainly in this country, by a federal government who, rightfully an understandably, is now providing hundreds of millions and billions of dollars toward this issue of terrorism.

And the patriots, these amazing people in America's fire service that are on the front lines understand that we have to have money for security, money for intelligence, money for tactical operations, and all the things that we've been listening to for the last several days.

But we need this government to ensure that the firefighters in this nation also are given the training and the resources and opportunity to do their job better, but more importantly, to do their job in a more safe environment, and to have a better opportunity to survive such a calamitous incident that we've watched in these last four days.

ZAHN: Harold, I just have time for one last question. How stinging of a wakeup call is this?

SCHAITBERGER: Well, I think the world is numb from -- in many ways, I guess from the government throughout all of our society, I think it's going to take some days to really understand. There are now hundreds of firefighters that we have lost in this one incident. And we're going to have to, in their honor, for their sacrifice, see that when we evaluate all the various aspects of response from this government at all levels, that we focus on a nation's first responders, who are going to be there within those first couple of minutes of every disaster in the future.

ZAHN: Harold, you must be heartened, though, by the news that more than a million New Yorkers are expected to attend the memorial service on September 23 in Central Park to honor those who have lost their lives. And like I said earlier, those who continue to fight to save our lives.

SCHAITBERGER: It will give our people a lot of energy. This is going to be a long, long haul right now. I mean, this is going to take weeks...

ZAHN: Harold...

SCHAITBERGER: ... and weeks.

ZAHN: OK, carry on, sorry, sorry to cut you off.

SCHAITBERGER: And I was -- just going to take weeks to even begin to think about bringing this incident to any kind of closure. Such a service can certainly not only to provide that honor but it will give the men and women that are out there on that rubble pile, working around the clock, a lot of energy.

ZAHN: Well, I don't mean to be presumptuous, but I think I can feel entirely comfortable saluting you all on all Americans' behalf. Thank you very much for the very dangerous and important work you do.

SCHAITBERGER: Well, God bless all the firefighters, and please keep all of those in New York that are working safe.

ZAHN: Thank you.

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