New York Fire Department Battalion Chief Richard Picciotto, author of "Last Man Down," describes being inside the North Tower of the World Trade Center when it collapsed on September 11, 2001. He recounts climbing to the 35th floor, feeling the South Tower's collapse shake his building, and making the agonizing decision to order a full evacuation without being able to reach the destroyed command post. As he cleared each floor on the way down, he physically dragged a man from his computer desk who refused to leave more than an hour after the plane struck.
Picciotto describes reaching the sixth floor when the North Tower began its eight-second collapse, believing he was about to die. He survived in a small void within stairwell B, buried in debris with 13 others in complete darkness, unable to see or initially hear his fellow survivors until he called out into the silence.
Key Moments
Arriving at the towers as people jump: Battalion Chief Picciotto describes pulling up to both towers in flames, off-duty firefighters jumping onto trucks to respond, civilians streaming out, and people leaping from upper floors.
Stuck on the 35th floor as the South Tower falls: On the 35th floor of the North Tower, Picciotto hears a sound like a boulder crashing through the building above him - actually the South Tower coming down in 10 seconds and wiping out the FDNY command post.
Giving the order to evacuate the North Tower: With command post gone and radios sketchy, the senior chief on scene makes the call himself - drop masks, drop tools, get out - then runs all three stairwells with a bullhorn yelling up to firefighters above.
Eight seconds: praying for it to be quick: On the 6th floor, the noise from the South Tower's fall returns a hundredfold; firefighters and civilians are tossed like ragdolls as the North Tower comes down in 8 seconds and Picciotto prays for a quick death.
The void in Stairwell B: Picciotto explains how a section of Stairwell B from above the lobby up to the fifth floor stayed semi-intact, leaving a black, debris-filled void where 12 firefighters, a Port Authority cop and Josephine, a 60-year-old grandmother, were trapped alive.