I had finished my work for the morning and was giving it to Jan to review when we heard a loud boom. Diane. the CFO's secretary. said, "That does not sound good."
Things happened very quickly. The building began to sway, and we lost our footing. I looked toward the eastern window and saw flames and pieces of paper shooting out from the floors above us. A coworker looking out the north window told me she had seen a woman in an orange dress falling outside our window.
Jan came out of her office crying and telling us to leave. Bruce, the Treasurer, and Anne Marie were also urging us to go. I grabbed Jan's hand and said, "Let's go."
We headed for Staircase C, the closest staircase. Jan had asthma and was having difficulty breathing. She was also panicking because she had been in the World Trade Center during the 1993 attack and had undergone a leg-stent procedure only a month earlier. As we started down the stairs, she took off her high-heeled shoes and left them behind.
People going down the stairs stayed to the right while those coming up stayed to the left. The staircase smelled like kerosene, and I initially thought a blimp had hit the building. Firefighters were coming up Staircase C because it was on the side where the plane had hit. One firefighter suggested that we rest on a floor until help could reach us, but when we opened a door, smoke came pouring out, so we continued down.
Near the ground floor, water began coming through the doors. We tried to reach the garage but were told it was flooded, so we went to the concourse. Elevator doors had been smashed to the ground, and there was broken glass and about two inches of water from the sprinklers.
We finally got outside, where triage was set up. While we were there, we saw people jumping from the building and heard small explosions. When an ambulance arrived, Jan received medical attention, but she insisted on leaving. We eventually left.
As we walked away, we heard a crackling sound and turned to see Building 2 coming down. Everyone began running. Knowing Jan could not run, she called over a man to help us. He took one side I took the other. After he had to leave, another man helped us. At Canal Street, I bought a hand truck from a hardware store, which Jan used as a walker.
We eventually reached the ferries. Our cell phones began working, and we called our families. Crossing the Hudson I looked south and realized that only four hours earlier I had an office there-and now it was gone.
The hardest part was knowing that the firefighters I had watched climbing Staircase C had not made it.
We took a bus to the Hoboken train yard. When we reached Jan’s hometown, she got off the train and turned around and gave me a big hug.
Andrew Irving
Retired Portfolio Manager
