At 8:48AM I heard what I later found out to be jet engines approaching the building. When it hit, I thought the building was going to tip over. After exiting to the stairwell, it filled up almost immediately with PA staff, who, mostly were calm, basically due to the fact that we had no idea what happened or what was about to happen.
At 9:10 AM, while making some progress in the stairway, we heard another loud explosion, another plane hit 2 WTC.
Almost an hour later, we reached the 44th floor lobby from the 71st floor.
People who were burned in the explosion were coming down the staircase and fireman and police going up. The only thing we heard were the building alarms, no announcements, although the lights in the stairway were still on. Around the 30th floor, we started to see additional exhausted firemen coming up. Fred Marrone and Inspector Infante were also going up. Reaching the 23rd floor, the Port Authority’s Ops Manager asked me to escort some man to find Security; he indicated that this man might have seen something that Security or law enforcement needed to know. I managed to stay with the person for a dozen or so floors but then lost track of him when 2 WTC collapsed.
10:00 AM or a little later, a fireman escorted us out, There weren’t many people behind us. On the plaza, under the overhang, a woman collapsed and sat directly in the path of our escape. Two policemen arrived and now we were able to move her along a bit but not enough. We needed more help. Two firemen were on the other side of the unprotected plaza helping others. One yelled to me to pick up and carry two air tanks that were abandoned in the middle of the uncovered area we were about to run through. I made it without much trouble. The woman made it too.
About 10:30, I started to run towards Vesey Street. As I looked up, the top of the building was consumed in flames and was starting to collapse. While running past the Post Office, I noticed the truck dock doors were open and I took shelter there. One WTC then collapsed.
After a time, walking up West Street, I found a working phone booth and called home. I walked for hours looking for people that I knew either on the street or St Vincent’s. 3 hours later, I arrived home on Long Island. I wrote this so I wouldn’t forget and I wouldn’t have to remember.
