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Sept. 11, 2001 attacks
Timeline
Planning
September 11, 2001
Rest of September
October
Beyond October
Victims
Survivors
Foreign casualties
Hijacked airliners
American Airlines Flight 11
United Airlines Flight 175
American Airlines Flight 77
United Airlines Flight 93
Sites of destruction
World Trade Center
The Pentagon
Shanksville, Pennsylvania
Effects and aftermath
World political effects
World economic effects
Detentions
Airport security
Closings and cancellations
Audiovisual entertainment
Local health
Response
Global Guardian
Government response
Rescue and recovery effort
Financial assistance
Operation Yellow Ribbon
Memorials and services
Perpetrators
Responsibility
Organizers
Conspiracy theories
Miscellaneous
Communication
Tower collapse
Slogans and terms
Opportunists
Inquiries
U.S. Congressional Inquiry
9/11 Commission Report
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The area surrounding the World Trade Center became the site of the greatest number of casualties and missing, and physical destruction. This region became known in the ensuing days as "ground zero".

Contents 1 Building evacuation 2 Rescue efforts 2.1 Firefighters 2.2 Doctors, EMTs and other medical staff 2.3 Police 2.4 Emergency Management 2.5 Rescue efforts 3 Recovery efforts 3.1 Ground Zero illnesses and protests 4 Volunteer support 5 Military support 5.1 Civil Air Patrol 5.2 National Guard 6 Estimated costs 7 Chart of FDNY firemen killed on 9/11/01 8 See also 9 References 10 Further reading 11 External links

When American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the North Tower (WTC1) of the World Trade Center, a standard announcement was given to tenants in the South Tower (WTC2) to stay put and that the building was secure. However, many defied those instructions and proceeded to evacuate the South Tower.^[1]

Standard evacuation procedures for fires in the World Trade Center called for evacuating only the floors immediately above and below the fire, as simultaneous evacuation of up to 50,000 workers would be chaotic.^[1]

New York City firefighters rushed to the World Trade Center minutes after the first plane struck the north tower. Chief Joseph Pfiefer and his crew with Battalion 1 among the first on the scene.^[2]

Chief Brass set up a command center in the lobby as firefighters climbed up the stairs. A mobile command center was also set-up outside on Vesey Street, but was destroyed when the buildings collapsed. A command post was then set-up at a firehouse in Greenwich Village. The FDNY deployed 200 units to the site, with more than 400 firefighters on the scene when the buildings collapsed.^[1]

Many firefighters arrived at the World Trade Center without meeting at the command centers. Problems with radio communication caused commanders to lose contact with many of the firefighters who went into the buildings; those firefighters were unable to hear evacuation orders. There was practically no communication with the police, who had helicopters at the scene. When the towers collapsed, hundreds were killed or trapped within. Firefighters came from hundreds of miles around New York City, including numerous volunteer units in small-town New York.

Meanwhile, average response times to fires elsewhere in the city that day only rose by one minute, to 5.5 minutes. The other firefighters worked alternating 24-hour shifts.

Doctors, nurses, medical students, paramedics, EMTs, and counselors quickly arrived at the site of the collapse to set up multiple small staging areas and triage centers in the streets surrounding the World Trade Center site. Medical teams from the local neighborhoods, surrounding boroughs, and visiting medical staff worked to set up and staff these multiple triage sites, as guided by FDNY officials. As the afternoon wore on, these triage sites were slowly closed and the triage efforts were consolidated at the Chelsea Piers.

Throughout the early afternoon, the soundstages at the Pier were separated into two areas, one for the more seriously injured and one for the walking wounded. On the acute side, multiple makeshift tables, each with a physician, nurse, and other healtcare and civilian volunteers, were set up for the arrival of mass casualties. Supplies, including equipment for airway and vascular control, were obtained from neighboring hospitals. Throughout the afternoon, local merchants arrived to generously donate food.

Despite this, few patients arrived for treatment, the earliest at about 5p.m., and were not seriously injured, being limited to smoke inhalation. An announcement was made around 6-7 p.m. that a second shift of providers would cover the evening shift, and that an area was being set-up for the day personnel to sleep. Soon after, when it was realized that few would have survived the collapse and be brought to the Piers, many decided to leave and area was closed down.

NYPD helicopters were soon at the scene, reporting on the status of the burning buildings. Many New York City and Port Authority of New York and New Jersey police were killed in the collapse of the towers. The NYPD worked alternating 12-hour shifts in the rescue and recovery effort.

New York City Office of Emergency Management was the agency responsible for coordination of the City's response to the attacks. Headed by then-Director Richard Sheirer, the agency was forced to vacate its headquarters, located in 7 World Trade Center, within hours of the attack. The building later collapsed due to fire. OEM reestablished operations temporarily at the police academy, where Mayor Giuliani gave many press conferences throughout the afternoon and evening of September 11. Two days later, emergency operations were moved to a pier on the Hudson River. This location served as the point of coordination for over 90 City, State and Federal agencies during the months following the disaster.

The agency now resides in a temporary headquarters in Brooklyn and is awaiting construction of a new, state-of-the-art headquarters to be located in downtown Brooklyn in the former Red Cross building.

On the day following the attacks, 11 people were rescued from the rubble, including six firefighters and three police officers.^[3] They included two Port Authority police officers, John McLoughlin and Will Jimeno, were pulled out alive after spending nearly 24 hours beneath 30 feet of rubble.^[4][5] Their rescue was later portrayed in the Oliver Stone film, World Trade Center.

The search and rescue effort in the immediate aftermath at the World Trade Center site involved ironworkers, structural engineers, heavy machinery operators, firefighters, police officers, asbestos workers, boilermakers, carpenters, cement masons, construction managers, electricians, emergency medical technicians, insulation workers, machinists, plumbers and pipefitters, riggers, sheet metal workers, steamfitters, steelworkers, truckers and teamsters, and many others.^[6]

The New York City Department of Design and Construction oversaw the recovery efforts. Beginning on September 12, the Structural Engineers Association of New York (SEAoNY) became involved in the recovery efforts, bringing in experts to review the stability of the rubble, evaluate safety of hundreds of buildings near the site, and designing support for the cranes brought in to clear the debris. The City of New York hired the engineering firm, LZA-Thornton Tomasetti, to oversee the structural engineering operations at the site.^[7]

Ironworkers, some even visiting from other countries, arrived on scene soon after the collapse to offer their services to help rescue victims. Unfortunately, the immediate danger of fire and smoke kept many from helping.

By Friday, September 14, 2001, 9000 tons in 1500 truckloads of debris had been brought to the Fresh Kills landfill.^{[citation needed]} By the following Monday afternoon, 40,000 tons had been removed.^{[citation needed]}

To make the effort more manageable, the World Trade Center site was divided into four quadrants or zones. Each zone was assigned a lead contractor, and a team of three structural engineers, subcontractors, and rescue workers.^[7]

• AMEC - North Tower along West Street
• Bovis Lend Lease - South Tower along Liberty Street
• Tully Construction Company, Inc. - Eastern portion of the WTC site
• Turner/Plaza Construction Joint Venture - Northern portion and 7 World Trade Center

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the United States Army Corp of Engineers, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and the New York City Office of Emergency Management (OEM) provided support.^[7]

Hazards at the World Trade Center site included a diesel fuel tank buried seven stories below.^[6] Approximately 2,000 automobiles that had been in the parking garage also presented a risk, with each containing, on average, five gallons of gasoline. Once recovery workers reached down to the parking garage level, they found some cars that had exploded and burned.^[6] The United States Customs Service, which was housed in 6 World Trade Center, had 1.2 million rounds of ammunition and weapons in storage in a third-floor vault, to support their firing range.^[6]

Increasing numbers of Ground Zero workers are getting illnesses, such as cancer.

On January 30, 2007 Ground Zero workers and groups such as Sierra Club and Unsung Heroes Helping Heroes met at the Ground Zero site and urged President George Bush to spend more money on aid for sick Ground Zero workers. They said that the $25 million dollars that Bush promised for the ill workers was inadequate. A Long Island iron-worker, John Sferazo, at the protest rally said, "Why has it taken you 5 1/2 years to meet with us, Mr. President?" ^[8]

Volunteers began arriving at the World Trade Center soon after the towers collapsed. Those who arrived in the early hours helped in any way they could, including college students who gave out water to the rescue workers; later unsolicited volunteers were turned away. People with particular skills, including construction, demolition, medical training, and mental health conseling, came to assist throughout the first few days; a team of disaster relief specialists even came from France. By late Friday, September 14, there was essentially no more room for volunteers, though people had arrived from as far off as California, waiting in lines outside the relief administration center at Javits Center.

As of November 19, 2001, the American Red Cross had provided 11,549,338 meals/snacks to approximately 50,000 disaster workers (48,491 of them volunteers).^{[citation needed]}

Immediately following the attacks, members of the Civil Air Patrol were called up to help respond. Northeast Region Commander Colonel Richard Greenhunt placed his region on alert mere moments after he learned of the attack. Early the next day, CAP was given clearance by NORAD to fly Photo-Recon missions of Ground Zero, to provide detailed analysis of the wreckage and aide in recover efforts. They were the first aircrews allowed to take off that was not a Fighter or a Tanker, or otherwise associated with the U.S. Military.

In addition, CAP began to fly blood-transport flights, taking donated blood directly from the blood banks, and landing at JFK Airport, with still enough runway left to take off and fly back. The advantage of this is the ability to land at a local airport, and fly directly to the disaster zone.

The U.S. 69th Infantry Regiment (The Fighting 69th) from Manhattan was the first military force to secure Ground Zero. Its armory on Lexington Avenue became the Family Information Center to assist persons in locating missing family members.

Estimated total costs, as of 10/3/2001^[9]

$5 billion for debris removal

$14 billion for reconstruction

$3 billion in overtime payments to uniformed workers

$1 billion for replacement of destroyed vehicles and equipment

(one Fire Department accident response vehicle costs $400,000)

(Government exhibits from the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui)

• 2001 anthrax attacks
• Domestic terrorism
• Collective trauma
• Health effects of September 11, 2001 attacks

1. ^ ^{a b c} Fritsch, Jane. "A Day of Terror - The Response: Rescue Workers Rush In, and Many Do Not Return", New York Times, September 12, 2001.
2. ^ Eisner, Harvey. "Terrorist Attack At New York World Trade Center", Firehouse Magazine, April 2002.
3. ^ "America Under Attack: The Aftermath, Larry King Live", CNN, September 12, 2001 - 21:00 ET.
4. ^ Murphy, Dean E.. "A DAY OF TERROR: THE HOPES; Survivors Are Found In the Rubble", The New York Times, September 12, 2001.
5. ^ Filkins, Dexter. "AFTER THE ATTACKS: ALIVE; Entombed for a Day, Then Found", The New York Times, September 13, 2001.
6. ^ ^{a b c d} A Dangerous Worksite. Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
7. ^ ^{a b c} Domel, Jr., August (November 2001). World Trade Center Disaster: Structural Engineers at Ground Zero.
8. ^ Emi Endo, "Sick 9/11 workers protest at Ground Zero" Newsday, 31 January 2007 http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/am-groundzero0201,0,1528416.story?coll=ny-main-bigpix
9. ^ THE BUDGET: Finances of New York City Staggered by the Emergency, New York Times, 10/3/2001

• Bull, Chris; Sam Erman (2002). At Ground Zero: Young Reporters Who Were There Tell Their Stories. Thunder's Mouth Press. ISBN 1-56025-427-0. 

• Fire Dept. Lapses on 9/11 Are Cited, The New York Times, 8/3/2002
• In Last Piles of Rubble, Fresh Pangs of Loss, The New York Times, 3/17/2002
• THE VOLUNTEERS: Good Intentions Lead to a Bad Ending, New York Times, 10/18/2001
• THE SITE: In an Urban Underbelly, Hidden Views of Terror's Toll, New York Times, 10/14/2001
• THE BUDGET: Finances of New York City Staggered by the Emergency, New York Times, 10/3/2001
• Fire Dept. Asks If There Are Some Fires It Shouldn't Fight, New York Times, 9/30/2001
• UNDERGROUND: Looting Is Reported in Center's Tomblike Mall, New York Times, 9/21/2001
• THE SITE: Police Commissioner Backs Poor Outlook on Survivors, New York Times, 9/19/2001 also describes visits by political leaders
• THE FIREMEN: Department Promotes 168 to Rebuild Officer Ranks, New York Times, 9/18/2001
• THE DISPOSAL: Hauling the Debris, and Darker Burdens, New York Times, 9/17/2001
• THE FUNERALS: For the Fire Department, the First Three Farewells, New York Times, 9/16/2001
• City Loses Hundreds of Bravest, Finest, New York Post
• THE FIREFIGHTERS: Department's Cruel Toll: 350 Comrades, New York Times, 9/13/2001
• THE RESPONSE: Firefighters Dash Into Towers; Many Do Not Return, New York Times, 9/12/2001
• NY Fire Department's 9/11 Radio Dispatches, New York City, 9/11/2001 Audio recordings of first responder communications