302Riz
01-14-2003, 12:41 PM
As most of you know by now, I am from NY and I work in Brooklyn. The comany I work for, Lehman Bros, had 4 floors in the North tower of the WTC (37-40) and also occupied the 3 World Financial Center, which is right across the street from the WTC. (I work offsite at a warehouse in Brooklyn which is less than 2 miles away from the WTC.) I have a clear view of lower Manhattan from my warehouse. I can see everything from the very tip of lower Manhattan to the Empire state building.
On with the story...
On that bright, beautiful September morning all was normal just like any other day. I did my usual routine, sitting at my desk reading the sports section of the NY Post and Newsday, listening to Howard Stern on the radio and eating my breakfast.
One of the people who works with us next door comes(he was outside and saw what happened) bursting into our office (at the time I worked with 2 other people) screaming HOLY $HIT! A plane just crashed into the WTC!(THis was about 8:45 AM) Naturally we were all in disbelief, so we all ran outside to see what was going on.
Sure enough there was the North tower up in flames with smoke billowing up from the hole that the doomed plane created.
Now at the time, all of us thought it was an accident being it was a crystal clear day and we also thought it was a small plane not a 747. For the next few minutes we all watched the north tower burn.
About 9ish, all of us are still standing outside, when my friend Lenny sees a black plane flying very low. He points it out to all of us and as soon as the rest of us notice the plane crashes head on into the south tower of the WTC. Now, all of us start to panic and I think to myself that we are under attack and I start to get a little nervous. I start making phone calls to my friends to see if they knew what was going on friends and family were calling me to see if I was ok. Then we started sending out emails to our co-workers(they have wireless blackberry 2-way pagers) that were in the WTC. They said everyone got out ok. As they were evacuating the building they said they were careful to see where they were stepping because the ground was covered in bodies from people who jumed out, and body parts scattered all over.
After we make our phone calls we go back outside to watch the destruction. Around 10:00 we notice an explosion from the south tower, see the top half tilt over and crumble. A few minutes later all the smoke and ash from the collapse consumes us so we run inside and take cover in the warehouse. We locked the door and covered the opening surrounding the door with tape so we dont breathe in any more smoke and ash. We could smell the burning jetfuel,metal from the smoke. Its not a pleasant smell.
After the smoke cleared from the first collapse I go back outside to see whats happening. All I hear outside was sirens from firetrucks and police cars.
Around 10:30 I watch in disbelief the north tower crumble to the ground. After that we were told to lock up and leave.
There is a firehouse right around the corner from us that had 6 firefighers die in the collapse.
Here is a picture of the makeshift memorial that I took in front of the fire house.
http://us.f1.yahoofs.com/users/38d1c6c7/bc/blah+blah+blah/brooklyn+firehouse1.jpg?bcc9EJ.AxSOeiD0R
Here is some paper form the WTC that landed infront of my warehouse.
http://us.f1.yahoofs.com/users/38d1c6c7/bc/blah+blah+blah/paper+WTC2.jpg?bcc9EJ.AKpyeF_my
http://us.f1.yahoofs.com/users/38d1c6c7/bc/blah+blah+blah/paperwork+from+WTC.jpg?
The story loses a bit in when told over the internet. Sorry for the crudeness...
On with the story...
On that bright, beautiful September morning all was normal just like any other day. I did my usual routine, sitting at my desk reading the sports section of the NY Post and Newsday, listening to Howard Stern on the radio and eating my breakfast.
One of the people who works with us next door comes(he was outside and saw what happened) bursting into our office (at the time I worked with 2 other people) screaming HOLY $HIT! A plane just crashed into the WTC!(THis was about 8:45 AM) Naturally we were all in disbelief, so we all ran outside to see what was going on.
Sure enough there was the North tower up in flames with smoke billowing up from the hole that the doomed plane created.
Now at the time, all of us thought it was an accident being it was a crystal clear day and we also thought it was a small plane not a 747. For the next few minutes we all watched the north tower burn.
About 9ish, all of us are still standing outside, when my friend Lenny sees a black plane flying very low. He points it out to all of us and as soon as the rest of us notice the plane crashes head on into the south tower of the WTC. Now, all of us start to panic and I think to myself that we are under attack and I start to get a little nervous. I start making phone calls to my friends to see if they knew what was going on friends and family were calling me to see if I was ok. Then we started sending out emails to our co-workers(they have wireless blackberry 2-way pagers) that were in the WTC. They said everyone got out ok. As they were evacuating the building they said they were careful to see where they were stepping because the ground was covered in bodies from people who jumed out, and body parts scattered all over.
After we make our phone calls we go back outside to watch the destruction. Around 10:00 we notice an explosion from the south tower, see the top half tilt over and crumble. A few minutes later all the smoke and ash from the collapse consumes us so we run inside and take cover in the warehouse. We locked the door and covered the opening surrounding the door with tape so we dont breathe in any more smoke and ash. We could smell the burning jetfuel,metal from the smoke. Its not a pleasant smell.
After the smoke cleared from the first collapse I go back outside to see whats happening. All I hear outside was sirens from firetrucks and police cars.
Around 10:30 I watch in disbelief the north tower crumble to the ground. After that we were told to lock up and leave.
There is a firehouse right around the corner from us that had 6 firefighers die in the collapse.
Here is a picture of the makeshift memorial that I took in front of the fire house.
http://us.f1.yahoofs.com/users/38d1c6c7/bc/blah+blah+blah/brooklyn+firehouse1.jpg?bcc9EJ.AxSOeiD0R
Here is some paper form the WTC that landed infront of my warehouse.
http://us.f1.yahoofs.com/users/38d1c6c7/bc/blah+blah+blah/paper+WTC2.jpg?bcc9EJ.AKpyeF_my
http://us.f1.yahoofs.com/users/38d1c6c7/bc/blah+blah+blah/paperwork+from+WTC.jpg?
The story loses a bit in when told over the internet. Sorry for the crudeness...