Inside the Twin Towers

In the North Tower the plane severed all three stairwells, leaving them impassable from the 92nd floor up. Hundreds of people were killed instantly; hundreds more were alive but trapped. The 911 system was overwhelmed, and operators, who did not know rooftop rescue was impossible, told many callers to stay where they were. [1]

In the South Tower one stairwell, A, stayed passable. At least four people came down it from the 81st floor or above. Many others in and above the impact zone went up, hoping to be rescued from the roof, which was locked. [1]

Twelve firefighters, a Port Authority officer and three civilians who were in stairwell B of the North Tower when it collapsed survived. [1]

Fire chiefs in the North Tower lobby decided within minutes that the fire could not be fought and that the job was rescue. Their radios did not work well in the high-rises, and many companies inside never heard the order to evacuate after the South Tower fell. The FDNY lost 343 members, the largest loss of any emergency service in history; the Port Authority police lost 37 and the NYPD 23. [1]

The firefighters’ and medics’ own accounts, released in 2005, describe the confusion and, in some cases, what witnesses took to be explosions. Those quotations are central to the demolition argument and are examined in the demolition file. [2]

More FDNY members have now died of illnesses linked to the rescue than died on the day. [3]