New York City After 9/11
Contributed by Jane Lestarchick
On September 11, 2001, New York City’s World Trade Center was attacked by the Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda. Two planes were flown into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, killing almost 3,000 people. For weeks after, the city was under a cloud of debris and smoke from the smothering flames and the ruins of the buildings. The nation was in a state of shock and the city that never sleeps went into a somber period. People simply wanted to help people, whether it was at hospitals for the thousands injured or donating money and time to those families who lost loved ones.
Interview:
The following is an interview of John Lestarchick, age 45. John was 34 years old at the time of the 9/11 attacks. He is the Battalion Chief of Scotch Plains Fire Department.
Q: What dates were you in Staten Island?
A: Wednesday, September 12 – Thursday, September 13
Q: What was your initial reaction upon arriving?
A: Total disbelief
Q: Describe some of the sights and sounds of your stay.
A: There was a constant smell of electrical burning, just whichever way the wind was blowing.
Q: What was your job while in Staten Island?
A: Scotch Plains was on a cover assignment for Staten Island to respond to their calls while they were in Manhattan.
Q: What was your most emotional experience while there?
A: The tradition is that if you go into a different fire house, you sign in. The first house that I was stationed at was the first one from the ferry and every fireman who came back from the pile stopped there. Knowing this, wives would come looking to see if their husbands signed in and we had to comfort them and instill hope in them.
Q: What were your thoughts and feelings after seeing the destruction?
A: When we were going over the Goethals Bridge, we saw huge columns of smoke. We were the second crew, going from 6 at night until 6 in the morning. Even that late, we witnessed surrounding buildings collapsing.
Q: What was the mood of the city?
A: It was unusually quiet. In an area that was usually bustling, especially on such a beautiful day, no one was outside.
Q: How did your time there shape your opinion of the war that followed?
A: Yes, of course.
Q: How many people did you stay with at the Fire House?
A: There were four of us that went from Scotch Plains. All covering assignments from the 21 municipalities in Union County met at Kean University and took buses. Our bus dropped off people all over Staten Island, and we were the last stop. The entire bus ride was silent.
Q: Describe some of the New Yorkers you came in contact with.
A: The only people we saw were the other firefighters and the wives looking for their husbands.
Q: Is there anything else you would like to add?
A: When the guys came back from the pile, I remember saying that they looked like ghosts. They were completely covered in gray dust, from head to toe.
Another memory that sticks out is when a crew had just come back from the pile to eat, shower, and decompress and we were all watching the news together. The mood was very somber as they had lost hope that anyone else would be found. At that moment on the news, a reporter told of finding a chief’s truck with fire fighters trapped inside, but were saved. Just as quickly as the guys came in, they ran right back out having found hope. The day before, I had worked a 24 shift and was home on re-coop. I was getting out of the shower and going to sleep when my wife told me a plane hit the World Trade Center. I blew it off, but turned the news on anyway. When I saw the second plane hit, I knew there was a problem. At noon, I was paged to NYC on mutual aid. My wife did not want me to go, and I had to explain to her that her brothers were going and so was I, that’s what we do. The crew had already been filled so I was assigned to go around the county and collect air packs to send with the crews and train the guys on how to use them since many were different. I was sent to Staten Island as a recovery shift to relieve the guys from Scotch Plains that went in the afternoon. Leaving from Kean, there were 6 buses filled with first responders and we had a police escort. I remember thinking how much we looked like a target being as the only cars on the road were these 6 buses surrounded by police. In Staten Island, there was no service because most calls went through the antenna on the Trade Center and most of the calls in the country were calling New York to check on who is ok and who isn’t. The fire house was quiet until guys started coming from the pile, and as we heard their stories, we began to realize fate of first responders. Dealing with a structure fire in Union County, the risk of not coming home is not very high, but 343 guys did not survive. Thinking about all of the babies and wives really hit home for me for the first time because it’s so different from when you’re single doing this to when you have a wife and kids at home to think about. The retired guys from all over the city came to the fire house and cooked for us and helped out in any way that they could. They felt the need to do something, which helped to put our minds at ease. There was so much misinformation on the news and being so close to where it had occurred, the scariest part was the unknown. I was in charge while we were there, and having the responsibility of handling so many situations with which I was unfamiliar was unsettling. In the city, there are skyscrapers and tunnels and bridges and so many different things that I could have been faced with dealing with that I, thank God, was not. Our two departments still keep in touch, with someone visiting the other about once a month. In the first few years we did everything together, had picnics on the anniversary and went to each other’s Christmas parties. Now as guys retire and new guys come in not knowing, it is mostly our guys going to see them, buy a T-shirt, or them coming in to stop by on their way somewhere else. Every year during the Tunnels to Towers race, our guys either run or line the tunnel with American flags dressed in their gear and go back to the Staten Island fire house and hang out with those guys. It’s a brotherhood.
For more information about the September 11 attacks, see...
Lenderhandler, Marty. "9/11, Then and Now." National Geographic. National Geographic, 28 Oct. 2012. Web. 14 Feb. 2013
<http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/09/photogalleries/9-11/>
The following is an interview of John Lestarchick, age 45. John was 34 years old at the time of the 9/11 attacks. He is the Battalion Chief of Scotch Plains Fire Department.
Q: What dates were you in Staten Island?
A: Wednesday, September 12 – Thursday, September 13
Q: What was your initial reaction upon arriving?
A: Total disbelief
Q: Describe some of the sights and sounds of your stay.
A: There was a constant smell of electrical burning, just whichever way the wind was blowing.
Q: What was your job while in Staten Island?
A: Scotch Plains was on a cover assignment for Staten Island to respond to their calls while they were in Manhattan.
Q: What was your most emotional experience while there?
A: The tradition is that if you go into a different fire house, you sign in. The first house that I was stationed at was the first one from the ferry and every fireman who came back from the pile stopped there. Knowing this, wives would come looking to see if their husbands signed in and we had to comfort them and instill hope in them.
Q: What were your thoughts and feelings after seeing the destruction?
A: When we were going over the Goethals Bridge, we saw huge columns of smoke. We were the second crew, going from 6 at night until 6 in the morning. Even that late, we witnessed surrounding buildings collapsing.
Q: What was the mood of the city?
A: It was unusually quiet. In an area that was usually bustling, especially on such a beautiful day, no one was outside.
Q: How did your time there shape your opinion of the war that followed?
A: Yes, of course.
Q: How many people did you stay with at the Fire House?
A: There were four of us that went from Scotch Plains. All covering assignments from the 21 municipalities in Union County met at Kean University and took buses. Our bus dropped off people all over Staten Island, and we were the last stop. The entire bus ride was silent.
Q: Describe some of the New Yorkers you came in contact with.
A: The only people we saw were the other firefighters and the wives looking for their husbands.
Q: Is there anything else you would like to add?
A: When the guys came back from the pile, I remember saying that they looked like ghosts. They were completely covered in gray dust, from head to toe.
Another memory that sticks out is when a crew had just come back from the pile to eat, shower, and decompress and we were all watching the news together. The mood was very somber as they had lost hope that anyone else would be found. At that moment on the news, a reporter told of finding a chief’s truck with fire fighters trapped inside, but were saved. Just as quickly as the guys came in, they ran right back out having found hope. The day before, I had worked a 24 shift and was home on re-coop. I was getting out of the shower and going to sleep when my wife told me a plane hit the World Trade Center. I blew it off, but turned the news on anyway. When I saw the second plane hit, I knew there was a problem. At noon, I was paged to NYC on mutual aid. My wife did not want me to go, and I had to explain to her that her brothers were going and so was I, that’s what we do. The crew had already been filled so I was assigned to go around the county and collect air packs to send with the crews and train the guys on how to use them since many were different. I was sent to Staten Island as a recovery shift to relieve the guys from Scotch Plains that went in the afternoon. Leaving from Kean, there were 6 buses filled with first responders and we had a police escort. I remember thinking how much we looked like a target being as the only cars on the road were these 6 buses surrounded by police. In Staten Island, there was no service because most calls went through the antenna on the Trade Center and most of the calls in the country were calling New York to check on who is ok and who isn’t. The fire house was quiet until guys started coming from the pile, and as we heard their stories, we began to realize fate of first responders. Dealing with a structure fire in Union County, the risk of not coming home is not very high, but 343 guys did not survive. Thinking about all of the babies and wives really hit home for me for the first time because it’s so different from when you’re single doing this to when you have a wife and kids at home to think about. The retired guys from all over the city came to the fire house and cooked for us and helped out in any way that they could. They felt the need to do something, which helped to put our minds at ease. There was so much misinformation on the news and being so close to where it had occurred, the scariest part was the unknown. I was in charge while we were there, and having the responsibility of handling so many situations with which I was unfamiliar was unsettling. In the city, there are skyscrapers and tunnels and bridges and so many different things that I could have been faced with dealing with that I, thank God, was not. Our two departments still keep in touch, with someone visiting the other about once a month. In the first few years we did everything together, had picnics on the anniversary and went to each other’s Christmas parties. Now as guys retire and new guys come in not knowing, it is mostly our guys going to see them, buy a T-shirt, or them coming in to stop by on their way somewhere else. Every year during the Tunnels to Towers race, our guys either run or line the tunnel with American flags dressed in their gear and go back to the Staten Island fire house and hang out with those guys. It’s a brotherhood.
For more information about the September 11 attacks, see...
Lenderhandler, Marty. "9/11, Then and Now." National Geographic. National Geographic, 28 Oct. 2012. Web. 14 Feb. 2013
<http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/09/photogalleries/9-11/>
"September 11 Attack Timeline." National 9/11 Memorial. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Feb. 2013 <http://timeline.national911memorial.org/#/Explore/2>
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