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The first NYPD ESU team entered the West Street­level lobby of the North
Tower and prepared to begin climbing at about 9:15
A
.
M
. They attempted to
check in with the FDNY chiefs present, but were rebuffed. OEM personnel
did not intervene.The ESU team began to climb the stairs. Shortly thereafter,
a second NYPD ESU team entered the South Tower.The OEM field respon-
der present ensured that they check in with the FDNY chief in charge of the
lobby, and it was agreed that the ESU team would ascend and support FDNY
personnel.
140
A third ESU team subsequently entered the North Tower at its elevated
mezzanine lobby level and made no effort to check in with the FDNY com-
mand post.A fourth ESU team entered the South Tower. By 9:59, a fifth ESU
team was next to 6 WTC and preparing to enter the North Tower.
141
By approximately 9:50, the lead ESU team had reached the 31st floor,
observing that there appeared to be no more civilians still descending. This
ESU team encountered a large group of firefighters and administered oxygen
to some of them who were exhausted.
142
At about 9:56, the officer running the ESU command post on Church and
Vesey streets had a final radio communication with one of the ESU teams in
the South Tower. The team then stated that it was ascending via stairs, was
somewhere in the 20s, and was making slow progress because of the numer-
ous descending civilians crowding the stairwell.
143
Three plainclothes NYPD officers without radios or protective gear had
begun ascending either stairwell A or C of the North Tower.They began check-
ing every other floor above the 12th for civilians. Only occasionally did they
find any, and in those few cases they ordered the civilians to evacuate imme-
diately.While checking floors, they used office phones to call their superiors.
In one phone call an NYPD chief instructed them to leave the North Tower,
but they refused to do so.As they climbed higher, they encountered increasing
smoke and heat. Shortly before 10:00 they arrived on the 54th floor.
144
Throughout this period (9:03 to 9:59), a group of NYPD and Port Author-
ity police officers, as well as two Secret Service agents, continued to assist civil-
ians leaving the North Tower. They were positioned around the mezzanine
lobby level of the North Tower, directing civilians leaving stairwells A and C
to evacuate down an escalator to the concourse.The officers instructed those
civilians who seemed composed to evacuate the complex calmly but rapidly.
Other civilians exiting the stairs who were either injured or exhausted collapsed
at the foot of these stairs; officers then assisted them out of the building.
145
When civilians reached the concourse, another NYPD officer stationed at
the bottom of the escalator directed them to exit through the concourse to the
north and east and then out of the WTC complex.This exit route ensured that
civilians would not be endangered by falling debris and people on West Street,
on the plaza between the towers, and on Liberty Street.
146
Some officers positioned themselves at the top of a flight of stairs by 5 WTC
that led down into the concourse, going into the concourse when necessary
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