age as a result of the collapse of the South Tower.
The 911 calls placed from most locations in the North Tower grew increas-
ingly desperate as time went on.As late as 10:28, people remained alive in some
locations, including on the 92nd and 79th floors. Below the impact zone, it is
likely that most civilians who were physically and emotionally capable of
descending had exited the tower.The civilians who were nearing the bottom
of stairwell C were assisted out of the building by NYPD, FDNY, and PAPD
personnel. Others, who experienced difficulty evacuating, were being helped
by first responders on lower floors.
Immediate Impact of the Collapse of the South Tower.
and the staging area on West Street south of Liberty all ceased to operate upon
the collapse of the South Tower, as did EMS staging areas, because of their prox-
imity to the building.
from the overall command post on the west side of West Street took shelter in
the underground parking garage at 2 World Financial Center and were not
available to influence FDNY operations for the next ten minutes or so.
debris coming up the stairs and observed that the power was lost and emer-
gency lights activated. Nevertheless, those firefighters not standing near win-
dows facing south had no way of knowing that the South Tower had collapsed;
many surmised that a bomb had exploded, or that the North Tower had suf-
fered a partial collapse on its upper floors.
patch channel by an FDNY boat on the Hudson River; but to our knowledge,
no one at the site received this information, because every FDNY command
post had been abandoned--including the overall command post, which
included the Field Comm van. Despite his lack of knowledge of what had hap-
pened to the South Tower, a chief in the process of evacuating the North Tower
lobby sent out an order within a minute of the collapse:"Command to all units
in Tower 1, evacuate the building."Another chief from the North Tower lobby
soon followed with an additional evacuation order issued on tactical 1.