by people and debris falling from the upper floors.
there. Those who survived struggled to evacuate themselves in darkness,
assisting civilians as they exited the concourse in all directions.
The collapse of the South Tower forced the evacuation of the PAPD com-
mand post on West and Vesey, compelling PAPD officers to move north.
There is no evidence that PAPD officers without WTC Command radios
received an evacuation order by radio. Some of these officers in the North
Tower decided to evacuate, either on their own or in consultation with other
first responders they came across. Some greatly slowed their own descent in
order to assist nonambulatory civilians.
FDNY Chief of Department, the Port Authority Police Department Superin-
tendent, and many of their senior staff were killed. Incredibly, twelve firefight-
ers, one PAPD officer, and three civilians who were descending stairwell B of
the North Tower survived its collapse.
the largest loss of life of any emergency response agency in history. The PAPD
suffered 37 fatalities--the largest loss of life of any police force in history.The
NYPD suffered 23 fatalities--the second largest loss of life of any police force
in history, exceeded only by the number of PAPD officers lost the same day.
command post at the Police Academy. Over the coming hours, weeks, and
months, thousands of civilians and city, state, and federal employees devoted
themselves around the clock to putting New York City back on its feet.
remembered as a singular challenge and an extraordinary national story.Yet the
calamity at the World Trade Center that same morning included catastrophic
damage 1,000 feet above the ground that instantly imperiled tens of thousands
of people.The two experiences are not comparable. Nonetheless, broader les-