File No. 9110076

WORLD TRADE CENTER TASK FORCE INTERVIEW

EMS CAPTAIN MARK STONE

Interview Date: October 12, 2001

Transcribed by Elisabeth F. Nason

M. STONE

MS. BASTEDENBECK: Today's date is October

12, 2001. The time now is 850 hours. I'm at

Battalion 8. My name is Christine Bastedenbeck of

the New York City Fire Department. I'm conducting

an interview with the following individual.

Q. Please state your name rank, title and

assignment.

A. Mark Stone, Captain, Commanding Officer, EMS,

Battalion 8. Day of incident, unit DC 01.

Q. Also present at this interview is --

A. Christopher Eccleston of the New York City

Fire Department, World Trade Center Task Force.

Q. Captain Stone, I would like you to tell us

about the events of the morning of September 11, 2001.

A. Well, just before the incident was

transmitted, we were preparing to move the station into

our new trailers, because they were going to destroy

our old station. We were at the trailers when the MERV

operator, who was with me, informed me of the

incident. He said that a plane hit the World Trade

Center.

Q. Can you just tell me the MERV's operator's

name?

A. That was Rick Perez. So I was with a member

M. STONE

of executive administration, Mr. Dave Harney, and all

of my equipment would have been located at Division 1

down on pier 36. I asked Dave if he could give me a

ride down there. His vehicle doesn't have any lights

or sirens, it's a regular sedan, so we jumped in the

car and we took off. We were heading down the FDR

Drive and listening to it and it seemed pretty chaotic

already, the Lieutenant giving his first report, that

he wasn't even on the scene, that he saw heavy smoke

from the Trade Center.

At one point the Trade Center became visible

to me. My first thought was oh, my god, a plane really

hit the World Trade Center. I used my cellphone and I

called RCC to make sure I was logged onto show me a

route to the Trade Center. I called the Division to

have my aide for the day-to-day, Gregg Brady, get the

truck ready, make sure he had all my equipment so that

we were set to go when I got there.

It was interesting later on I don't even know

why. I ran upstairs and I grabbed extra cell phone

batteries, which I never do. It was pretty

interesting. We got in the truck, listening to reports

coming in on Citywide and we ended up taking the

Battery Park Tunnel underneath to come up on the West

M . STONE

S t r e e t s i d e o f t h e i n c i d e n t . We came up r i g h t o u t o f

t h e t u n n e l . I was l o o k i n g up t o s e e i f I c o u l d do a

l i t t l e more i n i t i a l s i z e up. Tha t i s when I saw t h e

second p l a n e h i t t h e b u i l d i n g . I j u s t watched i t

coming i n .

I s e e t h a t t h e p l a n e h i t and I ' m r e a l l y

t h i n k i n g f o r t h e s a f e t y o f t h e members t h a t we g o t

o p e r a t i n g a l r e a d y , L i e u t e n a n t D 'Avi la d i d a g r e a t job .

He n o t i f i e d everybody i t was a h a r d h a t o p e r a t i o n and

he s t a r t e d s e t t i n g up t h e i n c i d e n t command sys tem f o r

t h i s e v e n t , which l a t e r on j u s t had t o be reworked many

t i m e s .

E v e r y t h i n g was c o m p l e t e l y g r i d l o c k e d a t t h e

mouth o f t h e B a t t e r y Tunnel , s o I had t o g e t o u t o f t h e

t r u c k a t t h a t p o i n t . I t o l d my a i d e when you f r e e i t

up, p a r k t h e v e h i c l e and meet me a t t h e command p o s t .

I a c t u a l l y walked up from t h e B a t t e r y Tunnel and when

I ' m wa lk ing up, I ' m t r y i n g t o watch w h a t ' s go ing on,

g e t a good p i c t u r e o f t h e a r e a .

Some p e o p l e , i n s t e a d o f wa lk ing a l o n g

b u i l d i n g s , were i n t h e midd le o f t h e s t r e e t . I

d i r e c t e d them t o t h e s i d e . The cops were d o i n g a good

job . I t was p r e t t y good e v a c u a t i o n go ing on a t t h a t

moment. O r d e r l y , t h e r e w e r e n ' t many p e o p l e who were

M. STONE

hysterical. No patients were presenting themselves

south, so things were really moving along.

I got up to the front of the building and

took a better look. I heard Lieutenant D'Avila was on

the opposite side.

Q. Which building was that?

A. I was approaching number 1 World Trade

Center, because that's where I knew he was, on the

other side towards Vesey from listening to the radio.

I was approaching number 1 World Trade Center, because

I was going go into the lobby of the building where the

command post was being set up.

I knew there were other officers coming in

and there were many senior officers coming in. I

wanted to see what I was going to be confronted with

before I predetermined in my mind that I would be

taking command of the incident.

I'm looking along the buildings and naturally

glass and debris is flying from the building, but it

was really clear that if you walked along the side of

the building, you were fine getting in. There weren't

-- naturally everything is a safety issue at that

point, but it was really clear going in. If you stayed

along the side of the building, you would be okay,

M . STONE

because e v e r y t h i n g was f a l l i n g o u t more i n t o t h e

s t r e e t .

I made i t i n t o t h e lobby a t t h e command p o s t

and Chief Gombo was j u s t a r r i v e d a s w e l l . We met

t o g e t h e r r e a l l y q u i c k and we de te rmined t h a t we would

need a few ambulance crews i n s i d e and we would s t a r t

s e t t i n g up a t r i a g e a r e a i n t h e lobby o f t h e b u i l d i n g .

He asked me t o i d e n t i f y a p l a c e r e a l l y q u i c k . There

was an a r e a t h a t was s e t o f f t h a t w a s n ' t b e i n g hand led

by t h e command p o s t . I t was r e a l l y a t t h e t i m e we

t h o u g h t a s a f e l o c a t i o n . Who was t o know what would

happen l a t e r .

We went back o u t and, mysel f and my a i d e ,

Gregg Brady, we i d e n t i f i e d t h r e e crews, two BLS and an

ALS crew. I remember s p e c i f i c a l l y t h a t I took 9

C h a r l i e , 7 Nora and 11 x- ray . Thank god t h a t a l l t h o s e

guys made i t o u t a l i v e .

Q . Do you remember who t h e p e r s o n n e l on t h o s e

u n i t s were?

A. I remember t h a t 9 C h a r l i e o r 7 Nora. They

a r e b o t h S t . C l a i r e ' s u n i t s and 11 x- ray i s a Lenox

H i l l u n i t . I made s u r e everybody had he lme t s because I

w o u l d n ' t t a k e anybody w i t h o u t one . They d i d s a i d t h e y

d i d . I know from working w i t h t h e s e guys i n t h e f i e l d

M . STONE

t h a t t h e y a r e a l l working crews, t h a t I took some good

crews w i t h u s .

I went back i n t o t h e lobby o f t h e b u i l d i n g

and my a i d e was beh ind me and he came up t o me and he

s a i d Cap, t h e y a r e concerned abou t coming i n t o t h e

b u i l d i n g . I t o l d him, I s a i d , a t t h i s p o i n t , you know,

o r d e r s o n l y go s o f a r . I t o l d him go back . I f t h e y

d o n ' t want t o come i n t o t h e b u i l d i n g , i f t h e y have any

h e s i t a t i o n , go g e t me t h r e e crews t h a t w i l l come i n t o

t h e b u i l d i n g . I t ' s s o r t o f f r u i t l e s s t o s t a r t o r d e r i n g

p e o p l e a t t h a t p o i n t .

We j u s t f i n d t h e v o l u n t e e r s t h a t we can and

i t t u r n s o u t t h e y a l l came i n . We had t h e crews and

t h e n i n s p e a k i n g t o Chief Gombo, I d o n ' t know how he

came up w i t h i t , b u t he s a i d go s c o u t o u t 7 World Trade

C e n t e r f o r me o v e r by OEM. They want t o s e t up a

t r i a g e o v e r t h e r e .

Ra the r t h a n go back o u t th rough t h e

b u i l d i n g s , which I knew what we were f a c i n g s a f e t y

wise , we went th rough t h e complex and we came o u t on

Vesey S t r e e t r i g h t o p p o s i t e 7 World Trade C e n t e r . We

made i t i n t o t h e lobby . There was no problem a t t h a t

p o i n t . We found o u t t h a t 7 World Trade C e n t e r houses

OEM and S e c r e t S e r v i c e and a bunch o f o t h e r a g e n c i e s ,

M . STONE

b u t t h e y were a l l e v a c u a t e d a t t h a t p o i n t .

They s h u t down t h e command c e n t e r and t h e y

were e v a c u a t i n g OEM. Everybody f e l t i t was p r e t t y s a f e

t o be i n t h e lobby o f t h e b u i l d i n g . At t h a t t i m e I met

Chief Pe rugg ia , C a p t a i n Abdo Nahmod, and Richard

Z a r r i l l o , who i s t h e s p e c i a l e v e n t s c o o r d i n a t o r f o r

Chief P e r u g g i a . I spoke w i t h Chief Pe rugg ia r e a l q u i c k

and I l e f t t h e crews w i t h him and he t o l d me t o go

r e p o r t back t o Chief Gombo.

The i n t e r e s t i n g t h i n g t o t h a t i s when I

t a l k e d t o John l a t e r on, a c o u p l e days l a t e r , i f I

would have s t a y e d one second l a t e r and t a l k e d t o him

a n o t h e r second, I would have been i n t h e lobby when t h e

b u i l d i n g c o l l a p s e d . O r i f I would have l e f t him a

second e a r l i e r , I would have been s t a n d i n g n e x t t o

Chief Ganci when t h e b u i l d i n g c o l l a p s e d . There i s a

whole bunch o f f a t e go ing on h e r e .

I went back th rough t h e lobby o f t h e b u i l d i n g

and we were met w i t h a S e c r e t S e r v i c e a g e n t who was

j u s t p h y s i c a l l y e x h a u s t e d from runn ing up t h e

b u i l d i n g s . I t o l d him now i s n o t t h e t i m e t o be

e x h a u s t e d because he t h o u g h t t h a t he was go ing t o be a

p a t i e n t . I t o l d him i f you can e v a c u a t e y o u r s e l f ,

e v a c u a t e y o u r s e l f . Everybody was o u t o f t h e b u i l d i n g .

M . STONE

I made s u r e t h e r e was nobody from EMS s t i l l i n t h e

lobby because we were moving o u r e n t i r e o p e r a t i o n . I

was t h e l a s t one o u t o f 1 World Trade C e n t e r .

I made i t abou t ha l fway a c r o s s West S t r e e t

and I was j u s t s t e p p i n g i n t o t h e s t r e e t o f f t h e c e n t e r

median when I h e a r d what i s go ing t o be i n s t i l l e d i n my

memory f o r e v e r ; a sound t h a t combines a r a i l r o a d c a r ,

an a i r p l a n e , a f i g h t e r j e t and t h u n d e r . I looked up

and I saw t h e World Trade C e n t e r f a l l i n g down. Number

1 World Trade C e n t e r was coming down. Number 2, I

c o u l d n ' t even r e a l l y be s u r e a t t h a t p o i n t . One o f t h e

b u i l d i n g s was f a l l i n g on my head. I s a i d oh, my god.

You r e a l l y o n l y had a s p l i t second t o make a d e c i s i o n .

I c o u l d have r a n l e f t , I c o u l d have r a n r i g h t , which

would have been n o r t h o r s o u t h on West S t r e e t , b u t I

looked r i g h t i n f r o n t o f me and I was l o o k i n g a t t h e

command p o s t where I saw a l l t h e s e n i o r C h i e f s . I saw

Chief Kowalczyk. I saw Chief Gombo and t h e r e was, i n

t h e American Express b u i l d i n g , i n t h e World F i n a n c i a l

C e n t e r , t h e r e was a c t u a l l y an underground g a r a g e and I

d o n ' t know why I chose t h a t g a r a g e , b u t I chose t o run

s t r a i g h t ahead f o r t h e g a r a g e . I must have made i t i n

-- I d o n ' t know whether I was i n 10, 20, 30, 50, 100

f e e t . I know I w a s n ' t i n f a r , b u t a l l o f a sudden j u s t

M. STONE

a woosh and a thrush, just, I started getting hit by

debris. I got picked up and started being thrown. We

were tripping over each other; firemen, Chiefs,

Captains, Lieutenants, EMTs. I don't know if there

were any EMTs, I should not say that.

We just got thrown, and everything went black

and it was almost silent. Right at that moment I saw

my two kids. I saw my father who passed away. I was

actually in the air flying along and it was only, I

guess, maybe a second, and I said to myself my god,

that's it, it's over, because it was black and it was

silent.

Then I hit the ground. Then stuff was just

piling on top of me. As soon as I hit, I fell on my

shoulder. I got an excruciating pain. So I said to

myself -- this is all within a second this is going on

through my mind. I said to myself, I said, you are not

dead because there is no pain in heaven. I feel this

excruciating pain running down my arm. Now I'm getting

hit in the back of my head and everything and thank god

I had my helmet on.

Another interesting thing was that I wore my

turnout coat that day. I don't wear my turnout coat

too often. Forever I will wear my turnout coat every

M. STONE

day. I wore my turnout coat, so everything was just

hitting me in the back. I said all right I'm not dead,

because I'm not in heaven. Then I said wait a second.

Maybe I'm in hell. Right at that moment I just decided

there's no way I'm staying in hell. I don't belong

here. I just stayed down for a another few seconds. I

know that was a conscious decision I made just to stay

down and try and let things subside a little bit.

It was still pitch black. Dust was flying.

I couldn't breathe at that point. I couldn't see

anything. I couldn't hear anybody else around me, so

I'm just assuming that there really is nobody else

around me, that, you know, the worst has come. I

didn't want to come to that realization yet. While I'm

thinking it, I didn't want to believe it.

I waited another few seconds and then I -- it

was sort of like it subsided a little bit, because I

didn't hear any more rumble, but it was still quiet. I

managed to get up, clean some stuff off me and start

figuring that I had to search my way out of here. I

think of a few things really quick. Back to years and

years and years ago when I went to basic fire training

in Suffolk County Fire Academy, I said you know what I

got to do. The first thing I got to do is I got to

M. STONE

breathe, otherwise I will be dead in no time. So I

actually took my head and I took my turnout coat and I

disengaged. I pulled the snaps off and I disengaged my

liner and everybody always made fun of me because I

always left my full liner in the coat even in the

summer. I disengaged the liner and I actually used

that to shield me to breathe. Probably one of the two

things that saved my life.

The other was after we started going I

remembered that coming from SOD, you always had Nomex

hoods, because when we suited up we had to wear hoods.

I said, well, I got my hood in my pocket. I pulled my

hood out and I used that also. So I had at that point,

which was a double filter, to allow me to breathe. So

it had to be like -- I'm estimating, probably another

10 minutes, that I couldn't find anybody. I was just

-- I guess sort of just wandering around in there,

just trying to find my way out.

Then I saw a light and it was a fireman. He

was calling out to people. I said yes, I'm over here.

Now it's just the two of us. We started moving down.

We made a pact that we were both getting out of there

alive. I don't know who this guy was. I believe that

he saved my life, because without that light, without

M . STONE

t h e two o f us r e a s s u r i n g each o t h e r , I ' m n o t q u i t e s u r e

I would have made i t o u t o f t h e r e . I would l o v e t o

know who he was. The two o f us t o g e t h e r , we s a i d we

s t a y t o g e t h e r no m a t t e r what happens .

Another few minu tes l a t e r we found a n o t h e r

f i r e f i g h t e r , a n o t h e r f i r e f i g h t e r . Nobody was i n j u r e d .

My s h o u l d e r w a s n ' t r e a l l y a conce rn a t t h a t p o i n t . I

had s p r a i n e d my knee, I had h u r t my s h o u l d e r , b u t t h a t

w a s n ' t l i k e a conce rn . We found a few more guys . I

d o n ' t know how l o n g i t was. I t was a w h i l e , b u t

e v e r y t h i n g was s t i l l p i t c h b l a c k . Nobody c o u l d b r e a t h e

down t h e r e . A few f i r e f i g h t e r s had masks. They were

p a s s i n g them o f f t o h e l p some p e o p l e o u t . Some f i r emen

d i d n ' t have masks. There was a r e a l s p i r i t o f -- t h i s

was a t t h e t i m e l i k e 5 o r 6 guys, t h a t we were j u s t

f i g h t i n g f o r o u r l i v e s .

I d o n ' t know, i t c o u l d have been two minu tes ,

i t c o u l d have been two h o u r s . I t c o u l d have been 20

m i n u t e s . Bes t guess t h a t I can imagine was l i k e 20

m i n u t e s . We s e a r c h e d o u r way and we had an o r d e r l y

s e a r c h t h a t we a l l j u s t h e l d on t o each o t h e r and we

found a w a l l and we e s s e n t i a l l y j u s t s e a r c h e d o u r way

o u t o f t h e b u i l d i n g .

These guys, everybody j u s t s o r t o f f e l l back

M . STONE

t o t r a i n i n g t h a t t h e y had l e a r n e d o v e r t h e y e a r s and

you know, t h a t ' s how we s e a r c h e d o u r way o u t o f t h e r e .

We found a s t a i r w e l l and t h e n we found a whole bunch o f

more f i r e f i g h t e r s . I guess i t was abou t 2 0 o f us t h e n .

Q . The s t a i r w e l l , was t h i s lit and e v e r y t h i n g ?

A. Yes, a c t u a l l y t h a t was t h e o n l y t h i n g t h a t

was l it , which was p r e t t y s t r a n g e . I imagine from t h e

emergency l i g h t i n g . So we walked up and t h e door -- I

t h i n k t h e y s a i d i t had t o be f o r c e d . I w a s n ' t s u r e ,

because we were i n t h e s t a i r w e l l f o r a minu te . We were

t a l k i n g t o each o t h e r and we s a i d , you a l l r i g h t , you

a l l r i g h t , you a l l r i g h t .

We made i t o u t o f t h e s t a i r w e l l . I t l e d us

r i g h t o u t , I want t o s a y t h a t we were -- we a c t u a l l y

came o u t t h e back o f t h e F i n a n c i a l C e n t e r , because I

was l o o k i n g a t t h e Hudson a t t h a t p o i n t . T h a t ' s where

we walked, j u s t r i g h t t o t h e w a t e r , which w a s n ' t f a r .

At t h a t p o i n t I s a i d o u t l o u d , I s a i d , okay,

l e t me g e t my t h o u g h t s t o g e t h e r . We g o t t o go back t o

work. One o f t h e f i r emen looked a t me and he s a i d a r e

you s t u p i d . I s a i d y e s . I n t h i s c a s e I must b e . I

remembered c l e a r l y a t t h a t p o i n t -- I mean some p e o p l e

were jumping on b o a t s a t t h a t p o i n t , because t h e r e were

b o a t s l i n e d up a l o n g t h e Hudson. People were j u s t

M . STONE

jumping on b o a t s and I t h o u g h t o f d o i n g t h a t a t a

p o i n t .

But I remember s p e c i f i c a l l y t h a t I remembered

Chief Kowalczyk, t h a t I l e f t -- t h a t he was t h e l a s t

p e r s o n t h a t I r e a l l y p h y s i c a l l y saw. I ended up making

my way back t o Vesey S t r e e t . I was a c t u a l l y o v e r a t

West End Avenue. I s t h a t West End?

Q . Nor th End?

A. Nor th End, r i g h t . I was a t Nor th End Avenue

and Vesey S t r e e t , where I met w i t h Chief Gold fa rb . At

t h a t p o i n t we d i d n ' t know r e a l l y what t h e outcome o f

t h i s whole t h i n g was go ing t o be , b u t we d e c i d e d r e a l

q u i c k t h a t we needed t o p u t t o g e t h e r a p l a n because

t h e r e i s s t i l l a monumental i n c i d e n t ahead o f u s . I

was j u s t t r y i n g t o keep my composure a t t h a t p o i n t ,

because I s t i l l had a job t o do . Being a C a p t a i n ,

t h e r e a r e s t i l l many p e o p l e t h a t a r e under me who a r e

go ing t o l o o k t o me f o r gu idance and s u p p o r t . There i s

a l s o C h i e f s t h a t r e a l l y need me t o f u n c t i o n .

So I took a few seconds , I took a few deep

b r e a t h s and I t o l d Chief Gold fa rb t h a t I remember

l e a v i n g Chief Kowalczyk and I need t o go back and f i n d

him, because we s t i l l h a v e n ' t s e e n him. Again t h e t i m e

frame w a s n ' t much a f t e r t h e b u i l d i n g c o l l a p s e d . S t i l l

M. STONE

I don't even remember which one collapsed first. I'm

sort of, I guess to this point, one and two was

immaterial. It was one of the towers. I believe it

was two that came down first, because right after that,

I told Chief Goldfarb, I am going back to find Chief

Kowalczyk. I know where I left him. I know where he

should have been, because we still haven't seen him.

We haven't heard from him.

At that point my aide, who I'm thinking all

along, because he was behind me, collapsed and I didn't

know. I just assumed that he was dead. That -- you

know, now I am by myself. He popped up and then there

was a quick moment of embrace, hugging and again

praying to god at that point. Like someone said, there

were no atheists down at Ground Zero.

I said okay. Now we are going to go find

Chief Kowalczyk. We went back around and I was

standing in the corner of West Street and Vesey Street

where I met Chief Basile, Chief Cassano, Chief Hayden,

Chief Pfeifer, Chief Pfeifer from the first, Chief

Hayden, Fire Division 1 commander, Chief Basile, EMS

Division 2 commander. Chief Cassano at the time was

the Citywide Tour Commander. We were briefly speaking

for a second.

M. STONE

We were standing in the corner of West Street

and Vesey Street, and I heard that rumble again, that

roar, that thunder, and I said dear god, I almost died

once. God can't be letting this happen to me again. I

looked up. This is how I know 2 fell first. I looked

up and it was happening again. 1 World Trade Center

was falling on my head now.

I said holy cow, this really can't be

happening. Again you have that decision, do I run

north on West Street or do I run to the water. I said

screw this, I'm just -- I'm going for a swim in the

Hudson. That's where I'm going to run. It hit this

time, but the difference was when it hit was because we

were outside, it was just a deep dark gray rather than

pitch black. Things were hitting us, but it was more

dust, just more of the construction dust at this

point.

I was still running but I couldn't see and we

were tripping and while we were running, I thought I

lost Chief Basile this time because we were running

side by side. I later found out that he actually

ducked into a doorway, but I just kept running until I

hit North End Avenue again and then all I did was I

just took a sharp right and it all just sort of just

M . STONE

p a s s e d me. I was s t a n d i n g t h e r e a lmos t i n t h e c l e a r .

E v e r y t h i n g was much t h i n n e r , t h e d u s t and you c o u l d

b r e a t h e o v e r t h e r e .

We were s o r t o f s a f e a t t h a t p o i n t . T h a t ' s

when Chief Kowalczyk emerged. He had come around from

t h e o t h e r s i d e . Chief Gombo was t h e r e . Chief B a s i l e

was t h e r e . We found o u t t h a t he ducked i n t o t h e

doorway. We were a l l s o r t o f r e a s s e m b l i n g t h e n . We

were go ing t o s t a r t moving up t o S t u y v e s a n t High

School , and I s a i d t o him, I s a i d I d o n ' t t h i n k t h a t ' s

f a r enough n o r t h f o r u s . I s a i d we r e a l l y need t o move

t h i s t h i n g n o r t h .

We a l l j u s t k i cked around where we were go ing

t o go. I s a i d why d o n ' t we j u s t go up t o t h e p i e r s .

I t ' s wide open, and Chief Gombo a g r e e d t h a t t h a t would

be a good p l a n , t h a t we c o u l d s t a r t r e a s s e m b l i n g up

t h e r e and t r y t o f i g u r e o u t who was dead o r a l i v e ,

because we knew t h e r e were go ing t o be numerous d e a t h s

a t t h a t p o i n t .

You a r e runn ing i n t o s o many p e o p l e d u r i n g

t h e t i m e th rough t h e whole t h i n g . I mean I c a n ' t even

r e a l l y remember how many p e o p l e I saw. At t h a t p o i n t

we s t a r t e d -- t h e MERV was o v e r a t Nor th End Avenue and

Vesey. I d o n ' t even remember t h e b u i l d i n g number. I

M . STONE

t h i n k i t was a h o t e l a c t u a l l y . We s t a r t e d p u t t i n g

t o g e t h e r a t r i a g e a r e a o v e r t h e r e and we ended up

moving i t . MERV r e l o c a t e d .

I walked up towards Murray S t r e e t and t h e n I

walked up t o t h e West S i d e Highway and I j u s t t u r n e d

around and looked back a t t h e Trade C e n t e r and I s a i d

oh, my god, because I ' m s u r e t h a t everybody has h e a r d a

m i l l i o n t i m e s , whoever i n t h e i r r i g h t mind would have

t h o u g h t t h a t t h e World Trade C e n t e r would e v e r f a l l

down.

I was a t t h e f i r s t one, t h e f i r s t i n c i d e n t i n

' 9 3 . I t h i n k we were a l l l u l l e d i n t o r e a l l y a f a l s e

s e n s e o f s e c u r i t y t h a t t h e y c o u l d n ' t t a k e i t down w i t h

a bomb, t h a t t h i s would n e v e r happen. A l o t o f emotion

h i t me a t t h a t p o i n t . I saw Rabbi Birnhack a t t h a t

p o i n t . He s a i d a p r a y e r f o r me.

I s t a r t e d wa lk ing n o r t h on West S t r e e t . I

d i d n ' t know how f a r I was go ing t o go, b u t I was -- I

j u s t d i d n ' t know what I was go ing t o do a t t h a t p o i n t .

I d i d n ' t know what my t h o u g h t s were . I was j u s t s o r t o f

i n a d a z e . Two 1 1 0 s t o r y b u i l d i n g s f e l l on my head s o

t o speak . I was t r a p p e d b e f o r e . I d o n ' t l i k e u s i n g

t h e word t r a p p e d because t h e f a l l e n f i r e f i g h t e r s ,

p o l i c e o f f i c e r s , t h e y a r e t r a p p e d , and t h e y a r e dead .

M . STONE

T h a t ' s n o t a good word. I was j u s t e n t a n g l e d f o r a

l i t t l e w h i l e . Then I was a b l e t o thank god e x t r i c a t e

mysel f from, you know. I mean I l o s t a l o t o f f r i e n d s ,

a l o t o f p e o p l e I worked w i t h o v e r t h e y e a r s , coming

from SOD. I worked w i t h a l o t o f guys i n s p e c i a l t y

u n i t s . Being i n Manhattan I worked w i t h a l o t o f

guys . The names o f -- you work w i t h a l l t h e B a t t a l i o n

C h i e f s and a l l t h e f i r s t l i n e B a t t a l i o n C h i e f s who g o t

k i l l e d . T e r r y Ha t ton , from Rescue 1 who I know f o r

many y e a r s , he g o t k i l l e d . There were many o t h e r guys,

Dennis Moj ica , a l l t h e r e s t from Rescue 1 who we d e a l

w i t h on a r e g u l a r b a s i s , because b e i n g a C a p t a i n , a l o t

o f f i r s t l i n e s u p e r v i s o r s d e a l w i t h Engine companies,

b u t I knew t h e s e guys . I know a l o t o f t h e s e guys .

Couple o f guys I grew up w i t h .

One happens t o be a p o l i c e o f f i c e r , J o e

Viggiano, who was i n t r u c k 2 . His b r o t h e r John

Viggiano was a F i r e f i g h t e r i n Ladder 132. They a r e

b o t h s t i l l m i s s i n g . J u s t a t remendous amount o f p e o p l e

t h a t I would f i n d o u t abou t l a t e r . - ) -

I was w i t h my a i d e Gregg. We were j u s t

M. STONE

walking north. He says what are we going to do. I

said I don't know, just give me a few minutes. I got

to get a few minutes. I just got to put this together

in my head.

Then I met with Chief Hirth, who is Division

1 commander and Grace Cacciola, Lieutenant in the

Division, were in the Academy or so I thought, in

refresher. Right at that moment they appeared. I just

grabbed Grace and I hugged him. We both cried. I

didn't know they were there, they thought I was dead.

Because just my personality and where I have been in

SOD, they assumed that I was in the building. The only

reason I got out was God has determined that it's not

my time yet.

We just held onto each other for a few

minutes. Then we said okay. What are we going to do.

It was time to head up to the piers. We started

regrouping. We head up to the piers and they started

putting things together. At that point I was pretty

well limping because my knee was hurting me and my

shoulder. I was still in a lot of pain. So Chief

Hirth actually ended up driving me in a command car.

We had a command car. He drove me over to Bellevue

Hospital where I was evaluated. We found out nothing

M. STONE

was broken. It was some just sprains and stuff. They

took a chest x-ray because I must have eaten 50 or a

hundred pounds of construction dust, asbestos, and

everything else that was in the air that day.

They said -- Bellevue signed me off from

work. I said that's great, but there is still a

monumental job to do. I mean we weren't even close to

getting a hand on anything at that point. So I took a

few minutes. I washed my face. I cleaned myself up.

I put my turnout coat and helmet on. Back to the Trade

Center I went.

That was pretty much the morning. I was

there probably until 4:30, quarter to 5 the next

morning, at which time I was released. That's the

morning of September 11. Ironically, that's my

sister's birthday. She is a police officer. She was

off that day, thank God. Her birthday is never going

to be the same, which is just -- we are two years and

51 weeks apart. My birthday is a week later and it was

a big thing.

I got home that morning and after I got on to

West Street, early, before we walked down to Chelsea

and I went to the hospital, a few interesting things

happened. Everything happens for a reason, fate. My

M. STONE

wife, who is a Lieutenant on our job, she is EMS

Lieutenant, she knew that I was there. Right after the

first building collapsed, I picked up my cell phone

along with that 450 trillion other people and nobody

could get any cell sites and I said I got to try at

least to let her know that I'm okay, because I'm sure

she was going to be panicking.

My cell phone went through the first time.

It happened again the second time and I called her and

I said I'm okay the second time. My son was playing

and I said don't bother him. We walked up to West

Street, right after I saw Grace and I called my wife

back and I said I need to talk to my son. He is just

coming up on 3 years old. I said I need to talk to him

and he is so innocent to the world and he just said, he

said Daddy, what are you doing. I said to him, I said

Daddy's at work now, but you know I love you. He said

okay Daddy, I will see you later.

That was -- I have another son who is six

months old, so I couldn't talk to him, but that's what

got me through. That's what got me through. He still

asks me every day, he says you know, is Daddy going to

work. I says yes, Daddy is going to work. He says you

coming home? And he knows. He knows that something

M . STONE

happened.

I ' m n o t q u i t e s u r e he knows what and I p r a y

t o God t h a t he n e v e r e v e r has t o know f o r many y e a r s .

God i s good a l l t h e t i m e . God b rough t me home t o my

boys . We go on. There was a l o t o f o t h e r s t u f f ,

r e a c t i o n s o f p e o p l e , d i r e c t i o n t h a t was g i v e n . J u s t

happened t o f i n d o u t t h a t t h e t h r e e i n i t i a l crews t h a t

I b rough t i n made i t o u t . People t h a t were c l o s e r made

i t o u t .

I d i d s e e C a r l o s L i l l o f o r a w h i l e . I

remember he was l o o k i n g f o r h i s w i f e . The l a s t I saw

him, he was s t i l l l o o k i n g f o r h e r . He was o u t s i d e

somewhere. I d o n ' t remember e x a c t l y where I saw him,

b u t I remember I t a l k e d t o him because I happen t o know

him, because my w i f e worked w i t h him a t a s t a t i o n y e a r s

ago. I p r a y f o r him and h i s f a m i l y and R i c a r d o ' s

f a m i l y , a l l t h e o t h e r f a m i l i e s . I p r a y f o r them e v e r y

day .

I t ' s j u s t a s a f i e l d commander, you p l a y o v e r

t h e d e c i s i o n s you make e v e r y day . Did I make t h e r i g h t

d e c i s i o n . I p l a y e d i t o v e r a m i l l i o n t i m e s i n my head

and I s a i d , I keep s a y i n g t o mysel f I d o n ' t t h i n k g i v e n

t h e same s c e n a r i o tomorrow e v e r y t h i n g t h a t I know i n

a l l my y e a r s o f t r a i n i n g , my command e x p e r i e n c e , what

M. STONE

would I have done differently. I can't come up with

anything, I don't think.

Nobody in the world, nobody ever would ever

have thought these buildings were coming down. That's

what we do. We go to lobbies and do triage and upper

floors and do forward triage. We just make decisions.

I hope I made good decisions. I know that thank God,

nobody who was under my command that day suffered any

ill effects. I know because I researched that

everybody went home okay at the end of the day. That

was pretty important to me.

There's a lot of other things that go through

my head, but that's pretty much the bulk of what went

on that morning.

Q. Anything else you want to add, any final

thoughts?

A. No, I just -- every day I just pray that this

new war on terrorism -- I pray to God that our

President, President Bush, gets us through this. Mayor

Giuliani did a fantastic job, still does a fantastic

job, I pray for our Commissioner, who is tired

himself. I see him every day on TV. I have seen him a

few times in person since then. He is a tired man, but

he has given everything. There is nothing more that he

M. STONE

can give and I just pray that God gives him

-- continues to give him the strength.

Chief Nigro, who is now our Chief of the

Department. Chief Cassano, Chief of Operations, Chief

McCracken, Chief of EMS, I just pray that they continue

to have the strength to take us through these really

tough times. That senior officials. I knew Chief

Ganci. He knew me. Not so much on a personal level

but more professional. That I pray for their families,

Commissioner Feehan, Chief Feehan. Recently with them

just a week before, at a dedication for the Central

Synagogue that was burned down a few years ago. Chief

Burns. All the Chiefs, I pray that God gives them

strength to take us forward and that if there was

anything that could have tipped us off that this was

going to happen, we find it and that we learn from it.

I don't see any mistakes. We just have the strength as

leaders; myself, that we go forward.

Good leaders and good commanders and God

gives us that strength. So we will get through this.

I'm sure we will. I just hope that history looks

kindly on us. A lot of people and I don't even really

include myself, but a lot of people. I saw strong men

have to cry that day. I see strong leaders who are the

M. STONE

rock of this organization who are the backbone of this

organization, get tired.

I just -- I pray God gives them a little

break, that they can take a breath and step back and

just get a break. They all need it. They are tired.

They give their all. I just hope they find some peace

and rest.

I guess that's about it.

MS. BASTEDENBECK: Okay. That concludes our

interview with Captain Mark Stone. Thank you for

your time. The time is now 926 hours.