Calif. paramedic recalls helping firefighters on 9/11

Sandra Bradley remembers giving breathing treatments to firefighters who were 'irrevocably lost'

By Judith Prieve
The East County Times

OAKLEY, Calif. — Sandra "Sam" Bradley has been a paramedic for 30 years and disaster responder for half that time, but she will never forget the night that she was asked to assist firefighters in the center of the ground zero digging operation.

The Oakley resident responded to what was known as "the pile" with a nurse to set up some advanced life support, and the area was considered sacred ground to Bradley and other rescue volunteers. Wearing a double-filter respirator, she and her partner were asked to descend into the hole.

"We were in fact in the deepest, darkest place on the planet at that time. We felt the same thing. We weren't alone," she said. "At one point, the firefighters walked up to the top and were looking down on us. The mist from the smoke was coming up around the firefighters. We knew that they felt that they had failed to do what they had went there to do."

Although experiences at ground zero were unique to each volunteer, Bradley said this was her most compelling moment. Bradley decided to share some of her stories at ground zero when she saw something in the Journal of Emergency Services magazine asking for contributors to a book titled "To the Rescue: Stories from Healthcare Workers at the Scenes of Disasters." She will talk about this book, which was published late last year, during a signing event at Barnes & Noble in Antioch from 4 to 6 p.m. Saturday.

Bradley is a self-proclaimed "disaster junkie" and has served as the training officer for the federal Disaster Medical Assistance Team, CA-6, for a decade. She is a field supervisor and instructor at Los Medanos College to EMTs and firefighters, but she said that no natural disaster was quite like 9/11.

About six weeks after she arrived at the scene of the disaster, Bradley remembers giving breathing treatments to firefighters who were "irrevocably lost"; she was concerned about their physical health as they were already suffering from respiratory problems because they refused to wear the proper breathing apparatus. Bradley was also worried about their emotional well-being.

"It was a pure obsession for them," she explained. "Physiologically and psychologically these people were never going to be the same."

After undergoing a lot of critical incident stress training in her career, Bradley said she knew that these dedicated firefighters would have been digging there to this day to give peace and closure to the families of the victims.

"It was so sad," she said. "We didn't only lose firefighters and the citizens. We also lost part of these people who were trying to make sense of all of it."

One positive thing that came out of Bradley's experiences is a relationship with one of the victim's family members that remains to this day. She and others on her volunteer team befriended the mother of a fallen Marine who was in his 30s and made him an honorary team member after attending his memorial service at St. Patrick's Cathedral in uniform.

They later discovered that he had attended UC San Francisco, which gave his story a local connection to Bradley's team of volunteers from California. He was also an artist and the team members went to a private showing of his work.

"He was an inspiration for us," Bradley said. "He was all of the New York firefighters to us. It reconnected us again."

For more information on the book, check out www.totherescuestories.com .If you go WHAT: Book signing for "To the Rescue: Stories from Healthcare Workers at the Scenes of Disasters" WHEN: 4 to 6 p.m. Jan. 9 WHERE: Barnes & Noble, 5709 Lone Tree Way at Antioch's Slatten Ranch COST: free INFO: More on the book at www.totherescuestories.com

Cancer Kills Another 9/11 Responder

BY WILL VAN SANT and MATTHEW CHAYES - Newsday, Melville, N.Y.
Posted: Mon, 12/28/2009 - 09:19

Jim Ryan, a Kings Park father of three who achieved a lifelong dream when he became a New York City firefighter, died Christmas morning of pancreatic cancer, an illness he believed was caused by his months of service in the toxic dust at Ground Zero. Ryan was 48.

Mike Ryan said his younger brother underwent major surgery after being diagnosed in 2006, determined to beat the disease. For a time he appeared to be winning, Ryan said, but the cancer returned in 2008.

"I used to think he was stubborn," he said. "Then I realized later in life he was unyielding. He just refused to give up."

Mike Ryan said his brother was known to have a fighting spirit and a great sense of humor, on full display the night before he was to have his surgery in May 2006. Jim Ryan's doctor, his brother said, came to check on the patient.

"He said, 'I want to make sure you're game ready,' " Mike Ryan recalled the doctor saying. "And he said, 'I want to make sure you're game ready.' "

Jim Ryan was born in Bellerose, Queens, where he attended elementary school. After graduating from St. Francis Preparatory School in Fresh Meadows, he enrolled at Iona College. He graduated in 1983.

Mike Ryan said his brother worked for an insurance company after college, but was not satisfied. In 1995, he realized his ambition of joining the FDNY.

"When we were kids, our heroes were cops and firemen," Mike said. "And he always wanted to be a fireman. When he got on, my brother became the most content man in the world."

Jim Ryan's first firehouse was Engine Company 320 / Ladder Company 167 on Francis Lewis Boulevard in Queens. It was from there he joined the first responders descending on Ground Zero after the 9/11 attacks.

Mike Ryan said his brother spent six months on the pile at Ground Zero, working in a soup of the "most toxic stuff that you could imagine." His brother, and his brother's surgeon, Mike Ryan said, had no doubt his cancer was connected.

Though the City of New York doesn't consider Jim Ryan's death to have resulted from work done in the line of duty, Mike Ryan said fellow firefighters had showed Jim tributes that are customary for one who had.

In addition to Mike, 50, of Centerport, Jim Ryan is survived by his wife, Magda; two sons, ages 17 and 15, and a daughter, 9; another brother, Bob, 51, of Glendale, Ariz., and a sister, Maureen Miller, 52, of Bellerose.

A wake will continue Monday from 2 to 5 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. at Brueggemann Funeral Home, 522 Larkfield Rd., East Northport. Ryan's funeral will be 11 a.m. Tuesday at Abiding Presence Lutheran Church, Fort Salonga.

McClatchy-Tribune News Service

WikiLeaks releases 573.000 pager intercepts from 9/11 2001.

WikiLeaks releases 573.000 pager intercepts from 9/11 2001.

8:51:31 AM Andrew.Terzakis@pentagon.af.mil|Please call Pentagon Weather|UNCLASSIFIED
         Please call Pentagon Weather.......reference 1030 Meeting.....703-695-0406
         ANDREW J. TERZAKIS, Lt
8:53:44 AM "NYPD Ops Div" <|1 PCT WORLD TRADE CENTER|--- 1 PCT - WORLD TRADE CENTER -           POSSIBLE EXPLOSION WORLD TRADE CENTER BUILDING. LEVEL 3 MOBILIZATION TO CHURCH           AND VESSY. 10:05:57 AM Please don't leave the building. One of the towers just collapsed!           PLease, please be careful. Repeat, 

From 3AM on Wednesday November 25, 2009, until 3AM the following day (US east coast time), WikiLeaks will release over half a million US national text pager intercepts.

The intercepts cover a 24 hour period surrounding the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York and Washington.

To foster a deeper understanding, the messages will be released to the global community "live". That is, the first message, corresponding to 3AM September 11, 2001, five hours before the first attack, will be released at 3AM November 25, 2009 and the last, corresponding to 3AM September 12, 2001 at 3AM November 26, 2009.

To follow the release, please visit http://911.wikileaks.org

911 FDNY witness Tower explosions

World Trade Center Reports---Lieutenant Bill Wall

This interview is getting much harder to find, but it can be located for the time being at archive.org

WTC: This Is Their Story
Firefighters Elevated to Almost Mythic Status
From the April 2002 Firehouse Magazine

We were additional units on the fifth alarm for the south tower. We went right down. We went down West End Avenue and we ran into West Street and just went straight down West Street. We parked about a block up from Vesey.

We saw a lot of smoke and flames in the upper floors. You really couldn’t see the south tower from where we were. We walked down the west side of West Street and we were keeping close to the buildings. And when we got to the Customs House, there was a policeman behind one of the pillars. He jumped out and said we got to get in because they’re tracking another inbound meaning another plane, but we ignored him. We kept going.

We went under the north pedestrian to the west side of West Street. And we made our way down to the south pedestrian bridge, crossed under that and we made our way into the Marriott Hotel. Chief Galvin was behind the desk and he was forming companies into groups. We eventually hooked up with 22 Engine, 13 Truck and, I believe, 21 Engine. And Chief Galvin told us to go to the 40th floor because that’s the lowest report they had a fire. The south tower. We were supposed to follow this guy who worked in the buildings. He was going to lead us to an elevator that still worked. But luckily, the guy who took us to the working elevator took us to the wrong tower. We went to the north tower. Saved our lives. Wrong place at the right time. We never got into the south tower. He took us right to the north tower.

We get into the lobby of the north tower and the first elevator bank, there was one elevator out of the six that still had the lights on, but they couldn’t get it to work. Meanwhile, all the other elevators were blown off their doors. So we tried the next elevator bank of six and they finally got one that worked to the 24th floor. I think it was captain of 21 he went up to check. He went up and he came back down. He went up with his guys and someone from the truck took the elevator. And then the other engine went up in the next load, 22, and on the load after that, the truck was going up. They wanted one of our guys to run the elevators since there was only one truck, so I gave the control radio to Fireman Louie Cacchioli.

It seemed like just as soon as the doors closed, the panel went out. But he had actually gotten to the top floor and the rest of the truck got off. And the last guy getting off was the irons guy, and Louie grabbed him back and says you got to stay with me because I need the tools. And as soon as the doors closed, the power went out and they were stuck in the elevator. It hadn’t moved yet. It was still on the 24th floor. They were able to force their way out pretty easy. They just popped the doors open because the elevator didn’t move yet.

The guy from the truck thought his company went to the right and Louie went to the left. And Louie found the staircase and I think he said he got down about six floors, but the staircase was blocked, so he crossed over and found another staircase and he made it to the lobby. And he had to force the door open at the lobby because it was jammed. He made his way out into the street and he hooked up with the chauffeur just before the second tower came down.

Meanwhile, in the lobby, it seemed like just as soon as the elevator doors closed, the power went out. They just went black. We couldn’t see a damn thing. It turned black and then it started rumbling and the wind and dirt was unbelievable. It was just like a hurricane. It threw me against the wall. Steve Viola said he was hurt and Keith Murphy said he was hurt. Steve lost his helmet, it got blown off his head.

After everything stopped, I looked down and I says count off, you’re supposed to take like a roll call, shout out your name. Everyone shouted out their name and said they were all right. We just like locked arms together and started walking out. There was a building worker there that was going to stay, but Tommy Terilli convinced him to come with us. We still don’t know who he was. He was worried about his job. Tommy Terilli says they don’t pay you enough, come on. When we got out of the elevator lobby, we made the right past the turnstiles and there was also people at the bottom of the escalator coming down. They were looking for a way out, so they grabbed on the line too. The visibility was zero. We got this whole line.

On the way in, I noticed that all the windows in the lobby were blown out, and that it would be a good way out if we needed to – and it was. We had to make a right out of the elevator corridor and then another right. But it was so dark that I bumped into a wall. That’s how bad the visibility was.

We started walking that way and it gradually got lighter, lighter and lighter to where we could see the windows. We went out the windows. We went straight across West Street straight out and then we got across the street and we went up north.

Debris was still falling. You couldn’t see the sky. Maybe you could see like 30 or 40 feet up. And the weirdest thing, you could hear these booms above you. It sounded like bombs going off above you, but it was actually the military jets flying overhead. It was like an eerie feeling. You couldn’t see anything, but you could hear these things going back and forth. It was like a real heavy fog.

We started heading north up West Street looking for ambulances for Murphy and Viola. We found a pumper and our eyes were burning, so we pulled the booster tank, opened the gate and washed our faces down.

Then we made our way north and we saw all the ambulances lined up on Vesey Street. We found an EMS worker and he promised to take good care of Steve and Keith – until he ran away on us. As the other one was coming down, he opened the back door and he took off.

We were on our own. We got them into the ambulance. Tommy Terilli and I started making our way back because now all the Maydays were starting. It was broken up a lot, but you could hear Mayday, Mayday and they were giving locations. So Tommy Terilli and I got some tools. We put our masks on and we headed back down, and we made it to Vesey and West Street. There was a chief directing everybody north saying they were going to regroup and go back in. I went over to him and kind of stressed the Maydays were here and now, and we were talking and that’s when the north tower came down. You heard it, a big snap and a crack. And we looked up and it looked like the whole top just exploded.

Everyone just started heading north. Everyone just ran. We got hit by the wind and the dust and I was running with Jack Ginty. He was running. I caught up to him and we were talking as we were running, what the hell are we doing here, Jack? The dust cloud overtook us and there was a big white Suburban. There was about seven of us behind it huddled. Jerry Riley was there from 22 Truck, me, Jack and a couple of other guys. And it was getting tough to breathe. I had my mask, so we were passing the mask around. You couldn’t see, so whoever was yelling for it, I would like feel their face and just like slap it on their face for a little while. Then feel the next guy’s face and then pass it to him and then take some for myself. My other guy, Tommy Terilli, he dove under a tow truck.

After like the wind and stuff subsided and we realized, all right, there’s nothing to do here, we just got to walk out of it. So we started walking north on West Street and walking and walking and we bumped into something and it turned out to be an apparatus. If you stick your face real close to it, you could see the light flashing. There was just no visibility.

I don’t know how far we got. A water truck showed up, somebody delivered the bottled water, like the five gallons of water, so we started grabbing them off the rigs and started washing our eyes out again. I tried making contact with my control man, but he had dropped his radio. I was trying to make contact with my chauffeur, but I forgot we were on Channel 3 and he was still on Channel 1. After a while, I switched back over to Channel 1 and I was able to contact the chauffeur, and the control man was with him.

They were pushing us up north, up West Street. And we all regrouped by Stuyvesant High School.

As soon as we sat down, I got all the gear off and we’re taking a blow, someone came running out of the high school saying there was a bomb in the building, so we ran further north. That’s pretty much it for the rest of the day. They wouldn’t let us back in.

9.11.2001 - We Will Never Forget

The dead must be remembered, but the living are the monument, who in ordinary times save one another in extraordinary times.

World Trade Center Response

The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 exposed rescue and recovery workers to unprecedented levels of risk for job-related injury, illness, and death. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) responded swiftly to address workers' needs in the aftermath of the attacks. NIOSH quickly sent to Ground Zero dozens of staff who applied their technical expertise to help meet immediate worker protection needs. Currently, NIOSH funds programs to provide medical screening, monitoring, and treatment for responders who served at the WTC site. Links to information about the NIOSH response, and World Trade Center health resources, can be found below. Respiratory Protection for Terrorist Threats and Other Emergencies As we mark eight years since the attacks on the World Trade Center, the NIOSH Science blog summarizes advancements in respiratory protection for responders to chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear emergencies. Read more and comment on the NIOSH Science blog.

Medal of Valor pins stolen from Mom

Medals awarded to 9/11 hero stolen

CARROLLWOOD - Part of a fallen New York City firefighter's Medal of Valor has been stolen from his mother's home in Carrollwood. And despite two arrests, investigators have been unable to recover it.

"I'm sure they don't know what it was. To them it might not be worth much, but to us it is priceless," said Brian Muldowney, whose brother Richie was awarded the medal for his sacrifice on September 11, 2001.

The Muldowney family says the medal itself is safe with Richie's widow in New York. Two pins that came with the medal were stolen in March.

Hillsborough deputies last week accused Carlos Pierce and Alicia Sanders of the burglary, but sheriff's spokesperson J.D. Callaway said Monday the pair has refused to make statements about the whereabouts of the pins.

"Just tell us where it's at," said Brian Muldowney, the brother. "You've already broke into my mom's house. Now you steal this? Just fess it up."

Muldowney, also a firefighter, said he his optimistic that putting his brother Richie's story on television will help.

Source: Fox News - Link

9/11 Health: Lung transplant saves FDNY Lieutenant

FDNY FIRE OFFICER LIFE SAVED FOLLOWING 9/11:

While "life goes on" for most....so many Firefighters, Police Officers and EMS members continue to suffer horrific illness from operating on 9/11. One positive story is about is an FDNY Lieutenant who suffered life-threatening injuries on Sept. 11....

he is set to be released from the hospital with a new lung today.

FDNY Lt. Martin Fullam, of Annadale (Staten Island) is set to be released at noon today from Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital. FDNY Firefighters and fire officials have planned a sidewalk celebration at the entrance of the Washington Heights hospital. Lt. Fullam suffered severe lung damage in the World Trade Center attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

Doctors say the lung transplant saved his life. We wish him a rapid and successful recovery.

Take Care-BE CAREFUL.

BillyG

The Secret List 4-29-09 / 0830 hours

www.FireFighterCloseCalls.com