9/11: The Fire Commissioner at Ground Zero

Dan Snow's History Hit

History Hit

History

4.7 • 12.9K Ratings

🗓️ 11 September 2021

⏱️ 30 minutes

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Summary

On the morning of September 11th, 2001 terrorists flew planes into both the World Trade Centre towers in New York and the Pentagon in Washington with a further plane crashing in Pennsylvania as the passengers onboard attempted to wrest control of the aircraft from the hijackers. This atrocity utterly changed the world leaving thousands dead and injured and launched the War on Terror.

Many people can remember where they were on that fateful day and for some, it was on the frontline of the attack. Thomas Von Essen was one of those people. A career firefighter in September 2001 he was the commissioner for the New York Fire Department. As commissioner, He played a key role in helping the city's fire chiefs attempt to coordinate their response to the planes hitting the towers. Although thousands sadly perished that day, thousands more were rescued by the selfless heroism of New York's firefighters and emergency services personnel. But, many of those emergency responders paid the ultimate price for their bravery. Tom and Dan speak about his memories of that morning, the pain of losing so many friends and colleagues, the pride he has in the commitment shown by his men and how some have turned the legacy of 9/11 into a cause for good.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	11. Welcome to Dance Noise History at September 11, 2021. 20 years ago today, no one will ever
0:09.0	forget where they were that morning. As we saw the drama unfolding beneath such clear
0:15.8	blue skies in Lower Manhattan, the perfect fall day. That morning, four commercial
0:22.2	airlines traveling from the Northeastern United States to California were hijacked by 19 terrorists.
0:30.0	They were divided into four groups, each one of which had a goal, which was to crash
0:34.0	their plane into a prominent American building. American Airlines flight 11 flew into North
0:41.0	Tower of the World Trade Center at 846 AM, 17 minutes later at 9.03 AM. United Airlines
0:50.7	flight 175 hit the South Tower. Within less than two hours, both those towers had collapsed,
0:58.5	causing buildings around them to fall down or sustain significant damage. About half
1:03.6	an hour after the South Tower was hit, American Airlines flight 77 was crashed into the Pentagon,
1:10.2	and a final flight, United Airlines flight 93 was also heading towards Washington, DC,
1:16.1	but it crashed in rural Pennsylvania at about 10 o'clock as the passengers attempt to storm
1:21.8	the cockpit and regain control of the aircraft. It seems like that flight was aiming for
1:26.8	the White House or the US Capitol building. Like many people, I had family members. My cousin,
1:32.6	Alex, worked a blocker tour away from the World Trade Center in New York. Friends were
1:36.8	in the buildings themselves. I was lucky enough not to lose anyone personally, but just
1:41.3	under 3,000 people, 2,996 people were killed in all and many thousands injured. Many of
1:49.7	the casualties were members of the emergency services who had bravely dashed into the
1:55.3	inferno to try and save lives. I'm very lucky to have, as a guest in this podcast, a man
2:00.8	who played a key role on that day. Thomas von Essen, he was the Fire Department of New
2:06.9	York Commissioner on 9-11. He's one of the few commissioners of the Fire Department
2:11.9	who worked his way up through the ranks from firefighter all the way to becoming the city's
	...

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