Sept. 11 firefighters’ documents released
Fox News

NEW YORK — The Fire Department of New York on Friday made public thousands of pages of oral histories recorded by firefighters on Sept. 11, 2001, and hours of radio transmissions, as family members spoke out on reopening the investigation after reports of omissions to the Sept. 11 commission’s report.

Firefighter Kirk Long, whose Engine 1 was sent to the World Trade Center’s north tower — the first to be hit by a plane and the second to collapse — described rushing into the tower as people were making their way out.

“I was watching every person coming down, looked at their face, just to make them happy that they were getting out and we were going in, and everything was OK,” Long said in his oral history.

Long said he heard the north tower shake and thought something in the basement had exploded.

“At that time I never knew that the south tower had gone down,” he said.

Some families and other critics of the city’s response were hoping the documents would help them challenge the finding that many firefighters in the north tower heard but ignored an order to evacuate after the south tower collapsed at 9:59 a.m.

At least one fire lieutenant quoted in the oral histories said he heard the call and saw his colleagues leaving.

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Culhavoc
August 12th, 2005

Here are some of the more interesting transmissions from the FDNY tapes released today.

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8/13 UPDATE: Until today, I didn’t realize the NYTimes merely released excerpts from the dispatch tapes. Newsday has released all 20 CDs in mp3 format. (here) I plan to post more on this subject as I review the entire CD set.
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The following quotes were not taken from the transcripts provided by NYC, they were transcribed in real time as I reviewed the mp3s posted by NYTimes. There may be variances in punctuation, spelling etc. I will replace my transcribed quotes with official quotes when time allows.

Also, times are based on the mp3 file, not 9/11 event time.

Keep in mind I haven’t had time to go over the “Oral Historys”, which were also released, only the Dispatch Tapes.

Note: Dispatch audio is low, I will normalize these clips when time permits.

Not a Commercial Airliner?

mp3 1: (transcript)

17:22 - Marine 6: “That plane was a large bomber-style green aircraft into the second tower, be advised”

Event Preceding 1st Collapse: 19th Floor/Firefighter down

mp3 2: (transcript)

22:20 - “Tower No. 2, 19th floor, firefighter down. Tower No. 2, 19th floor, firefighter down.”
23:55 - “One of the buildings is partially collapsed, in a whole entire area K”
24:14 - “Tower 2, Tower 2, the South Tower, major collapse”
24:55 - “Tower 2 has had a huge explosion and what appears to be a complete collapse”

Event Preceding 2nd Collapse: 22nd Floor Collapses

mp3 3: (transcript)

2:17 - “Engine 39 acting, report of a, uhh, 22nd floor, report a, uhh, floor collapse at that location, K”
2:44 - “At this time reporting a, uh floor collapse on the 22nd floor…”
6:29 - “The other tower just collapsed, major collapse, major collapse”

Suspicious package at Brooklyn/Battery Tunnel

mp3 4: (no transcript was provided for part 4)

10:08 - “I just have a report from, uhh, PD, that the uhh, they have a report of a bomb or a suspicious package that is in the Battery Tunnel at the present time…”
12:20 - “…be advised we have received a report of a bomb at the Brooklyn/Battery Tunnel, the tunnel is being closed at this time, K”

Unreleased 800mHz Trunked Communications

22:31 - “Notify Cheif Carothers that the Command Post at Vessey & Park where Broadway Connects is switching to the 800mHz channel”
22:39 - “Which 800mHz?”
22:43 - “Stand by”
22:44 - “It’s either 6a or 6b”
23:19 - “Division One Active to Manhhattan”
22:24 - “Division One Active”
22:25 - “That’s, uhh, 6b for the 800mHz, you copy that?”

Where are the 800mHz trunked channels? Why weren’t they released?

Gas Leak

27:04 - “Alright, listen, you gotta help me out, I have a report of a gas leak at Stuyvesant High School, across the street from the Trade Center…”

Nixon Tapes Revisited?

27:37 - Erased recording?
27:46 - transmission resumes

Confirmation of “Van/Bomb” events
see: “10-5 the message about the remote controlled plane!” and Tan Ford Alpha Van at Holland Tunnel Exit

34:48 - “Engine 292 to Manhattan”
34:50 - “292″
34:51 - “292 and ladder 135, King Street and 6th Ave for a possible bomb in a van”
34:58 - “296, 162, you’re at King Street and where?”
35:01 - “At avenue 6, 6th Avenue”
35:03 - “King and 6th?”
35:05 - “That’s affirmative”
35:06 - “Who’s flagging you down?”
35:07 - “PD”
35:29 - “We’re also on that box on King street and 6th Ave with a possible bomb in a van”

Note that there has not been a transcript released for part 4. This is the mp3 containing a time-gap. Also, If you compare ID3 tags in the mp3 files you will notice another anomalie. Part 4 Does not contain a tag. Was it processed separately?

More soon,

-Culhavoc

Emergency crews in Lyon County got a test Friday in dealing with a mass evacuation caused by a nuclear incident. Emporia State University hosted the exercise.

Wolf Creek power plant let off a radioactive plume forcing nearly 6,000 residents out of their homes, that’s the mock scenario testing Lyon County emergency crews as those residents make their way to the evacuation post at Emporia State.

Radioactive material was hidden on a Wolf Creek employee playing an evacuee living near the plant. Lyon County emergency crews ushered evacuees through sensors separating who’s been contaminated.
Rick Frevert, Lyon County Emergency management coordinator said,
“It allows our people to practice to set up to prepare to receive those people and see where we can improve.”

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