Then a captain with Fire Ladder agency 6 in the Chinatown segment of the big apple, Jay Jonas tells a harrowing tale of rescue and survival at the disintegration of the world alternate center after the phobia assaults on September 11, 2001.
“Some days it looks as if it changed from the previous day. For a few days, it feels like it was 20 years ago, “said Jonas, who’s with the big apple fire branch and serves currently as the deputy chief.
“Staying on is my coping mechanism,” the 63-year-old informed Reuters at some point in a recent interview at a hearth station in the Bronx ahead of the 20th anniversary of the assaults.
“There was exquisite trepidation and worry going into our operations that day, but we did it,” Jonas remembered.
Jonas remembers the instant the plane hit the South Tower.
“Now, you had one of the firemen from Rescue One show up and say ‘we might not live through nowadays.’ And we thought about it and we acknowledged his assertion, and we took the time to shake each other’s hands and wish each excellent success, “he said.
“Out of all the guys I was surrounded by while the second aircraft hit the South Tower, I was the only one that lived.”
Jonas was ordered to do search and rescue within the North Tower. He recalls the building beginning to vibrate because the disintegration drew nearer.
“The crumble was compressing all of the air that became within the building, so it created tornado-like winds in the stairway,” he said.
“We’re getting hit with particles because the building is coming down and you also have this eerie sound of twisting steel all around us.
“You already know, I regarded up. I may have wanted to see a sliver of blue sky and I stated,’men, there used to be 106 floors over our heads. Now I see a sliver of blue sky. “
Jonas and his group have been capable of discovering their way out of the rubble.
After a short break, he returned to the task and was promoted to battalion chief.
His first large hearth, he recalled, became in a high upward push within the Coney Island section of Brooklyn.
“I had some butterflies in my belly,” he recollects the feeling. “We got there, the guys did a high-quality job. They placed the fireplace out. No one was killed, no one was hurt. And all of a sudden, I simply came to the conclusion, ‘this is going to be adequate.’ “
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