Date: 15 Sep 2001 19:41:00 +0200
From: ASWAD-AT-anarch.free.de (catkawin)
Subject: [certainhome] Front line report from a New York paramedic and fellow s



I'm fwding this mail which was sent to another list.
catkawin

.........................................................................

I know it is not related but I thought people might be interested. James is
a NYC paramedic and a street medic that has been with us in the street of DC
and elsewhere.

pavlos

-----Original Message-----
From: James Creedon [mailto:jhcreedon-AT-yahoo.com]
Sent: Wednesday, September 12, 2001 11:35 PM
To: action-medical-AT-yahoogroups.com
Subject: [action-medical] JHC and WTC


Hello all--

Thank you very much for the many *many* notes of
support and condolence. Things are very difficult here
in New York City, and I'm just trying to keep on top
of things.

I thought I would share a bit about what happened to
me on September 11th, 2001--to answer questions, and
let you know a little bit more about the events
here...

I woke up Tuesday morning to the radio, and heard that
a building had been struck by an airplane. I honestly
thought it was a historical piece about the B-52
bomber that hit the Empire State Building back in the
1940's...

Once I knew the real deal, that two planes had struck,
I put my uniform on and headed off to my station. We
were on "recall," and were required to be in duty.

As I drove to work, I got diverted into the Battery
Tunnel, and found myself about 4 blocks south of World
Trade Center. I parked my car, and walked up to the
front staging area to find my lieutenant.

Once I found him, he set me up with a helmet and some
medical gear. He set off to help coordinate triage,
and I went to make contact with another unit.

>From where I was standing, it was about half a block
to WTC 1 (North Tower). I could see flames and smoke
billowing out fo the building, and debris was landing
all around me. There were body parts scattered on the
ground, and it was pretty clear how bad things were...

Moments later, I heard an enormous roar and felt the
ground shaking. I looked up to the tower, and saw what
looked like an umbrella being opened up--like a
starburst at the fireworks. I was directly underneath
it, and I could see girders shooting out from the
building.

I immediately began to run southwest, towards a
building that had some sort of opening. I already felt
rocks landing on my back and helmet, and there were
girders falling right near me. I made it perhaps
thirty feet before being knocked off my feet. I went
about ten feet through the air, and landed rolling on
a set of steps. My helmet was gone, my phone, my
stethoscope...

This was the scariest moment of my life. The air was
black with ash and debris, and I literally couldn't
see a thing. People were screaming, and some were
clearly seriously injured. We couldn't breathe, and
our mouths eyes and noses watered and burned... I
stayed crouching on the ground, covering my head, and
breathed through my shirt.

A few minutes later, the smoke began to clear and I
was able to make out a few other figures. We held on
to each other, and were able to make it to a
restaurant where we started gathering water for eye
flushes. Ambulances and fire trucks were overturned,
walkways were collapsed, and people were running and
screaming.

After a half-hour of giving out water, I started to
help out with moving other people to the waterfront
where we were loading them onto boats and ferries. But
soon we had to clear out from there also because the
second tower was coming down. I was holding a
3-year-old girl at the time, and we lost sight of her
mother. We all ran as hard as we could, while we tried
to carry as many people as couldn't make it. There
were many injuries, and many more people with smoke
inhalation or blindness.

Eventually, we regrouped on a pier farther southeast,
and got more people loaded up to bring them to New
Jersey. I helped here for a while, and ended up taking
one of the last boats to NJ to help with triage and
treatment there, by order of my supervisor.

An hour or two later, I was redeployed to Manhattan,
but I was then taken to the hospital to be treated for
injuries. Luckily, I got off well. I have a sprained
ankle, twisted knee, miscellaneous burns and
abrasions, and had to have glass and gravel removed
from my arms and back.

That night I stayed in the hospital on semi-active
duty, and this morning ( Wednesday ) I worked a 911
shift uptown and then went down to Ground Zero to
assist with rescue efforts.

Overall, I feel very lucky. Many of us thought there
would be chemical/biological agents in the explosion,
but thus far we are in the clear. I have made it out
in one piece, but the same cannot be said for many
others.

Especially sad and difficult to me is the loss of two
members of my own team. They were killed in collapse
of WTC 2 (South Tower), along with hundreds of other
rescuers.

Tonight, I want to thank all of you for your calls and
emails. I feel honored to have been in your thoughts
and prayers, and am unspeakably grateful for each and
every friendship that has revealed itself. But more
importantly, I ask that you keep the in your thoughts
the lives and sacrifices of the many rescue workers. I
have lost friends, and I can honestly say that they
were some of the most caring, deeply committed, and
selfless people I have ever met.

Finally, I want to urge all of us to remember the
complexities of the world we live in. This is a tragic
act, one that has destroyed or forever altered the
lives of countless people. It is also an act that
occurs in particular context, one in which the United
States is guilty of this exact same kind of crime,
only on a greater and more gruesome scale. Let us take
from this the inspiration to create a world free from
imperialism in all its manifestations, one that moves
us from the civil war that is capitalism to a higher
form of society...

With love and rage,

james creedon

====***********************************************
* James Creedon, NREMT-P  ** (347) 228-7852   *
* NorthEast Action Medics Association (NEAMA) *
************www.action-medical.net*************
***********************************************



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