9/11 20 years later: A picture is worth a thousand words

In Brotherhood

MARYLAND – Although it’s a family tradition, being a firefighter wasn’t always Joseph DiMartino’s first choice in a career. But, DiMartino listened to his father when he asked the then-college student to take the civil service test. “He says ‘Just take the test. You can always turn it down. You don’t have to take the job,'” said DiMartino. “After college I was working in Baltimore and my number came up. They said if you want the job – this was Monday – be here Wednesday. So I just packed what I could in the car and drove up to New York, and got sworn in on Wednesday.”

Over the next few decades, DiMartino would work his way up through the ranks of the Fire Department of New York City, eventually becoming a lieutenant. Little did he know that just a few short years before he would retire, the lieutenant would be captured in a tragic chapter in American history. They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. But for DiMartino, the one that thousands have now seen, says so much more. “These two guys, don’t know who they are. And that was common that day. You helped whoever needed help, and then you moved on,” he said.

Devastation and Destruction

But that’s not how the day started for Engine 294. “We were watching the news that a plane had hit, and then another plane had hit,” said DiMartino. “A few minutes later we got the notification to respond to the World Trade Center.”

It wasn’t long before the crew rushed to respond, like hundreds of others across the city. “We were going through the midtown tunnel, and we were the only vehicle in the midtown tunnel, and if you know anything about New York, that never happens. It was kind of spooky,” said DiMartino. “I leaned over and I said to my driver, ‘Jimmy, I don’t know what we’re going to be getting into. But I just want to thank you for everything that you’ve done for me.’ We shook hands and we nodded, and we went about our business.”

When Engine 294 arrived on the scene, the crew was met with something that they never could have prepared for, or even imagined. “I really didn’t believe it because it was a 110 story building. There were various types of collapses. Partial collapses are most common I just couldn’t believe that the entire building was down,” said DiMartino.

DiMartino says they got as close to the collapsed South Tower as they could, then he split off to go find a command post. He made it to the corner of West Street and Vesey Street, about 100 yards from the North Tower. At that point, the tower had been hit, but was still standing. “For some reason I looked up,” he said. “It seemed like the top ten stories came out and then in slow motion just started to crumble.”

What came next, DiMartino says, can only be described like a window shade suddenly snapping shut. Seconds after the North Tower crumbled, he  says he could see a massive wall of thick, black smoke filled with debris barreling toward him. Knowing he couldn’t outrun the pace of the cloud, he ducked behind a car bumper, hoping for the best. When the dust cleared, he was met with the worst. “You could hear ‘thud, thud, thud’ and it was pieces of the building coming down around you,” said DiMartino. “The firetrucks were flipped over, on fire. There were no people. They were just gone.”

After DiMartino managed to escape the dust, debris, and destruction of the collapse, it was time to get to work. Although exhausted and worried about fellow firemen and loved ones, he says it was just what needed to be done. “For anybody that survived that day, that’s how your day started. That was the start of your day, not the end of your day, because then you had to work,” said DiMartino. “We realized that no cavalry is coming. So you have to make do with the personnel you have. There’s a saying in the fire department, ‘The job isn’t over when you’re tired. It’s over when you’re finished.'”

Manhattan to Engine 294

It wasn’t until the next day that Engine 294 made it back to the firehouse. The next moments were filled with hugs, tears, and relief. But also lingering was the gravity of what had happened, and what was to come in the next chapter of recovery. “When we got to the firehouse the firemen who were there, they looked at us like they just saw a ghost. In their minds, we were ghosts,” said DiMartino.

DiMartino would go on to aid in recovery efforts at Ground Zero for the next three months. He says after all that time exposed to the toxic ash and rubble, he developed serious health issues over the years. More than 200 firefighters have lost their lives since 9/11 due to similar health problems gained on the site. Despite that, looking back 20 years later, DiMartino considers himself one of the lucky ones. “343 firemen. Their lives weren’t taken. Their lives were given. They gave their lives. They didn’t have to,” said DiMartino.

But, DiMartino says, he doesn’t consider himself special or unique. “Everyone was taking the same chance. If I was standing where you were, I wouldn’t be here,” he said. “People have said ‘Because of your actions, you’re a hero.’ I’m no hero. Far from it. The heroes are the guys that didn’t go home.”

Never Forget

As the years go by, DiMartino says he worries about people forgetting about what happened on that day. He says he wants people to not only remember the ultimate sacrifice that first responders made that September morning; it’s also important to remember the victims inside the towers, on the planes, and in the Pentagon. Keeping their memories alive is painful, but necessary, says DiMartino. “The people who saw their only option was the jump out a window, they deserve not to be forgotten,” he said. “All those people who made those sad final calls to a family member of loved one on 9/11, they should not be forgotten. And certainly these guys, the 343, who went in with the odds stacked against them and they gave their lives, they should not be forgotten.”