How One Firefighter Remembers 9/11

retired f d N Y Bertillion chief. He's also author of the book Ordinary Heroes, a memoir of nine eleven. Joe joins us this afternoon on the phone from the u N. Joe, good to have you with us this afternoon. How are you good? It's good to be with you. So you were the first f d N Y chief to respond to the nine eleven attacks, and your new book is a memoir and also a tribute to those who died and uh and also those who who didn't and survived the attacks. Um, what made you want to

write this book now? I wanted to have some time of reflection. Twenty years and tell people the story of what it was like that day for me, for my firefighters, and for for the people that were in the greatest moment in need. And I took the title ordinary heroes for for a particular reason, because we think of firefighters as as superheroes, but we don't consider ourselves that at all. Um. What I saw that day was my firefighters going up

to evacuate the building and to rescue those that were trapped. Um, and they went up doing some ordinary things by telling people who are coming down the same stairs, don't stop, keep going. You can make it out of here. And we know from people who survived that those simple words made a difference, you know, Joe, I Uh, it's just such catastrophic, heartbreaking losses for the fire department that day.

I correct me if I'm wrong. I think it was more than forty firemen lost lost their lives that day. I can't imagine what it would be like to sit down and write this book. You know, you lost friends, colleagues, people you mentored. I'm sure. Um, was it a cathartic experience?

Did it? Did it help you and sort of wrap your head around what happened in your mental state or or was it really painful to do well, it took a long time, and there was some moments of pain, uh, but it but it was also looking back and finding a sense of hope. UM. So in the in the darkness of the of the dust cloud which we all

remember covered Lower Manhattan when the buildings collapsed. Um people also saw on TV the firefighters helmet and on helmets is a little flash flight, so a little beacon of light in the darkness. And I think writing the book um allowed me to look at those moments of of hope in in the darkest times, uh, for for us.

You know, one thing that I've been thinking about, Joe over the last few years, when we do get to this anniversary, as I've been reflecting, is that each year more and more people exists who didn't experience it, whether or not they were in California in high school like like was my own situation, or they were in New Jersey and perhaps had friends parents perish like some of my friends. And I'm wondering how you think about that.

The idea that you know, I met an intern here at Bloomberg this summer who he was, you know, in his early twenties, and was born after you knowleven m h. And it's just I mean, how do you think about something like that, because there was a shared experience for so many people, but that shared experience is kind of getting smaller. The experience is getting smaller. But what I noticed with writing the book, and I was really surprised, was the amount of emails I got from young people,

the twenty year age group. UM, and they said, you know, I wasn't born or I was too too young at the time, but the documentaries UM and UM that I read your book and I just wanted to tell you that, UM, what was done that day, UM helped me go into public service. It inspired me by looking at the documentaries like nine eleven with Jules on Day UM that filmed

me and uh um and then read the book. UM, we'll put it all in perspective for for them, so so there they weren't old enough for born, but the living experience in real time now through books and through documentaries, and it's just as personal for them as it was for us one years ago. You know, Joe. Obviously, here at Bloomberg we're sort of laser focused on financial markets and it markets. Whenever there's sort of this unexpected event

that really changes everything. You know. They call it a black Swan event, and I can't help thinking of of nine eleven being a a black Swan event for the whole business and process of fighting fires. You know, something no one in their worst nightmare really expected, and then all of a sudden you're confront it with it in real time, right in front of you, and you have to make split second decisions on what to do about it. UM. I'm wondering what the lessons learned are for the the

profession of firefighting. Has it changed a lot about how UM you train and how you think about responding to stuff like this? You know, is there a new paradigm of firefighting that's that's come out as a result of this fire? Firefighting has has changed. We look at the threat environment. We're connected to the intelligence community UM and see what's happening not only UM threats in the United States, but also threats around around the world. We also work

very closely with our lower enforcement partners. No longer do we see this separation between fire employees UM, and particularly in New York. We train together and we we UM. We have the fire have the police officers run into for an active theater, for example, will run in and and engage the UH the shooter. But at the same time we'll bring in our medical folks of fire and m S medical folks to take care of patients. So

we have to depend on each other. And and the police also depends on our our medics to come in in danger to rescue their their offices take care of the medical lead UH needs. So a lot of changes, a lot of changes. Joe, You've done so much in the last twenty years. You retired from the f d N. Why you wrote this book that you published last year,

Ordinary Heroes and Memoir of nine eleven. Your director for Crisis Leadership at Columbia University or a senior fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School in the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point UM. You also this week participated in the United Nations Global Congress of Victims on Terrorism with u N Secretary General Antonio Gutierrez. What was that like? Um, I'm actually at the u N now and and and I wish with victims of terrorism throughout the world, and

I hear the stories of losing loved ones. UM, their their their young children, their their parents, there, there, there, there their friends, UM, and it becomes very real. But the one thing where we realized here at at the u N is that that the we don't ignore that the pain of being a victim of terrorism. Instead, what we do is we give it purpose to changed, to change the world, to make a difference, because without a purpose, there is no hope, and without hope, there is no actions.

So we're looking at it here at the u N. We're looking to two collectively, have our voices heard two UM combat terrorism and also to support the victims of terrorism and throughout the world. Yeah. So one of the most heartbreaking things about nine eleven was that so many firefighters spent so much time digging in the pit trying to find at first survivors than remains, and so many of them suffered some health problems later on. Has enough been done for for those victims of nine eleven? Do

you think is there more that needs to be done? I? I think there's there's always more that needs to be done. And the reality is is is uh, it is difficult to comprehend. So in New York City Fire Department, we lost three hundred and forty three of our members on nine eleven. But post nine eleven, we've lost over two hundred and eighty of our our quirefighters and and E

M S personnel that responded that day. And I think as we look at human rights throughout the world, UM, we have to think about the victims and their families and how do we support them. UM. One is is medical assistance, the other is UH psychles social assistance. And not just of the people that were there that day, but their families and their children who was the children

of of of victims are are also affected. UM. So we have we have an obligation when a terist event occurs too to take care of the victims and their families. Joe Phifer is a retired f d N Y Bertillion Chief. He was the first f d N Y chief to respond to the nine eleven attacks. His book Ordinary Heroes, a Memoir of nine eleven. It was published last year

the twentieth anniversary of nine eleven. Joe Phifer is also the Director of Crisis Leadership at Columbia University and a senior fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School and the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point. Joe joined us this afternoon from the U N Joe, thanks so much. Really appreciate you taking the time