Firefighters battled a three alarm fire at 464 Clinton Avenue.
Photo by Lloyd Mitchell
FDNY members fought a three-alarm fire in Brooklyn on Saturday, facing brutal winter conditions as the city was under a Code Blue alert, with frigid temperatures and dangerous wind chill complicating the firefighting efforts.
The blaze broke out at 464 Clinton Ave. in Fort Greene, shortly after 9 p.m. on Feb. 7. Engine Company 219 and Ladder Company 105 responded to reports of an odor of smoke inside a residential building. Upon arrival, they quickly discovered fire in a third-floor apartment and a fourth-floor apartment. Conditions quickly worsened as flames extended upward through the building.
As the blaze grew stronger, Battalion 57 transmitted a second alarm. Fire officials reported that the blaze was running vertically from the third floor through the sixth floor and into the cockloft–the concealed space between the top floor ceiling and the roof–raising concerns about rapid fire spread and structural damage.
Brooklyn firefighters battled a three-alarm fire in Fort Greene on Feb. 7, 2026.Photo by Lloyd Mitchell
There were no reported injuries or deaths at press time.
Meanwhile, FDNY members were contending with multiple snow-covered and frozen hydrants while operating in freezing temperatures and forceful winds. Crews quickly worked to secure water sources as ice buildup slowed access, forcing firefighters to clear hydrants while maintaining suppression efforts.
Division 11 transmitted a third-alarm to keep units fresh. More than 170 members responded to the scene and used four hoselines to stop the spread of the fire.
Firefighters battled a three-alarm fire at 464 Clinton Ave.Photo by Lloyd Mitchell
The fire was placed under control at 10:30 p.m. The FDNY Fire Marshal’s office will determine the cause of the fire.
The incident underscores the challenges first responders face during extreme weather and Code Blue alerts, when life-threatening temperatures and frozen infrastructure place added strain on emergency services and residents throughout the city.
Fire destroyed a beach cabana in Queens’ Breezy Point overnight, creating a dramatic scene as the sun rose on Wednesday, but causing no reported injuries.
The FDNY says it responded to a three-alarm fire at Beach 193rd Street around 4:30 a.m. At one point, units had to be pulled from the building because of concerns it could collapse. The fire took about three hours to control.
Video posted to the Citizen app shows the large response.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
Around 4:30 Wednesday morning, the FDNY responded to a 3-alarm fire at 1 Beach 193rd Street in Queens. There were no reported injuries.
“The first unit to arrive immediately transmitted a second alarm due to the heavy fire. At the high point of the fire, we had five hand lines… pic.twitter.com/e7fM2tiy5C
For the first time, FDNY Commissioner Robert S. Tucker is explaining why he decided to announce his resignation just one day after Zohran Mamdani won the New York City mayoral race.
“Look, it’s a complicated, emotional decision to leave. But ideologically, there’s no doubt that the mayor and I disagree on some very fundamental things to me,” Tucker, who was appointed to the role in August 2024, told “CBS Mornings” in his first interview since handing in his resignation letter on Nov. 5.
In a closely-watched decision last week, Tucker’s police counterpart, New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch accepted Mamdani’s offer to stay in her role. Months before the election, Mamdani softened his sharp criticism of the NYPD and clarified that he is “not running to defund the police,” distancing himself from old social media posts.
Despite his public apology to the NYPD, Tucker said Mamdani still has some work to do when it comes to winning over the support of first responders. Beyond that, some of Mamdani’s stances, like his refusal to support Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state, have alarmed many Jewish New Yorkers.
“I think it’s a factor [in my decision to resign], no doubt,” said Tucker, who is Jewish. “And I don’t want to tell you that it’s the only factor. But I believe that the things that I have heard the mayor say would make it difficult for me to continue on in such a senior executive role in the administration.”
According to exit polls, 31% of Jewish New Yorkers voted for Mamdani, with 65% voting for independent opponent Andrew Cuomo. Mamdani won every borough but Staten Island.
In an October debate, Mamdani, who will make history as New York City’s first Muslim mayor, vowed to “be the mayor who doesn’t just protect Jewish New Yorkers, but also celebrates and cherishes them.”
However, Tucker and some prominent Jewish leaders – like Rabbi Angela Buchdahl, the senior rabbi at New York City’s Central Synagogue – aren’t convinced by the mayor-elect’s words of reassurance. In an October sermon, Buchdal accused Mamdani of contributing “to a mainstreaming of some of the most abhorrent antisemitism.”
“More importantly than hearing it, we want to see it,” Tucker said.
He pointed to Mamdani’s response to a protest last week outside of an Upper East Side synagogue hosting an event to support Jewish emigration to Israel, during which activists shouted threats. A Mamdani spokesperson was later quoted saying he “discouraged the language,” adding in an apparent nod of support to the protesters that “these sacred spaces should not be used to promote activities in violation of international law.”
Tucker said Mamdani should have come out quickly to condemn the behavior and rhetoric.
“You know, I don’t know that the public has heard appropriately from him,” he said.
Inside headquarters in Brooklyn, where the FDNY coordinates responses to emergencies across America’s biggest city, Tucker says they’re still waiting for outreach from Mamdani.
“I haven’t had any personal conversations with the mayor-elect. I haven’t heard from anyone in his incoming administration, nor has the department. And so I only hope that is not an indicator of their feelings about the FDNY. I’d like to think they think everything is going so well here that they don’t need to transition so fast,” he joked.
Mamdani and his team have not responded to CBS News’ requests for comment on this story.
Newly discovered documents may reveal that City Hall had additional details about the dangerous toxic maelstrom that swirled around Ground Zero in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, which has led to the deaths of thousands of first responders.
Members of the FDNY and the firefighters union are demanding answers after 68 boxes of information were discovered that could provide more insight into the dust which survivors and first responders were exposed to in the days, weeks and months following the attacks at the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan.
For many, it’s personal.
“My father passed away two and a half years ago from Works Trade Center-related illnesses. My family needs to know,” said Andrew Ansbro, the head of the Uniformed Firefighters Association.
Ansbro’s union lost 343 firefighters on 9/11.
“New York City firefighters demand to know who in NYC government hid those documents,” he said.
The dust that first responders were breathing in for hours, day after day, has already been blamed for 9,000 lives lost in the years since the attacks.
“It’s heartbreaking for me as a member of the 9/11 community to realize how much sooner people might have gotten treatment,” said Michael Barasch, an attorney for World Trade Center Exposure Cases.
The heartbreak was caused by what investigators found earlier in November inside a city office building in Queens.
“I don’t know where these boxes have been. We saw 20 boxes,” said NYC Councilwoman Gale Brewer, who noted that she saw the boxes “with my own eyes.”
Brewer previously demanded city agencies reveal what documents they had that could shed new light on air quality at the time. That’s what led to the disclosure of 68 boxes of files that had never been shown to victims’ families before.
“I don’t know where they came from. I don’t know where they’ve been for the last 20 years,” Brewer said.
What is in the documents? That has not been disclosed that yet.
“While we cannot comment on the specifics of pending litigation, the city has begun turning over documents to plaintiff’s counsel, and both parties are working out a schedule to continue this process,” said the office for New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
It was former NYPD officer James Zadrogas death from respiratory illness that led to the creation of the World Trade Center Health Fund.
“We know the dust was toxic. We know this from my client Jimmy Zadroga’s autopsy,” said Barasch. “Which showed ground glass and benzene and carcinogens in his lung tissue.”
Flags will fly at half-staff on Saturday in honor of fallen FDNY firefighter Patrick Brady, an 11-year veteran of the department who died in the line of duty last weekend.
Brady, 42, suffered a medial episode while battling a five-alarm fire at an apartment building in Brooklyn on Nov. 8. He went into cardiac arrest while working on the roof of the six-story building in East Flatbush.
He was treated by firefighters and paramedics and pronounced dead at Brookdale University Hospital Medical Center.
A funeral will be held Saturday at 11 a.m. at the Church of St. Francis de Sales in Belle Harbor, Queens.
Please be advised of the following street closures for the wake of @FDNY Hero Firefighter Patrick Brady in Marine Park, Brooklyn today
Quentin Road, East 31 Street to Madison Place & Marine Parkway, Avenue P to R 12pm to 10pm
One day earlier, firefighters lined up around the block to attend Brady’s wake at Marine Park Funeral Home. His wife, Kara, shared a few words.
Every story shared, every hug and every kind word is helping us navigate the pain of losing my husband, my best friend, my rock: Patrick,” Kara Brady said Friday.
“If I could choose anyone in the world to love, I would choose him over and over again. The 16 years we shared together were the best of my life.”
Brady comes from a family of firefighters. His two brothers, Jimmy and Brian, are also firefighters, as are his cousins and uncles.
Brady joined the FDNY back on July 14, 2014 and has served Ladder 120 since 2022.
In Brooklyn, friends, family, and fellow firefighters are honoring FDNY Firefighter Patrick Brady. Brady died after going into cardiac arrest while fighting this fire last Saturday in Brownsville. NBC News 4 New York’s Melissa Colorado reports.
“The entire FDNY is heartbroken over the loss of Firefighter Patrick Brady. Firefighter Brady was a dedicated public servant, and firefighting was in his blood,” FDNY Commissioner Robert Tucker said.
“Firefighter Patrick Brady gave his life protecting the city we all love; there is no sacrifice that is more selfless than the actions that took place this evening,” Mayor Eric Adams said in a statement.
Brady is survived by his wife, Kara.
Brady is the second member of the FDNY to die in the line of duty in the last two weeks. Paramedic Salih Abdur Rahman died Oct. 29 after finishing a shift at the fire academy on Randalls Island.
They spent two years in the FDNY’s Fire Cadet program, training to become New York City firefighters. Now five Cadet graduates say the department has turned its back on them, issuing termination letters after a rushed effort to re-classify the young men as Emergency Medical Service Trainees.
“It was either become an EMT, or resign,” said Shamar Greene, one of the terminated Cadets. “We never signed up to be EMTs.”
In an exclusive interview with the I-Team, the five Cadet graduates said FDNY Commissioner Robert Tucker’s decision to change their titles – just before their two-year contracts ended — amounted to a broken promise.
“I felt disappointed, disappointed totally, because they made a promise to me and to the other guys,” said Juan Osorno, one of the terminated Cadets.
Osorno’s termination letter says he was fired because he did not clear a medical exam needed to accept the new EMS Trainee title. But he says that failure was only because the process was rushed and he was unable to schedule the medical exam in time.
“We had two weeks to do a whole medical process that usually takes 3 months,” Greene said.
Green told the I-Team he was terminated because he failed to pass the EMS Trainee written exam, but he said the FDNY rushed the prep process for that test as well.
“I’m still confused about it because I don’t know where my life is going,” Osorno said.
According to the FDNY, a total of 15 Fire Cadets were issued termination letters despite having graduated the program this past summer. Another 68 Cadets successfully obtained the clearances needed to accept temporary EMS Trainee titles. Of those re-classified Cadets, 45 have already transitioned back to the fire service, finding spots in the October Fire Academy class, according to an FDNY spokesperson.
Commissioner Tucker defended his decision to upend the Cadet class, arguing the program was “ill-conceived” under his predecessor because the end of the Cadets’ contracts were not timed with a scheduled Fire Academy class.
“The two-year contract that these Cadets entered into didn’t coincide with the start of the fire class, and so there was going to be a gap. And in that gap they were all going to be terminated,” Tucker said.
But former Fire Commissioner Laura Kavanagh, who launched the Cadet class in 2023, suggested the creation of a “gap” in the Cadets’ service time was a self-inflicted problem.
“This program has contingencies to prevent exactly this from happening,” Kavanagh wrote in a statement to the I-Team. “I worry the commissioner was misled by a small group in the FDNY who never wanted these cadets to succeed. I know the commissioner believes in the goals of the initiative. For the sake of these cadets and the future of the FDNY, I hope he revisits the decision.”
Tucker did not respond directly to Kavanagh’s statement, but suggested his decision to re-classify the Cadets ended up preserving FDNY jobs for the vast majority of graduates, even if a handful of them were terminated because they were unable to meet new and unexpected requirements.
“If we’re talking about one or two individuals who fit in that category,” Tucker said, “then it’s possible we could have done better. But what I am tasked with as the 35th New York City Fire Commissioner is dealing with the totality of the Department — and the whole Department. And I think in this case we made lemonade out of lemons.”
The FDNY Fire Cadet program was intended to help diversify the ranks, providing an alternative to the competitive hiring track that federal courts have found under-represents minority applicants.
According to FDNY data from last month, about 62% of New York City firefighters are white. Meanwhile, 2020 Census data shows about 31% of New York City’s overall population is white.
In a recent Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion report, the FDNY wrote that the goal of the two-year program was “having eligible Cadets enter Probationary Firefighter School upon completion of the Fire Cadet Academy.”
It’s not clear if the 15 terminated Cadets have any recourse. Several of them told the I-Team they are considering their legal options.
Juan Osorno said he believed graduating the Fire Cadet program was a clear path to follow in the footsteps of his father, who served as a firefighter in their native country of Colombia. He and the other terminated Cadets are now pleading with the FDNY to reconsider.
“I’ve wanted this since I was a kid, honestly,” Osorno said. “That was my whole dream and it’s still my dream.”
RED HOOK, Brooklyn (WABC) — The Tunnel to Towers Foundation kicked off its 24th annual “5K Run and Walk” on Sunday honoring the fallen first responders of 9/11.
Nearly 40,000 people are expected to participate in the event, which takes place each year on the last Sunday of September.
What began with 1,500 people in 2002, one year after the terror attacks, is now considered by many to be one of the top 5K runs in America.
The event retraces the final footsteps of FDNY Firefighter Stephen Siller on Sept. 11, 2001, from the foot of the Battery Tunnel in Brooklyn to the Twin Towers in Lower Manhattan.
Assigned to FDNY’s First Squad, Siller had just finished his shift and was on his way to play golf with his brothers when he heard over the radio that a plane hit the north tower of the World Trade Center.
Photograph of 9/11 first responder and FDNY Firefighter Stephen Siller.
Tunnel to Towers Foundation
In response, he drove his truck to the entrance of the Hugh L. Carey Tunnel, formerly known as the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel, but found out it had closed. Siller then strapped 60 pounds of gear to his back and raced on foot to the Twin Towers, where he sacrificed his life to save others in the terror attacks.
Ahead of the race, Eyewitness News caught up with his son, Stephen Siller Jr., who described his father’s legacy.
“I feel like I hit the lottery in terms of a dad. You know, I didn’t get much time with him, but he gave me an example of how to live the rest of my life and what my priorities should be,” Siller Jr. said. “To see this and the legacy he left behind with his sacrifice and what he did for other people, it’s motivation to just make sure I’m living for other people too.”
Chantee Lans speaks with Stephen Siller Jr. about the event and his father’s legacy.
Sunday’s run and walk pays homages to more than 340 FDNY firefighters, law enforcement officers and thousands of civilians who lost their lives on September 11. Proceeds from the event support the foundation’s programs, including those benefitting first responders and service members injured in the line of duty.
Have a breaking news tip or an idea for a story we should cover? Send it to Eyewitness News using the form below. If attaching a video or photo, terms of use apply.
It’s a somber ceremony when New Yorkers and the nation vow to “never forget” what happened on that day.
What happened on 9/11
New York City firefighters work at the World Trade Center after two hijacked planes crashed into the Twin Towers September 11, 2001.
Ron Agam / Getty Images
The shorthand “9/11” stands for September 11th, when terrorist carried out coordinated attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City and on the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia.
Nineteen terrorists from the Islamist extremist group al Qaeda hijacked four planes, deliberately crashing two of them into the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers and another into the Pentagon.
A fourth hijacked plane was headed for the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C., but passengers and crew members fought back, and it crashed into an empty field in Pennsylvania.
While many remember the horrific images of that day, we also share the harrowing stories of first responders and volunteers who rushed to help with the rescue and recovery efforts at Ground Zero.
Looking back at 9/11, 24 years ago
U.S. President George W. Bush sits at his desk in the Oval Office after addressing the nation about the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, DC September11, 2001 in Washington, DC.
Mark Wilson / Getty Images
The 9/11 terror attacks took place 24 years ago on Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001.
George W. Bush was nine months into his first term in office, and Rudy Giuliani was in his final months as mayor of New York City.
Derek Jeter was still the Yankees’ captain, “I’m Real” by Jennifer Lopez and Ja Rule was atop the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and Gary Condit and Chandra Levy were a top news story of the day.
The attacks happened on Primary Election Day in the city, less than a week after students went back to school for the year. Polls opened at 6 a.m. that morning, just hours before tragedy struck.
Moments of silence mark when the planes hit the Twin Towers
In this Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001 file photo, the remains of the World Trade Center stand amid other debris following the terrorist attack on the buildings in New York.
Alexandre Fuchs / AP
Flight 11 crashed into the North Tower at 8:46 a.m., then Flight 175 struck the South Tower 17 minutes later at 9:03 a.m.
The hijacked planes burst into flames upon impact, and the intensity of their burning jet fuel caused both towers to collapse.
Thursday’s memorial ceremony will pause for six moments of silence to mark when the planes crashed and when each tower fell.
7:59 a.m. — American Airlines Flight 11 takes off from Logan International Airport in Boston with 76 passengers, 11 crew members and five hijackers on board
8:15 a.m. — United Airlines Flight 175 takes off in Boston with 51 passengers, nine crew members and five hijackers
8:20 a.m. — American Airlines Flight 77 takes off from Washington Dulles International Airport in D.C. with 53 passengers, six crew members and five hijackers
8:42 a.m. — United Airlines Flight 93 takes off from Newark Liberty International Airport with 33 passengers, seven crew members and four hijackers
8:46 a.m. — Flight 11 crashes into the North Tower in Lower Manhattan
9:03 a.m. — Flight 175 crashes into the South Tower
9:37 a.m. — Flight 77 crashes into the Pentagon in D.C.
9:59 a.m. — South Tower collapses
10:03 a.m. — Flight 93 crashes into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania after the passengers and crew stormed the cockpit
10:28 a.m. — North Tower collapses
In addition to the Twin Towers, five other buildings were destroyed by the damage at the World Trade Center. The cleanup efforts took months, and the last piece of steel was ceremonially removed on May 30, 2002.
Number of people killed on 9/11 was highest death toll on U.S. soil
Firefighter Gerard McGibbon, of Engine 283 in Brownsville, Brooklyn, prays after the World Trade Center buildings collapsed September 11, 2001.
Mario Tama / Getty Images
The attacks killed 2,977 people from 90 different countries.
Most of them — 2,753 — were killed in New York, while 184 were killed at the Pentagon and 40 were killed on board Flight 93.
The World Trade Center stood as a symbol of America’s global economic power, and the Twin Towers were the tallest buildings in the city. Somewhere between 16,400 and 18,000 people were inside the complex at the time.
These were the deadliest attacks ever on U.S. soil, following the more than 2,400 Americans killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. Only pandemics or natural disasters have claimed more U.S. lives.
The World Trade Center was also attacked in 1993, when terrorists detonated a van underground, killing six people and injuring thousands.
Renee Anderson is a digital producer at CBS New York, where she covers breaking news and other local stories. Before joining the team in 2016, Renee worked at WMUR-TV.
NEW YORK — New York City Mayor Eric Adams has been indicted on federal charges, including bribery, conspiracy and campaign finance violations.
The newly unsealed indictment, which is more than 50 pages long, alleges the mayor accepted illegal campaign donations, including those from Turkish businessmen in exchange for political favors.
“Mayor Adams engaged in a long-running conspiracy in which he solicited and knowingly accepted illegal campaign contributions from foreign donors and corporations,” U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams announced Thursday. “As we allege, Mayor Adams took these donations, even though he knew they were illegal, and even though he knew these contributions were attempts by a Turkish governmental official and Turkish businessmen to buy influence with him.”
Williams said Adams “sought and accepted” more than $100,000 in luxury travel benefits, including free international flights and “opulent hotel rooms.” Williams said the mayor did not disclose those gifts and even “created fake paper trails” in some instances.
“Year after year after year, he kept the public in the dark. He told the public he received no gifts, even though he was secretly being showered with them,” the U.S. attorney said.
The indictment claims Adams cultivated relationships with multiple Turkish businessmen in 2018 and continued to solicit donations from them as recently as last year for his reelection campaign.
“I want to be clear, these upgrades and freebies were not part of some frequent flyer or loyalty program available to the general public. As we allege, this was a multi-year scheme to buy favor with a single New York City politician on the rise,” Williams said.
Adams faces the possibility of up to 45 years in prison if convicted on all counts. The conspiracy charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, accepting a bribe carries a maximum of 10 years, and the other charges can carry up to five years each.
Williams had a message for others who may know something: Come forward before it’s too late. He said the investigation is ongoing.
“We are not surprised. We expected this. This is not surprising to us at all. The actions that have unfolded over the last 10 months — the leaks, the commentary, the demonizing — this did not surprise us that we reached this day,” Adams said. “I ask New Yorkers to wait to hear our defense before making any judgments.”
“I’m not here to convict him criminally. I’m here to convict civilly, and say he is unfit to manage the dealings of New York City,” Newsome said.
“My day-to-day will not change. I will continue to do the job for 8.3 million New Yorkers that I was elected to do,” Adams said. “And the 300,000-plus employees of our city government will continue to do their jobs, because this is what we do as New Yorkers.”
Adams is now the first sitting mayor in the city’s history to be indicted on federal charges. He called it an “unfortunate” and “painful” day, but said he looks forward to defending himself against the allegations, insisting, “Everyone that knows me knows I follow campaign rules and I follow the law.”
Hazel Dukes, president of the NAACP New York State Conference, joined Adams at his news conference. Hecklers continued as the mayor’s supporters spoke.
“I’ve known this young man for over 40 years. I come with heavy heart today, but my head is not unbowed. He’s going to have his day in court, and we’re going to stand by him,” she said.
Federal agents were seen outside the mayor’s home earlier Thursday morning, and his attorney said his phones were seized.
“We have known for some time that they would try to find a way to bring a case against Mayor Adams. Yesterday — more improper leaks. Today — they emailed us a summons (and created the spectacle of a bogus raid). And very soon they will no doubt hold an hour-long dog-and-pony show presser rather than appear in open court,” attorney Alex Spiro said in a statement. “Federal judges call them out all the time for spinning in front of the cameras and tainting jurors. But they keep doing it because they can’t help themselves. The spotlight is just too exciting. We will see them in court.”
“Let me be clear, I know I’ve done nothing wrong, and I am committed to continuing to fight on behalf of New Yorkers as your mayor. From here, my attorneys will take care of the case so I can take care of this city,” Adams wrote.
“You know, you can almost picture them trying to cobble this together, and try to tell a story so they can say ‘corruption, corruption’ at a press conference. They do that to tarnish him in your eyes. That’s why they’re doing this,” Spiro said.
He called the flight seat improvements and hotel rooms “upgrades,” and said airlines and hotels routinely do those sorts of things for VIPs.
“There’s no corruption. This is not a real case,” Spiro said.
What did Eric Adams allegedly do? Here’s what he’s accused of
“A straw donor contributes someone else’s money, hiding the money’s illegal source, such as a foreign businessman, a corporation or a wealthy New Yorker who has already contributed the maximum amount allowed,” Williams said Thursday.
Williams said the mayor’s campaign also received illegal donations from corporations, as well as others that exceeded the legal amount.
Prosecutors pointed out under a matching funds program, eligible small donors could give up to $250, but the candidate would receive up to $2,000 in matching funds — eight times the amount donated. Prosecutors say the matching funds program doled out up to nearly $13 million to qualifying candidates in the 2021 election cycle.
“These are bright red lines, and we allege that the mayor crossed them again and again for years,” said Williams. “That is the only reason we are here today.”
The indictment alleges the mayor went on to pressure the FDNY into green-lighting a new Turkish consulate building in 2021.
“There was significant time pressure, because the Turkish official desperately needed the building to be open in time for a visit from Turkey’s president. This building was important to the Turkish official, and it was important to Turkey,” said Williams. “But the FDNY’s fire safety professionals wouldn’t let the building open, because the building hadn’t passed an inspection. And not just that, some of the people of the FDNY thought the building had so many issues and defects that the building was not safe to occupy.
“So the Turkish official sent word to Adams that it was ‘his turn’ to support Turkey. As we allege, Adams delivered, and pressured the fire department to let the building open,” the U.S. attorney continued, adding FDNY officials were “convinced that they would lose their jobs if they didn’t back down.”
Federal agents first visited the home of Adams’ chief fundraiser, Brianna Suggs in November 2023.The mayor was headed to Washington, D.C. for a meeting on the migrant crisis but suddenly returned to New York when he learned of the raid.
Since news of the indictment broke, there have been mounting calls for Adams to step down. Many of the voices are coming from members of his own party, including those planning to run against him in next year’s Democratic primary.
“I was elected by the people of this city — over 700,000 strong — and this is a city that is extremely resilient. This is a city that we have gone through some difficult and hard times, and we’re going to continue to move forward as a city,” Adams said Thursday. “When you say, ‘Who is the point person that’s going to deal with business communities, who’s going to deal with the business of running this city?’ The point person is Eric Adams. I’m the mayor of the city of New York.”
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul does have the ability to remove Adams from office. CBS News New York political reporter Marcia Kramer says there will be pressure on the governor to do so. The governor addressed the issue in a statement on Thursday night.
“This is an extraordinarily difficult day for New York City. I have carefully reviewed the indictment released by the United States Department of Justice. This indictment is the latest in a disturbing pattern of events that has, understandably, contributed to a sense of unease among many New Yorkers,” Hochul said. “Our judicial system is based on the foundational principle that all of us are presumed innocent until proven otherwise. Yet those of us who have chosen a career in elected office know that we’re held to a higher standard. Given the responsibilities we hold as public servants, that’s entirely appropriate.
“New Yorkers deserve to know that their municipal government is working effectively, ethically and in the best interests of the people — driving down crime, educating our kids and ensuring basic city services continue unabated. It’s now up to Mayor Adams to show the City that he is able to lead in that manner.
“My focus is on protecting the people of New York and ensuring stability in the City. While I review my options and obligations as the governor of New York, I expect the mayor to take the next few days to review the situation and find an appropriate path forward to ensure the people of New York City are being well-served by their leaders. We must give New Yorkers confidence that there is steady, responsible leadership at every level of government,” Hochul added.
If Adams were to resign or be removed by the governor, New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams would take over on an interim basis. He would have three days to call for a special election, which would have to be held within 80 days.
Renee Anderson is a digital producer at CBS New York, where she covers breaking news and other local stories. Before joining the team in 2016, Renee worked at WMUR-TV.
On September 11, 2001, 343 members of the Fire Department of New York perished while trying to rescue people trapped in the World Trade Center. Scott Pelley speaks with firefighters who were there that day and the loved ones of those who never made it home.
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Firefighters took on a blaze that broke out in Greenpoint.
Photo by Lloyd Mitchell
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Firefighters battled a three-alarm fire that broke out in three Brooklyn buildings.
At just after 3:10 p.m. on July 19, FDNY units responded to a call at 220 Cayler St. in Greenpoint. Arriving Members discovered heavy fire on three floors of multiple dwelling buildings, as heavy smoke and fire were seen emitting from the building.
FDNY at the scene of a Greenpoint fire at 220 Cayler St.Photo by Lloyd MitchellThe aftermath of the fire at 220 Cayler St.Photo by Lloyd Mitchell
Deputy Chief Stephen Corcoran said units fought heavy fire on the first and second floors along with heavy security measures on the first floor. Truck companies pulled ceilings and checked for fire extended throughout the building.
A resident and three firefighters suffered minor injuries as a result. The fire was placed under control at 4:30 p.m.
The FDNY’s Fire Marshal Office will determine the cause of the fire.
The aftermath of the fire at 220 Cayler St.FDNY at the scene of a Greenpoint fire at 220 Cayler StPhoto by Lloyd Mitchell
Mayor Eric Adams holds a public hearing and bill signing for Intro. 126 to provide body armor to Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY) employees who provide emergency medical services and Intro. 127 to provide de-escalation and self-defense training to FDNY employees who provide emergency medical services.
Photo by Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office
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Mayor Eric Adams signed two pieces of legislation this month that will provide self-defense training and body armor to Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) and Paramedics in the FDNY.
Council Members Joann Ariola, who represents central and south Queens neighborhoods, and Joe Borelli, who represents Staten Island south, sponsored the legislation, which provides EMS workers with added protections while on duty.
The signing of Intro. 126, which gives ballistic vests to EMS employees, and Intro. 127, which provides de-escalation and self-defense training, comes after attacks on paramedics across the city have increased in recent years.
In his remarks, the mayor praised the council members for their advocacy and emphasized the importance of EMS workers. “Today, we’re making sure the city continues to move in the right direction for their protection,” Adams said. “By providing extra protection for them while they are out on the streets, saving lives, this sends the right message that our first responders will always be under our care and protection.”
Councilwoman Ariola, who chairs the fire and emergency management committee, continues to work with fellow legislators to fulfill the needs of emergency service workers at the city council.
“Our EMS workers are often the first on the scene of an emergency, and these pieces of legislation will help ensure that they are prepared for whatever might be waiting for them when they respond to a call,” Ariola said.
In 2022, FDNY EMS Lieutenant Allison Russo was killed in an unprovoked attack while on the job in Astoria, Queens. Her death by a knife-wielding man generated further discussions and frustrations from union members and first responders. Another incident involving the death of EMT Yadira Arroyo while responding to an emergency call highlighted the daily risks of medical responders.
Borelli, who served as the city council’s previous chair of fire and emergency management, says he wishes the bills were signed sooner, although it would have been better not to need to implement the legislation.
Water was seen pouring from the side of a Manhattan high-rise Thursday.
The FDNY said it got a call around 12:15 p.m. about a water leak from a building on Eighth Avenue and West 42nd Street. Video posted to the Citizen app shows what looked like a geyser erupting from the side of the building.
No injuries were immediately reported.
The water had stopped flowing by the time News 4 cameras got to the scene around 12:30 p.m.
The Department of Buildings says it was not called to the scene.
It turns out the scene was nothing more than a fire pump test being done and the area on the ground was cordoned off from people.
NEW YORK — Emergency responders were on the scene of a partial building collapse in the Bronx on Monday evening.
The collapse happened around 3:30 p.m. at a seven-story apartment building on West Burnside Avenue and Phelan Place in Morris Heights. The first floor of the building houses businesses. The rest of the building is residential.
The building was evacuated. The stability of the building remains in question.
FDNY members were on the scene 1 minute, 36 seconds after the call came in, OEM Commissioner Zach Iscol said.
“All of our specialized training and resources that we have for an incident like this have gone to work. We have our drone up, surveying the area, seeing if we can find additional information about potential patients and areas of potential instability. We have our K9 unit here, helping us search for potential victims. And we have all of our specially trained firefighters, tactical units, collapse units, and our EMTs and rescue medics who are trained specifically to treat someone in a collapse,” FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanagh said.
The FDNY gave the address as 1915 Billingsley Terrace. The portion of the building which collapsed, however, is located on West Burnside Avenue, and the address was initially given as 172 West Burnside Ave.
He said in the three months he’s worked at that location, the building has been under construction.
“We heard something, like, some people screaming across the street. So we go out to see what’s going on. We see this construction stuff start cracking. There was two guys doing some construction up there. We see, like, big rocks start falling down. And then the whole building just fell down in, like, a second,” he said.
Intense search of area
The FDNY said there have been no reports of injuries thus far, but it is continuing to search the area. The FDNY is using drones and dogs to search the area.
“We will presume, with an occupied building, that there could be someone there until we eliminate that possibility,” Kavanagh told CBS New York’s Maurice DuBois and Kristine Johnson. “We are doing everything in our power to make sure we can find them if they’re there, or to eliminate the possibility.”
“Given that this is an active building, a building with commercial space and residential space, we’re going to presume that their could be someone there, and we’re going to operate like there is,” Kavanagh said.
What caused the partial building collapse?
Kavanagh said there was no immediate word on what caused the collapse, but that will be part of the investigation.
All utilities have been shut off at the building.
The FDNY is responding to a partial building collapse of a six-story apartment building at 1915 Billingsley Terrace in the Bronx. So far no injuries have been reported. pic.twitter.com/9FhCSOwbSW
The FDNY, NYPD and Department of Buildings were among the emergency responders at the scene. The Red Cross was assisting residents.
Metro-North Hudson Line service was suspended in both directions between Grand Central and Spuyten Duyvil because of the collapse.
What happens next?
The majority of the apartment building is still standing. The corner of the building collapsed, all the way from the roof down to the street. Several rooms within the building are now exposed to the street.
The corner of a building 172 West Burnside Avenue collapsed on Dec. 11, 2023.
Citizen.com
Personal items, such as a hanging shoe organizer loaded with shoes, could be seen from the street below. A bed appeared to be crushed in one of the crushed rooms. A small jacket could be seen hanging on the wall of one of the rooms.
The base of the building has a sidewalk shed on it. The shed is now partially surrounded by an extensive pile of rubble.
Residents of the building were being directed to a service center at P.S. 390, which is nearby. The MTA also brought in four buses to keep residents warm.
“Any residents that need a place tonight, please go to P.S. 390. We will have teams there to help find you a place to stay for the duration of this event,” Iscol said.
There was no immediate word of the number of people who are displaced as a result of the collapse.
The FBI investigation appears focused on links between Turkey and the Adams campaign, a country with which the mayor has long fostered close ties. The New York Times, which obtained portions of the search warrant in the raid of the fundraiser’s home, reported that the FBI was investigating whether Adams’ campaign conspired with Turkey’s government to pocket illicit overseas donations.
Adams, a first-term Democrat, and the fundraiser, Brianna Suggs, 25, have not been accused of wrongdoing.
FBI agents leave the Brooklyn home of Mayor Adams’ campaign consultant, Brianna Suggs, earlier this month. (Obtained by Daily News)
New York City mayors have often found themselves caught up in corruption investigations. In this case, the publicly surfaced details of the inquiry into Adams’ campaign and the disclosure that the FBI seized the mayor’s devices have put questions about Turkey and its connection to New York City at the center of local politics.
“We are fully cooperating,” the mayor said at a news conference last week, referring to the FBI. “My role is to allow them to do their job without interference, and I have to do my job of continuing to make sure the city navigates the various issues that we are facing.”
Adams’ lawyer Boyd Johnson acknowledged that an unnamed individual acted “improperly.” The person has been placed on leave, according to City Hall.
Many details related to the inquiry remain unknown at this point. Here’s a look at key recent events, and what is known so far.
Nov. 2: The day the news broke
On Nov. 2, the mayor flew to Washington, D.C., for meetings with the White House on the migrant crisis, which he has described as the most pressing issue facing the city. But almost as soon as he had arrived in the nation’s capital, he turned around and headed back to New York to address what his office characterized as a “matter.”
That morning, FBI agents had raided the Crown Heights, Brooklyn, home of Suggs, who has claimed credit for raising $18 million for Adams in the 2021 election cycle. The Suggs raid was reportedly not the only location the feds hit that day; CNN reported that about 100 FBI agents carried out searches or interviews at a dozen locations early that morning.
Federal agents raided the home of Brianna Suggs. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)
According to a bombshell search warrant reported by The New York Times, the raid on Suggs’ townhouse home is part of a federal public corruption investigation into whether Adams’ 2021 campaign conspired with the Turkish government and a Brooklyn construction firm to funnel foreign cash into the campaign’s coffers via straw donors.
The warrant reportedly sought evidence of a conspiracy to steal federal funds and make illegal campaign donations with foreign money and fraud, and whether Adams’ campaign secured perks for Turkish government officials and executives at the construction company, a Williamsburg-based outfit called KSK Construction Group.
Eleven employees of KSK, the Brooklyn construction firm listed in the search warrant, donated $13,950 each on the same day in May 2021 to Adams’ campaign, according to city records. Among the KSK employees listed as donating was the firm’s owner, Erden Arkan, who states on his LinkedIn profile that he received his education a Istanbul University in Turkey. Executives at the company appear to have close ties to one of Turkey’s largest political parties.
The FBI also searched Abbasova’s home, in New Jersey, and the home of Cenk Öcal, a one-time Turkish Airlines executive who worked on Adams’ transition team, according to the Times.
Evan Thies, a spokesman for Adams, said Friday that Suggs continues to work for the mayor’s 2025 campaign.
Suggs and Öcal could not be reached for comment.
An email reply from Abbasova on Friday said, “I am out of the office with no access to email.”
The mayor’s phones
As Adams was leaving an event on the night of Nov. 6, the FBI approached him and requested that he hand over electronic devices, according to a statement from the mayor’s lawyer. The FBI took at least two phones from the mayor, and returned them within days, according to a person with knowledge of the action.
Following that seizure, it emerged Adams had made an inquiry to the Fire Department regarding permitting for the new Turkish Consulate tower in Manhattan in 2021, when Adams was the Democratic nominee for mayor. Adams has acknowledged that he reached out to the then-fire commissioner, Daniel Nigro, about concerns that the building would not be open in time for the United Nations General Assembly at the end of summer 2021.
The mayor has presented his outreach to the Fire Department as constituent services. He has suggested he asked the FDNY to look into the matter, but did not direct the department to do anything.
“I had no authority to do so,” Adams said Tuesday. “I was the [Brooklyn] borough president.”
The building was granted a temporary certificate of occupancy that allowed it to open.
An FDNY chief involved in that process said he felt he would lose his job if he didn’t press for approval of an inspection at the new building even though the fire safety system wasn’t functioning. FDNY Chief Joseph Jardin, who is suing the FDNY, has been questioned by FBI investigators looking into allegations that the Turkish government funneled illegal foreign cash into the mayor’s campaign coffers in 2021, sources said.
Jardin was also questioned about a list of real estate developers City Hall allegedly wanted to fast-track through the FDNY’s fire safety inspection process. The list — known as the “DMO list” because it fell under the purview of the deputy mayor of operations — “became a mechanism to press the FDNY to permit politically connected developers to cut the inspection line,” according to Jardin’s lawsuit.
The list reportedly dated at least to Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration. De Blasio declined to comment.
Adams had held a lengthy news conference on Nov. 8, two days after the seizure, but the incident did not come up. News that the FBI had taken Adams’ devices did not emerge publicly until Nov. 10, when the Times reported the seizure.
Adams has defended not immediately disclosing the seizure to the news media.
“My information was completely accurate,” Adams said Tuesday. “As a former member of law enforcement, it is always my belief: Don’t interfere with an ongoing review, and don’t try to do these reviews through the press.”
Adams and Turkey: Multiple ties
Mayor Eric Adams, right, visits a Turkish mosque in Brooklyn where donations were being collected for victims of the earthquakes centered in southern Turkey in February 2023. At left is the consul general of Turkey in New York, Reyhan Ozgur. (Fatih Aktas/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
At the time, Adams was Brooklyn’s borough president.
Last year, Adams said he had visited Turkey about six times, expressing admiration for the country’s spirit and history. Overall, Adams attended nearly 80 events celebrating Turkey during his time as Brooklyn’s borough president, according to Politico.
Adams has traveled widely as a public official. And as mayor he has brought unique zest to flag raisings for dozens of countries, hailing New York’s status as a global city.
Firefighters were called to the Twin Park South East apartments on E. 180th St. near Mapes Ave. in Crotona about 6:45 a.m. after a carbon monoxide alarm went off.
First responders arriving at Twin Park South East found 13 tenants in the nine-story building sickened by CO2 fumes, FDNY officials said.
EMS rushed all 13 to Jacobi Hospital for treatment and observation. None of the injuries appeared to be life threatening, an FDNY spokesman said.
The carbon monoxide fumes were coming from the building’s boiler and spread to the upper floor through the garbage chutes, according to preliminary reports.
An investigation into the incident was underway, an FDNY spokesman said.
An additional 44 people were seriously injured in the Jan. 9 2022 Twin Parks North West apartments, which is considered the city’s deadliest blaze in decades.
This is an updated version of a story first published on Sept. 12, 2021. The original video can be viewed here.
In the neighborhoods of New York, there are 217 firehouses. Each holds a memorial to firefighters who answered the call 22 years ago and never returned. As we first told you in 2021, 343 members of the Fire Department of the City of New York perished on 9/11, in the greatest act of gallantry ever bestowed on an American city. This is their story.
Joe Pfeifer: This plane raced past us along the Hudson River at such a low altitude I could read “American” on the fuselage.
At 8:46 that morning, Battalion Chief Joe Pfeifer was blocks away, searching for a routine gas leak.
Joe Pfeifer: I saw the plane aim and crash into the North Tower of the World Trade Center.
Joe Pfeifer
From that moment, the firefighters of the FDNY would have about an hour and a half to save 17,000 lives.
Sal Cassano: They knew that they might not come home, but they knew there were people trapped. That’s our job.
Peter Hayden: There’s no way we were gonna stand back and say we’re not going in. That wouldn’t be the FDNY.
Dan Nigro: Our aim was to get above that fire and get those poor people out that were calling us.
Melissa Doi: We’re on the floor and we can’t breathe. And it’s very, very, very hot!
Dan Nigro: And all the dispatcher could say is, “We’re coming for you.” So, we like to keep our promises. You know, we told them we’re coming. We’re coming.
Joe Pfeifer was coming with a camera. Filmmakers Jules and Gideon Naudet were making a documentary about the FDNY.
Joe Pfeifer: We have a number of floors on fire. It looked like the plane was aiming towards the building.
Dispatch: Engine 6 to Manhattan, K.
Dispatch: Engine 6
Radio Transmission: The World Trade Center, Tower Number One is on fire!
Dispatch: Engine 1-0, World Trade Center 10-60. Send every available ambulance, everything you got to the World Trade Center now!
At FDNY headquarters, in Brooklyn, 54-year-old Chief of Department Peter Ganci Jr. raced to his car. He was the boss, leading the second-largest fire department in the world—after Tokyo. Dan Nigro was his number two.
Dan Nigro: So we went downstairs quickly, got in the car and headed over the Brooklyn Bridge, where we could see the damage, see the smoke, see the fire. That’s when I said to Pete– “Pete, this’ll be the worst day of our lives.” And, you know, that was before I knew the half of it.
Radio Transmission from Pete Ganci: Car 3 to Manhattan, K.
Pete Ganci’s voice was recorded en route.
Radio Transmission from Pete Ganci: Transmit a fifth alarm for this box and get us a staging area chief, uh, chief, somewhere on West Street, K.
A “box” is a location. “K” signals the end of a message — a throwback to the 19th-century telegraph which, on this day, was punctuating the greatest crisis in the department’s 136 years.
Peter Hayden: Right away I got a deep sense that we were going to lose a lot of firefighters this day.
Division One Commander Peter Hayden met Battalion Chief Joe Pfeifer in the lobby of the burning tower.
Peter Hayden
Peter Hayden: Well, I knew that we weren’t gonna be able to put out the fire. So, the order of the day was to search and evacuate as many people as we could. And then we were gonna back away.
The fire was 93 floors above. Elevators were out, so firefighters climbed tight stairwells shouldering 75 pounds and more.
Peter Hayden: And I thought we would have enough time to get the people out. And everybody that was above the impact of the plane we were pretty much sure were either dead already or going to die. There were a lot of people jumping out already.
1,355 people were trapped above the fire. The Boeing 767 had severed all three stairwells—leaving one way out.
Radio Transmission: …Jumpers, K! Jumpers!
Radio Transmission: Alright Division 1 be advised, Battalion 2 advised he has jumpers from the World Trade Center.
Joe Pfeifer: We heard a loud thud. And I knew that was somebody that either fell or jumped from the building.
The first firefighter killed was hit by a fellow human being.
Joe Pfeifer: It was happening so rapidly that I grabbed the PA system at the fire command post And I said, “The firefighters are coming. If you can, hold on.”
Sal Cassano: It’s something that’s gonna haunt us probably for the rest of our lives.
Tour commander Sal Cassano had arrived precisely 17 minutes after the North Tower was hit.
Sal Cassano
Sal Cassano: Just as I got outta my car, I heard another explosion. And I can tell you exactly what time it was. It was 9:03, because that was the plane that hit the South Tower.
Radio Transmission: You have a second plane into the other tower, the tower of the trade center! Major fire!
Radio Transmission: Mayday! Mayday! Engine, ah, another plane hit the second tower, K.
The second 767 exploded into floors 77 through 85. Now, 2,000 people were trapped a quarter-mile high. Cassano ran into the department chaplain, Mychal Judge.
Sal Cassano: And I just told him, “Father we’re gonna be in for a bad day. You’re gonna need a lot more chaplains here.”
Peter Hayden: You know, the more and more firefighters they kept coming in, they took their assignments with no question, pretty tough to do.
Scott Pelley: But it’s also hard to give them those assignments.
Peter Hayden: It was, it was, but I could tell that when I gave the assignments out, I could see the look in their eyes. I remember seeing firefighters hugging each other. And heading up.
Scott Pelley: How many firefighters did you see that day refuse to go up the stairs?
Joe Pfeifer: Nobody refused to go in.
Joe Pfeifer: I could remember one lieutenant from Engine 33 coming up to me and not saying a word. And we stood there wondering if we were both gonna be okay. And that lieutenant was my brother Kevin. And then I told him what I told many of the other fire officers. I said, “Go up to the 70th floor.”
Seventy, they hoped, could be a staging area in the North Tower.
In less than half an hour the FDNY had rescue operations in the North Tower, the South Tower and the nearly sold-out 800-room hotel between them.
Sal Cassano: From the time the first plane hit the North Tower until the second tower collapsed was 102 minutes. The things that were going through Pete’s mind in just 102 minutes is just mind-boggling.
Sal Cassano was with Chief of Department Pete Ganci at his command post on the street, below the towers.
Scott Pelley: Was Ganci the kind of boss that you did things for because you feared him, or because you desperately did not want to let him down?
Sal Cassano: You did it because you loved him.
Ganci joined the FDNY in 1968.
Scott Pelley: What kind of man was Peter Ganci?
Dan Nigro: Pete, I guess people would say he’s my alter ego. Had a chest full of medals. And he was just a down-to-earth, honest, hard-working guy. You know he was a paratrooper in the Army, worked his way up to be chief of department in the FDNY. Quite a story.
A story of courage over his 33-year career.
Scott Pelley: He won the department’s medal of valor. Crawling into a burning apartment on his hands and knees, grabbing a child who was certainly going to die, and dragging that child out and saving her life.
Sal Cassano: That’s the kind of person Pete was. He would put people before himself without a doubt.
He put his firefighters before himself three months before 9/11. Ganci, the chief of the department, responded from home to a call of firefighters trapped in a burning store. He went in wearing shorts and boat shoes. He once said his 11,000 firefighters were his children. On that day in Queens, he lost three.
On 9/11, the man responsible for firefighter safety was Chief Al Turi, who was tormented by the passing minutes.
Al Turi: …Let it burn up. We ain’t putting this out.
He asked Pete Hayden if he had considered the threat of a partial, localized collapse on the burning floors.
Peter Hayden: I said yes but, we needed to get the people out. There were hundreds upon hundreds of people coming down the interior stairs.
Scott Pelley: How much time did you think you had?
Peter Hayden: I thought we had a couple of hours.
The chiefs knew, no steel high rise in history had ever completely collapsed due to fire.
Dan Nigro
Dan Nigro: None of us expected the building to come down. We expected the fire to keep burning, and conditions to get worse. But if we could just get one route above in each building, perhaps we could bring some folks down, at least.
Scott Pelley: You just needed a little more time.
Dan Nigro: We just needed time.
Orio Palmer receives orders in the lobby of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001
CNN
No one would do more with time than Orio Palmer. That’s him on the right with the mustache. He’s receiving orders to go to the South Tower to try to clear a path to the trapped souls calling 911.
911 operator: How many people where you’re at right now?
Melissa Doi: There’s like five people here with me.
911 operator: All up on the 83rd floor?
Melissa Doi: 83rd floor.
Melissa Doi
9/11 Memorial & Museum
32-year-old Melissa Doi was saying the Hail Mary prayer when 911 answered. The once aspiring ballerina was a manager in a financial firm on 83, one of the burning floors in the South Tower.
Melissa Doi: Are they going to be able to get someone up here?
911 operator: Of course ma’am we’re coming up to you.
Melissa Doi: Well, there’s no one here yet and the floor is completely engulfed. We’re on the floor and we can’t breathe. And it’s very, very, very hot.
The operator was right, someone was rising toward Melissa Doi. Orio Palmer ran marathons as a hobby.
Radio Transmission from Orio Palmer: Battalion 7, Ladder 1-5,
“Battalion 7” is Chief Palmer. “Ladder 1-5” is a team of firefighters, a few floors below.
Radio Transmission from Joe Leavey: What do you got up there, Chief?
Radio Transmission from Orio Palmer: I’m still in “boy” stairway, 74th floor. No smoke or fire problems, the walls are breached, so be careful.
Joe Leavey
FDNY
This is ladder 15’s lieutenant, Joe Leavey.
Radio Transmission from Joe Leavey: Alright, we’re on 71 we’re coming up behind you.
Radio Transmission from Orio Palmer: I found a Marshal on 75.
Palmer found Fire Marshal Ron Bucca on the 75th floor, evacuating civilians.
Ron Bucca
FDNY
Radio Transmission from Orio Palmer: Battalion 7, Ladder 1-5.
Radio Transmission from Joe Leavey: 1-5.
Radio Transmission from Orio Palmer: I’m going to need two of your firefighters “adam” stairway to knock down two fires, we have a house line stretched, we could use some water on it, knock it down, K.
Palmer had discovered the only intact stairway to the top of the South Tower. Unlike the North Tower, the second plane had missed stairway “A.”
Radio Transmission from Joe Leavey: We’re on 77 now in the B stair. I’ll be right to you.
Orio Palmer
FDNY
If Palmer could clear this stairwell, 619 souls would have a way out. He was five floors below Melissa Doi and rising.
Melissa Doi: I’m going to die, aren’t I?
911 operator: No, no, no, no, no, no …
Melissa Doi: I’m gonna die.
911 operator: Ma’am, ma’am, ma’am say your prayers. We’re not gonna…
Melissa Doi: I’m gonna die.
911 operator: We’re gonna think positive because you’ve gotta help each other get off the floor.
Radio Transmission from Orio Palmer: We have access stairs going up to 79, K.
Radio Transmission from Ladder 15: Alright I’m on my way up, Orio.
911 operator: You’re doing a good job, ma’am. You’re doing a good job …
Melissa Doi: It’s so hot. I’m burning up…
An hour had passed since the attack on the World Trade Center began. In the South Tower, Battalion 7 Chief Orio Palmer took the only working elevator as high as it would go. Then, he led the men of Ladder 15 on a climb from the 40th floor. Palmer was trying to clear a path to 619 people trapped by fire.
Radio Transmission from Orio Palmer: Battalion 7, Ladder 1-5.
This is Palmer’s radio transmission from the 78th floor of the South Tower. He’s calling the firefighters of Ladder 15 who are coming up with rescue gear from a few floors below.
Radio Transmission from Orio Palmer: We’ve got two isolated pockets of fire. We should be able to knock it down with two lines. Radio, radio that. 78th floor. Numerous 10-45 code 1’s.
10-45 code 1’s were fatalities, more than he could count. Palmer pressed toward 79, climbing at about one floor a minute. As he rose, Melissa Doi, speaking to 911 from the 83rd floor, thought she heard someone.
Melissa Doi: Wait, wait, we hear voices. Hello! Help!
911 operator: Hello ma’am?
Melissa Doi: Help! Oh my God!
911 operator: Are they coming through to you now?
Melissa Doi: Find out if there is anyone here on the 83rd floor!
911 operator: Ma’am, don’t worry, you stay on the phone with me …
Melissa Doi: Can you find out if there is anyone here on the 83rd floor because we think we heard somebody!
We don’t know what she heard. But hearing no answer to her shout, Melissa Doi returned to the call.
Melissa Doi: Can you, can you… stay on the line with me please?
911 operator: Yes, ma’am…
Melissa Doi: I feel like I’m dying.
Joe Pfeifer: Orio Palmer knew how dangerous this was. And he didn’t stop. Ladder 15 knew how dangerous it was. But we never thought that an entire high-rise building would collapse. There was no history of it anywhere in the world.
But this day, history was changing because the planes had blasted away the spray-on fireproof foam insulating the structural steel. The burning floors were sagging, slowly pulling the exterior inward. EMS Division Chief John Peruggia was in the city emergency operations center, where he received a warning from an official he believes was an engineer.
John Peruggia
John Peruggia: He said, “The buildings are severely compromised. You can see slight lean. They’re in danger of collapse.” So I grabbed one of my staff guys, EMT Rich Zarrillo. And I said, “Rich go to Pete Ganci, don’t talk to anyone else, and deliver this message: the buildings are in danger of collapse.”
In a four-second video, at the far left of the screen, you see Rich Zarrillo’s blue shirt. He’s delivering the warning to Pete Ganci. Zarrillo hardly got the words out when Ganci’s attention was drawn to a roar from the South Tower above him.
Sal Cassano: Loud noise, had no idea what it was. All we saw was this plume of dust and smoke and debris.
In the moment before, Melissa Doi had given the 911 operator her mother’s phone number and the message that her daughter loved her. Then, there was silence.
911 operator: Oh my God. Melissa, please. You’re gonna be alright. You’re gonna be fine. You’re gonna talk to your mother yourself. But you gotta think positive. You gotta stay calm. Ok? You’re gonna talk to your mother yourself, alright? Melissa?
Scott Pelley: Palmer’s last radio transmission was Battalion 7 to Ladder 15, and there’s nothing after that. That’s when the tower collapses. He must have known that with every step he ascended, his chance of survival dropped.
Sal Cassano: Didn’t deter him one bit. The only thing that was in his mind was, “Let me get up there. Let me get as many people out as I can as quickly as I can.”
Joe Pfeiffer, next door in the North Tower, was 200 feet from the cascading twin.
Joe Pfeifer: And then the lobby goes pitch black… And in the darkness, I wondered if I was dead or alive… And I got on my radio. And I said, “Command to all units in Tower One…
Joe Pfeifer: Evacuate the building.
Peter Hayden: Joe Pfeifer was giving the order to evacuate. And one of the firefighters were calling my name… He says, “We have somebody down.”
Joe Pfeifer: I felt somebody at my feet. And I saw this was our fire department chaplain, Father Mychal Judge. I removed his white collar. I checked for his pulse and breathing. And he had none. And I knew he was gone.
Peter Hayden: Several of us picked him up and we carried him out. The EMTs that had taken him, actually took him, not to the morgue, but they took him to St. Peter Claver which is a Catholic church a little bit north of the Trade Center. And they laid him on the altar, and they called out the Franciscan priests to come down and get him.
Radio Transmission: Tower Two has had a major explosion and what appears to be a complete collapse!
Radio Transmission: Have them mobilize the Army! We need the Army in Manhattan.
John Sudnik
John Sudnik: There was a rush of dust with high pressure coming in, you know, with force that I’ve never experienced before.
Ganci’s streetside command post had been set up next to an underground garage in case shelter was needed. Captain John Sudnik, Ganci and the chiefs dove into the entrance.
John Sudnik: I just remember the dust that day, feeling like it was searing your lungs. Like it was, like, it felt like you were swallowing glass.
Sal Cassano: Pitch black, pitch black. But we heard voices, “Are you okay, are you okay?” And then that’s when we made our way back up.
Sal Cassano: And then, when we got up to where the command post was, Pete’s mind went into rescue mode.
Pete Ganci heard, on the radio, the cries of trapped and wounded firefighters.
Sal Cassano: And I remember him giving orders. “I need truck companies. I need rescue company. Tell ’em to come with me.”
As he had before, Ganci went into the debris to save his men himself. In the still standing North Tower, many firefighters refused the order to evacuate while they were still carrying the wounded and disabled. Ganci sent Sal Cassano to set up a new command post. Twenty-eight minutes later, Cassano was on his way back.
Sal Cassano: And then I look up and all I could see was the antennae from the North Tower imploding.
Radio Transmission: The other tower has just collapsed! Major collapse! Major collapse!
Regina Wilson: I, in my mind, had to be resolved with death.
Regina Wilson
Regina Wilson was on the street below the tower. She was with Engine 219, in her second year as a firefighter.
Regina Wilson: And I prayed, and then I just asked God to just protect me. And then, if he couldn’t, I knew that I would die doin’ what I love.
Inside the collapsing North Tower, the men of Engine 39 were caught in a stairwell.
Jeff Coniglio: And it started out slow, boom… boom… boom. Then it got quicker, where pretty soon it was just like, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, coming down.
Jeff Coniglio and Jamie Efthimiades were on the stairs near the ground floor with 110 floors above them.
Jeff Coniglio and Jamie Efthimiades
Jamie Efthimiades: It took ten seconds for it to come down, but it felt like ten minutes. I saw– I was in the background of a funeral: I saw my casket, I saw my parents, my wife sitting in the front. And as I’m watching this, I’m like, “All right, it’s gonna be quick.” I’m just waiting for something to tap my shoulder and figure, “I’ll feel a tap, and that’ll be it, we’ll be gone,” you know? “We’re not gonna suffer.”
James McGlynn and Bob Bacon were in the same stairwell.
Bob Bacon: You know, the wind actually came up the stairwell. You know, blew me into the air and the landing that I was on just disintegrated underneath me, and I kinda bounced, you know, back and forth and ended up hangin’ from like a pipe.
James McGlynn: I think I said a couple of prayers and said, “God, please get us outta here.”
Their fragment of an intact stairwell lay upon a mountain of misery — 16 acres of wreckage, 91 crushed FDNY vehicles, and quiet like the first heavy snow of winter.
Peter Hayden: Every once in a while, you’d hear the radio, the dispatcher on a radio trying to contact somebody.
Dispatch: Alright, Manhattan announcing, any division or any staff chief at the scene of the World Trade Center, K.
Silence spoke of unimaginable loss.
Dispatch: Any division chief or any staff chief at the scene of any of the World Trade Centers? K.
Joe Pfeifer: That day, 23 battalion chiefs responded. Only four of us survived.
Joe Pfeifer thought of the lieutenant of Engine 33, his brother, Kevin, who Pfeifer sent up the North Tower.
Joe Pfeifer: I got on my radio, and I said, “Battalion one to Engine 33.” And I repeated it several times. And I didn’t get an answer.
Kevin Pfeifer was gone and so was the crew of Ladder 105, which rolled from Regina Wilson’s firehouse.
Regina Wilson: We found the truck. We didn’t find the members.
Scott Pelley: What happened to them?
Regina Wilson: They all died.
Among them was John Chipura, her mentor and her savior. Regina Wilson was assigned to the doomed Ladder 105, but early that morning, before the attack, John Chipura asked to switch jobs, which put her among the survivors of Engine 219.
John Chipura and Regina Wilson
Regina Wilson: I try to honor him by talking his name. And that’s how it is in the African American culture. When you speak the name of an ancestor or you speak the name of a loved one, then they live. And so, every time I say John’s name, he lives. And that gives me comfort.
Jeff Coniglio: It was very hot.
Jamie Efthimiades: Oh, yeah.
The men of Engine 39 were trapped in the wreckage near the North Tower lobby. They could hear, only a few feet away, Battalion Chief Richard Prunty, who was pinned and calling for help.
Jeff Coniglio: We couldn’t get to him and he was passing out.
Jamie Efthimiades: Yeah he was coming in and out
Scott Pelley: Did you hear his radio transmissions?
Jeff Coniglio: The last thing that he said was, of course, about his wife, and saying that–
Jamie Efthimiades: “Tell my wife and children I love ’em.”
Jeff Coniglio: Yeah, that they were the most– “my wife– that she was the most important thing in the world to me.”
Those words were among Richard Prunty’s last. The men of Engine 39 were rescued, but 343 members of the FDNY were gone. In a tradition where the job is handed down in families, many lost fathers, sons and brothers.
Peter Hayden: Guys I had worked with both retired and active, saying to me, “Petey–” you know, “Have you seen my son?” And– you know, firefighter– young firefighter coming up, you know, “Chief, have you seen my father?” Who I knew and– I– I just said, “No.” I didn’t have the courage to tell him what I knew to be true.
Among the fallen were Peter Ganci and 71-year-old Deputy Fire Commissioner William Feehan, who had gone with Ganci to rescue the trapped. Pete Hayden climbed atop an engine to address the living.
Peter Hayden: I yelled out, you know, “We just lost a lot of guys here today. Let’s have a moment of silence.” And well– I took my helmet off. And we held it. I held it. And after a while, I put my helmet back on. They put their helmets back on. I said, “Okay, we have a job to do. (CLAP) Let’s do it.”
Scott Pelley: Do you look back and wonder, “How did I survive, and 343 members did not?”
Sal Cassano: Yeah. I didn’t think about it as much. We were crazy busy. I was working 18 hours a day, and then it hit me. I says, “I’m here.” You know, I mean, I get home and I’m tired, and there was always food on the table waiting for me when I came home, no matter what time I came home. And… I’m lying in bed. And I ask my wife, “Why me?” And she said, “Did you ever think there was a job for you to do?”
There was a job for Cassano and others, to do — rebuilding the FDNY.
Volunteers started fighting fire in Manhattan in 1648. Nearly 200 years later, during the Civil War, an entire New York regiment was manned by firefighters. Their commander is quoted, “I want New York firemen, for there are no more effective men in the country…” As those veterans returned home in 1865, the modern FDNY was created. The department’s traditions are handed down in families. And so, it remains, especially for the children of 9/11’s fallen.
The late chief of department, Peter Ganci, had three children. His daughter married a firefighter. His son Captain Peter Ganci III was 27 on 9/11. His other son, Battalion Chief Chris Ganci, was 25.
Scott Pelley: How did you learn your father died?
Chris Ganci: I ran home, and I got in the door right when Steve Moseillo, who was my dad’s driver, Al Turi, who was the Chief of Safety… I just remember them telling my mom that he’s gone. And she said, “Gone where?” Like that. Like, innocently. And they’re like, “He’s dead.” And I remember the scream that she– that she let out. I can still hear it– my ears and it pains me to hear it. The pain of the realization that he’s never walking back in the door.
Peter Ganci III and Chris Ganci
Scott Pelley: Pete, what kind of man was he?
Peter Ganci III: He loved being around family. But his family was also the fire department. We knew it. My mom knew it. Sometimes to his dismay. But we understood the type of person that he was and why he chose our chosen career.
Scott Pelley: Chris, you were in business and on your way to an MBA. Did 9/11 make you a fireman?
Chris Ganci: Absolutely. Had 9/11 not happened, I would not have been a New York City firefighter.
Scott Pelley: You’ve quoted your dad as telling new graduates from the Fire Academy, “You will never, ever be rich. But you will always be happy.”
Chris Ganci: “You’ll always be happy.” It’s hard to explain to people, how, like, you could get injured or you could get killed but yet, somehow, you come home with a smile on your face. Like, I enjoy being part of the organization, it makes…gives me a sense of pride that I never felt anywhere else. And maybe that’s what had driven my father for so many years.
John and Tommy Palombo
Josephine Smith: My name is Josephine Smith, and I work in Engine 39.
Josephine Smith’s late father, 47-year-old Kevin Smith, was with Hazmat One on 9/11.
Josephine Smith: I always wanted to be like my father. I always wanted to be brave like him, and strong and willing.
Josephine Smith: It really just runs through our blood, generation to generation. I just think it’s just who we are. It’s our passion. It’s our upbringing.
Scott Pelley: Somebody else might have thought, with such grievous loss, I don’t want to have anything to do with that.
Josephine Smith: It’s not the job that took my father, it was an act of terrorism that took my father. And that made me want to fight even more to protect the City of New York and the citizens, “You may have taken my father from me, but the passion in the blood is still there.”
John Palombo: I’m John Palombo. I work in 92 Engine in South Bronx.
Tommy Palombo: I’m Tommy Palombo. I work in 69 Engine in Harlem.
Scott Pelley: John, how old were you on 9/11?
John Palombo: I was a week away from being 8 years old.
Tommy Palombo: And I was 9.
Scott Pelley: How many kids in the Palombo family?
John Palombo: There’s ten of us. Eight boys and two girls.
The Palombo brothers’ dad, Frank Palombo, was 46 when he died—Ladder 105. In a sense, it wasn’t 9/11 that made the Palombo boys firefighters, it was September the 12th —and all the days that followed.
John Palombo: My dad’s brothers and sisters in the firehouse, they cooked for us. They drove us places. They took us to Six Flags. I remember going on their shoulders and, you know, they’d take us by the arms and spin us in circles.
The firehouse turned out for birthdays and games.
Tommy Palombo: The stands were filled at the hockey games, you know. It wasn’t the same because you are missing the one person that you want there, but they do everything they can to fill it. They never will, but they did everything they could to fill it as hard as it was for them, taking time away from their own families.
The firehouse cooked dinner for the 10 Palombos and their mother, every Monday, for five years, until the family moved away.
Mike Florio: I’m a firefighter in Engine 214, Ladder 111 in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn. My name is Michael Florio.
Mike Florio’s dad, John Florio, was 33 years old on 9/11 — Engine 214, the same house where his son works today.
Mike Florio: Every day I walk in, my father’s picture is on the wall. There’s a lot of memorials of him and the other four guys that passed on 9/11. I do have a lot of memories from the firehouse being a young boy. And just walking in there every day and seeing his pictures it brings back those memories. It makes me feel closer to him being there every day.
More than 60 children of 9/11’s fallen have been through the training academy, on Randall’s Island in the East River, and are now ‘on the job.’ To join, they took a written exam that’s given only once every four years. About 60,000 applicants take it. And only those in the top 10% earn a place in the rank and file.
Dan Nigro: I’m very proud of them. I feel that their– their fathers would have been very proud of them.
Dan Nigro, Chief Ganci’s number two on 9/11, was promoted to chief of department and became the city fire commissioner. Among the others in our story, John Sudnik, a captain on 9/11, rose to chief of department, and so did Peter Hayden. Sal Cassano became fire commissioner.
Battalion Chief Joe Pfeifer became chief of counterterrorism and now teaches crisis leadership. Regina Wilson was studying for the lieutenant’s exam.
And Orio Palmer’s name lives on the FDNY’s award for the most physically fit firefighters.
Dan Nigro: A lot of bravery. A lot of bravery was displayed that day. And– followed by a lot of sadness.
Scott Pelley: Commissioner, it seems to be a sad day for you 20 years later.
Dan Nigro: I think for everyone that was there that day, it just stayed with them, the sadness. We have plenty of good days, plenty to be thankful for, those of us who survived, but it’s a day that’ll never leave, never leave you.
Scott Pelley: Sadness becomes part of your life.
Dan Nigro: Absolutely.
Scott Pelley: Your father survived the collapse of the first tower. And instead of moving to safety, he went to answer the mayday calls from his trapped firefighters.
Radio Transmission: Receiving reports of firefighters trapped and down.
Scott Pelley: He knew that the other building was in imminent danger of collapsing. He had decided in that moment that he was not going home.
Chris Ganci: Yeah, I mean, He chose his guys. And, you know, we can get angry about it. And I know my sister and my mother, we sometimes– we hit our head against the wall. But when the smoke clears and you think about it, it was the only decision. I knew the way he felt about his men and his job and the FDNY and he was going to stay and see the job through. And…
Peter Ganci III: He wouldn’t have been able to live with himself if he left and, you know, one more guy was killed. It’s just the way he was. It was, I have to be there until the last guy is out.
Today’s recruits were children then. And so, they muster. Before memories–three columns of the World Trade Center—and 343 lives—which are, here, indelible in time.
Regina Wilson: So many of us sacrificed so much that this story can’t get lost. Because the world is changing fast. And I don’t want this to be something that’s in a history book that a page is turned, and we’re forgotten.
Produced by Maria Gavrilovic. Associate producers, Tadd J. Lascari and Alex Ortiz. Broadcast associate, Michelle Karim. Edited by Peter M. Berman and April Wilson.
On September 11, 2001, 343 members of the Fire Department of New York perished while trying to rescue people trapped in the World Trade Center. Scott Pelley speaks with firefighters who were there that day and the loved ones of those who never made it home.
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