9/11 Stories: FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro

There but for the grace of God….31-year-old FDNY’er Paul Falla was on the job only 2 years on 9/11, and just finishing his 24-hour shift at Engine 83 in the Bronx when the alarms sounded. Heading out to respond, no one on the fire rig looked at the ticket, which tells them where to report. They all assumed they were supposed to be going down to The World Trade Center. Just several miles away from The WTC at 34th street, someone looked at the ticket and realized they were traveling in the wrong direction. They were actually supposed to report to a staging area in Harlem, to join 5 or 6 other FDNY companies. Had the men at Engine 83 continued down to The World Trade Center, they almost certainly would have died along with the 343 other New York City firefighters who perished in the collapse of the twin towers. Ultimately, the men from Engine 83 were ordered down to the World Trade Center. By the time they got there, one tower had already collapsed. They watched the second tower fall, engulfing them in a blackout. Paul Falla says it was like a scene out of “Planet Of The Apes”, hauntingly, eerily, quiet. There was nothing left. Nothing. He saw no chairs. No desks. No computers. Only some papers and thick, packed dust...and a woman’s freshly manicured hand emerging from the ashes.