Ny B30 Pa Police Reports 2 Of 2 Fdr- Florie- Sgt Michael 329

Gutch, Edward From: Sent: To: Cc:

Florie, Michael Friday, March 08, 2002 1:04 PM Gutch, Edward Giaramita, Frank

The Following is a description of my actions on 9/11/01 to the best of my recollection. On the morning of 9/11 I had a scheduled appointment at JFK medical at 0830 hrs. I was dropped off at JFK medical at 0815 by P.O. Paul Jurgens in vehicle 5303, who then proceeded towards the PATC for an interview at the Police Academy with Captain. Maz :a. Upon completion of n:/ exam, I learned that a plane had hit one of the towers of the WTC. I ::--'-ediately contacted Sgt. Kohlmann or Giaramita (I don't remember who answered the phone) in my office and informed them I would be waiting at medical and they could pick me up on the way ( which they did in the Police Academy bus #1411). While awaiting pickup I saw the second plane hit on the TV in the waiting room, and learned that it was an intentional act. I was picked up at medical and we were directed to respond to Bldg. 269 to pick up P.O.'s and equipment for transport to the WTC. At Bldg. 269 we loaded disaster trunks on to the bus, I took P.O. Massaro's (who was assigned to the desk) bunker gear, we picked up P.O.'s Maher, Greco, Hawkins, Egbert and Jilling and began driving towards the WTC via the Belt Pkwy.. As we were approaching the entrance to the tunnel the first Tower collapsed I recall watching the Towers burning and hearing Sgt. Kohlmann screaming as the building fell, however I have no visual recollection of the collapse.(I must have been looking at it, but the image is somehow gone from my mind). We proceeded into the tunnel and were about halfway through when the car in front of us abruptly slowed and turned left, hit the opposite wall of the tunnel, backed up and hit the wall behind him, turned around and sped out of the tunnel. A thick cloud of smoke then came around the bend in front of us mov;:ig slowly towards the bus. Since the bus was tco big to turn around we began to back out, not knowing if the tunnel had been damaged from the Manhattan side. I jumped out of the bus with the others on board , we donned SCBA that was on the bus and I began to guide Sgt. Kohlmann who was driving in reverse back towards Brooklyn. Almost immediately we encountered large number of people on foot running from Manhattan through the tunnel. They were entering the tunnel through the emergency doors in the sides of the tunnel. As we were backing out we assisted as many people as we could, at one point stopping the bus and unloading some equipment so that we could get as many elderly people and people who were having breathing problems on the bus. I remember telling people to use anything they had available to filter their breathing and to keep moving towards the Brooklyn -,-"e of the tunnel. When we got out of the tunnel, we were encountered by a large number of emergency vehicles that had been stopped from entering the tunnel. EMS assisted the people we had transported out on the bus. P.O. Greco was assisting what I believe was a cardiac victim. By this time the bus was in need of fuel, and we were assisted in fueling by the TBTA. Once refueled we were informed by a TBTA officer that the tunnel was clear and we proceeded back towards Manhattan. Before entering the tunnel we picked up a group of F.D.N.Y. firefighters and their Lt. who needed transportation back to the other side. When we got to the other side we realized that the second K«iilding had collapsed The streets were deeply covered in gray ash and were deserted. We parked on West street .donned bunker gear, took SCBA in case we needed it and myself, Sgt. Giaramita, Sgt. Kohlmann. and P.O. Maher proceeded down West street to look for survivors. At this point we split from the FDNY and left the remaining officers with the bus until we could assess the situation.(P.O. Greco had remained with his aided). As we .valked down West Street one of the first things we encountered was our van which was being driven by Paul Jurgens on his way to the PATC. The van was covered in ash His hat and eyeglasses were on the back seat and SCBA and Fire Helmets that were in the back of the van were gone We continued down West street to Liberty where we were blocked by debris. We then walked towards the Water and walked along the river to the rear of the Winter Garden. We entered the rear of the Winter garden, however the front half of the building was collapsed and it appeared deserted. We called out and no one answered, so we continued on. When we exited the walkway v e came across small golf cart type vehicle which had been abandoned. We were able to get starte -•• jt our SCBA in the back and drove North. Until we came upon FDNY units who were fighting fires They were attempting to run a 4 1/2 " draft hose to the river and needed assistance. We helped them for about 20 minutes and decided to continue on foot and attempt to locate the PAPD command post. Eventually we found our command post at Manhattan Community College where we were directed to s'and by After a while we were sent out in teams to search for survivors. I ended up in a team with Sgt. Giaramita, P.O. (now Sgt.) K. Cottrell and P.O. B. Fitzpatrick. Later in the day we were informed of two PAPD officers trapped in the area of Church and Liberty. Thinking this was the initial call, we ran from the area of the college to Churrh and Liberty Upon our arrival a large group of rescuers had begun the search for what turned out be Will Jimeno and Jonn Mclaughlin. We climbed up the pile as far as we could get and ended up assisting on the line passing up rescue equipment as needed

There,were many rescuers higher on tne pile then we were and the smoke condition was heavy from adjacent fires. We were on the line when P.O. Jimeno was sent down in a stokes basket. He recognized us and smiled. We remained on the pile as long as we could take the smoke then rotated out and returned to the college. It was approximately 0130 hours by this time and we were secured by Chief Hall with instructions to return at 0700.