New Tapes Reveal 9/11 Drama

In gripping, vivid accounts of individual heroism and organizational chaos, firefighters describe their response to - and escape from - the World Trade Center in 12,000 pages of oral histories made public today.

The histories, recorded in the weeks after the September 11th attack, offer some of the most detailed and intimate descriptions of the day's horror as seen through the eyes of the firefighters who made the iconic rush into the twin towers, and lost three hundred and forty-three of their brethren.

Compelled by a lawsuit filed by The New York Times when the FDNY did not comply with a freedom of information request and ruling by New York's highest court, the department made public 15 hours of radio transmissions and more than 500 oral histories describing the rush to the World Trade Center, which saved an unknown number of civilians.

Some families and other critics of the city's response have been hoping the new documents would help them challenge the conclusion that many firefighters in the north tower heard, but chose to ignore, an evacuation message issued after the south tower collapsed at 9:59 a.m.

CBS News Correspondent Trish Regan reports that Michael Burke's brother, William, was the only firefighter in his company who didn't make it out of the north tower. Michael told Regan that he will listen to the tapes when he feels ready.

"I will probably listen to them in bits and pieces. I think they'll be very difficult. It will be interesting to hear if we could hear Billy's voice," he said.

The New York court ruling allowed the FDNY to remove painful or embarrassing portions of the tapes before releasing them, CBS' Bianca Solorzano reports. Regardless knowing the statements could have been edited, at least 450 relatives of firefighters killed in the tower collapses have requested copies of the oral histories so to gain any previously shrouded information about their loved ones' last moments.

Independent investigations with access to the documents, including that of the New York Times, have already described major flaws in the city's response to the attack: Emergency radios did not function properly. Police and firefighters did not work together. Discipline broke down. Vital messages went unheard.

Listening to the tapes yields an array of emotions. Some voices are sad; some are terse. Some of the audio is garbled or difficult to understand. Hear more audio.

The 945 minutes of dispatches and recorded histories fill 23 cds, WCBS' Marcia Kramer reports. A reading of just a few of the 12,000 pages of transcripts from the oral histories made clear they were packed with dramatic descriptions of the day.

"When the south tower collapsed, what we did was we either ran, got blown or fell down. ... I realized ... we have people up there," said Fire Chief Salvatore Cassano. "The building is loaded with our guys."

Cassano was manning the department's command post with Department Chief Peter Ganci, who was later killed after the two were separated. Ganci was the highest-ranking firefighter who died that day.

"I'd like to hear his voice again," one father of a fallen firefighter

Firefighter Kirk Long, whose Engine 1 was sent to the World Trade Center's north tower — the first to be struck by a plane and the second to collapse — described rushing up a stairway as evacuees were coming down.

"I was watching every person coming down, looked at their face, just to make them happy that they were getting out and we were going in, and everything was OK," Long said in his oral history.

Long said he heard the north tower shake and thought something in the basement had exploded.

"At that time I never knew that the south tower had gone down," he said.

Firefighter Long described leaving the north tower and being helped by another firefighter to another building nearby that had some clean air.

"There was a lot of mothers and babies there," he said. "I was ready to leave. They were a little shook up because I was covered up with all this dust. I was leaving and they started to cry. They didn't want me to go without them. So I stayed for maybe 10 or 15 minutes until it cleared up a little bit. Then I walked them over to the west side, where there were boats and fresh air."

At least 450 relatives of firefighters killed in the trade center collapse requested copies of the oral histories and radio recordings, and they received them by express mail Friday, the fire department said.

Another firefighter, Patrick Martin of Engine 229, said that after the south tower had collapsed and before the north tower came down, his lieutenant instructed him to go on a boat that was taking people to hospitals across the Hudson River.

"I told him I wasn't leaving," Martin said. "We were still missing one guy."

Fire Lt. Gregg Hansson, whose Engine 24 was called at 8:47 a.m. - one minute after the first plane crash — described hearing the call to evacuate while he was on the 35th floor of the north tower.

"I was in the vicinity of the battalion chief, who was on the command channel, when I heard a mayday given over the command channel to evacuate the building," Hansson said in his oral history. "He started to tell everyone to evacuate, and I did also. I saw all the units get up, everybody got their gear, everybody started for the staircases to evacuate."

Firefighter Maureen McArdle Schulman recalled how somebody yelled something was falling. They thought it may have been desks coming out of the windows but realized it was people. They were jumping out of the windows of the top floors and hitting the ground.

She said she was sickened because she felt like she was intruding on a religious sacrament.

She turned around to look at a wall so not to witness their deaths but could still hear the sound of people crashing into the ground.

The New York Times, joined by families of Sept. 11 victims, sued the city in 2002 to release the records, which were collected by the Fire Department in the days after the collapse of the twin towers.

The city withheld them, claiming the release would violate firefighters' privacy and jeopardize the prosecution of Zacarias Moussaoui, who ultimately pleaded guilty to conspiring with the Sept. 11 hijackers.

In March, the state's highest court ordered the city to release the oral histories and radio transmissions but said the city could edit out potentially painful and embarrassing portions.

In another oral history, fire Lt. Howard Hahn described using his cell phone that day but said his fire department radio was barely functioning.

"I was able to get through, but the transmissions was very hard," Hahn said. It was very hard to control. You're basically doing your own show."