by Brian Barolo
The day the Twin Towers came down, 911 NYC. Where were you on that day of terror in New York City? The day 19 militants associated with the Islamic extremist group al-Qaeda hijacked 4 airplanes on September 11, 2001. In a coordinated terrorist attack within the United States they crashed them into particular sites killing a total of 2996 victims and the 19 hijackers. One airplane went down in a field in Pennsylvania due to the passengers causing mutiny against the hijackers knowing they were headed to there death! True blessed Americans used their own lives to save others by fighting against the militants in midair forcing the airplane to crash in a field rather than into innocent people. One airplane crashed into the Pentagon just outside of Washington D C. There were two airplanes that flew into the World Trade Center that morning. The first one hit the north tower at 8:45 am on that beautiful clear sky Tuesday morning followed by the second airplane 18 minutes later into the south tower.
I, myself was working in NYC in the lower west side setting up a fashion show in a small warehouse space about a half of a block from the west side drive with a handful of stagehands. It was fashion week in NYC, so we were going to build a set for a show. We loaded all of the staging, lighting and production equipment from the truck into the space for the fashion show. All went great during load in and we had a production meeting to assign certain jobs to specific individuals for setting up the gear. Everyone had begun sorting and separating the equipment into the areas in which they would be erected. The producers and managers were also there at a table with laptops, paperwork, and a radio listening to some music. The set up had begun when I stopped in my tracks due to a major rumble. I looked upward because the low sounding rumble was so strong that it felt as though the building was shaking. I can only imagine that is what an earthquake must feel like. I do not know, for I have never experienced one.
Everyone working had also stopped working for a moment due to such a strange rumble never heard before. I being the lead/supervisor for the lighting company had to take charge and command that everyone continue working. Curiosity now has become a major player in getting the work done. Most people let curiosity take control of their actions and have to have a look-see. I had to demand we keep working in order to keep within the scheduled timeline. As the next few minutes went by, the news came on about the first airplane hitting the north tower. Everyone was shocked! Now there is dismay amongst all. The questions and comments started coming out.
Shortly after the first airplane hit and the news started getting frantic, we paused work for a minute to go take a look. While many of the crew and I ran down to the West Side Hwy the client’s assistant tried to get hold of him for answers on to halt work or not due to the U.S. being under siege. As we got to the highway the second airplane, literally, came flying right over us at such a tremendously low height for something that travels at 35,000 feet. We saw it go bye but did not see it hit the 60th floor of the south tower due to the bend in the roadways and the building heights. Smoke was eminent up in the sky and pouring out of the north tower as we heard the crash happen. I never felt so perplexed and uncertain in my life. What to do?
We headed back to our job site to learn more of the situation by listening to the news. At this point I had to calm the crew down and continue working on the set up. The client had not gotten back with any decisions on the show being cancelled or going on so I pushed to keep building. As we worked there was nothing but a miserable crew giving bad and harsh comments with slow downs and stoppages until we finally got the ‘ Shut It Down ‘ call. We packed everything up, closed the space and left for the day.
Staying in New York City to do a job calls for you to rely on cabs to get around. On 9/11 in New York City immediately following the attacks we could not find a taxi cab anywhere. The streets were bare. It felt like being in a ghost town, but in the middle of NYC. No chance of getting a cab so we walked for miles in NYC with our luggage. At least it felt like that. Remember all of those who passed.
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