tonight, the attack that stunned the nation. caught on camera. >> mayday mayday. >> we got to get serve out.

>> inside the world trade center as the first tower fell. on a day we'll never forget. >> in tower one, evacuate the building. >> 9/11. >> for some, september 11, 2001 seems a lyft ago. for others, it was just yesterday. but for everyone in this country, the ruthless attack that happened on that clear sunny day is seared in our minds. good evening. i'm denis leary. the entire nation gasped when the twin towers, reaching high into the sky, single bottoms of success were brought crashing down when two jetliners flew directly into them. here are the names of the almost 3,000 innocent lives that were

lost that day, including 343 of new york's bravest. cnn is honored to bring you the epic film " 9/11" that was born when two brothers with film maker james hanlon was shooting a movie about a rookie fireman in the nypd. it was transformed into a gripping account of what happened while the towers burned and then fell. they kept their cameras roeblgs capturing historic footage, heading towards danger in the area that became known as ground zero

zero. when you work in the firehouse seven blocks from the two tallest buildings in new york, you get to know every step, every staircase, every story. >> couldn't get too close to that. >> i'm james hanlon. i'm a film maker and a firefighter at leader one downtown. during the summer before 9/11, there were days we'd go to the trade center five times in a single shift. my point is we knew those towers

as well as anybody. but nobody, nobody expected september 11 . >> on that day, guys from my firehouse, my best friends were some of the first firefighters in the tower one after the plane hit.

what they did that day, what everyone there did is remarkable. >> chief! >> and almost as remarkable, it was captured on videotape inside the tower, beginning to end. and tonight, you'll see all of it . the tape was shot by two brothers. jewels and gideon node. >> holy shit. >> they're documentary makers and friends of mine. >> there's always room for

history. that day we were chosen to be the witness. >> the strange thing is, the tape, the whole story, it kind of happened by accident. i mean, we didn't mean to make a documentary about 9/11. we wanted to make a documentary about a firefighter. that's how the whole thing got started. >> one, two, three, four. >> more to the point, the plan was to follow a rookie on the job. we coal them probies. almost like a kid become a man in nine months. >> my name's paul. >> i'm john. >> antonio. >> tony. >> i was a police officer for a while i was a pizza man, actually, a pays man runs.

>> this was my first job. >> i waned to be a hero. this is the only thing you can do to do that. >> this is the kid, this is the kid, let's go. >> we got tony assigned to my firehouse, one of the biggest in the city. it's ladder one. there's a whole other company, engine 7. their guys who fought some of the worst fires you can imagine. soon, they'd face the unthinkable. question was, would tony be ready? >> i'm terrified. this is what i want to do but it's -- it's scary. i'm still worried about how i'm going to actually react when there's fireflying over my head. >> thing is, when you're a proby, what you're supposed to do -- >> change the sheets in the morning. >> -- is pretty much of

everything. >> it's 6:22 ♪ i got work to do ♪ i got a job baby ♪ ♪ i got work to do ♪ start up top and wash down. >> i think i'm doing decently. i'm still waiting for a fire, that's all. >> engine. >> we got that big long thing from the back here. >> tony was nervous, of course. should be nervous. and as the days would pass, tony waiting for his first fire, wanted to prove to the other

guys, even more to himself that he was going to be a real great fireman. >> that's how we do it. >> it's all part of learning how to handle people and situations. >> i say you got up there now, got your helmet on, your gear, got to get your mask on. how you going to do that? you're not letting go. >> i don't know. >> hey. >> for two weeks i got 672 .25. >> couldn't even buy a six pack with that. >> i wanted to get rich, i would have become a lawyer. but i wanted something that i'd be able to live with for the

rest of my life. this, i can live with. >> a lot of the guys dpooel feel that way. >> get up in the morning and look yourself in the mirror and say you're doing something with your life. >> hit the door. >> you do your job, you risk your life to help people. and to be part of a family at the firehouse. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ hey la hey la my boyfriend's back ♪ four weeks, five weeks, something like that and i'm still -- still no fire, but it will come. probably when i'm asleep and not ready for it. that's when it will come. >> 2:30 in the new york, bro. >> you can't sleep. >> when the alarm goes off we'll come and get you. >> ok.

got the spare? >> it's going to be a fun 20 years. >> fire over here. there's the fire. see? that's the line, put out the stakes. >> by the end of august, we knew that we had the great cooking show, and there were no fires, but every time we talk with some of the senior guys, be careful what you wish for.

yesterday, 27-year-old firefighter went to a job and he passed away. we'll go to the funeral on saturday and what can you say? >> at the time, we didn't think there could be anything worse than losing a single firefighter. looking back, we all just -- we

were kind of innocent, especially tony. >> a bunch of the guys were talking about what parts usually get them at the funeral. when the coffin went past, that was -- that was a little -- i don't know. i don't know -- i hope it's the last one . >> you have to be on top of your game. >> yeah. >> lot of things to think about. tunnel vision. that's what's going to keep you alive and that's what's going to give you the opportunity to help anybody else. >> right. >> fire or no fire, tony had

learned a lot that summer. sure, he had a ways to go, but weed teach him. as far as we knew, there was plenty of time. a few days later, jewels cooked a french dinner foer the guys, t least he decided to. >> decided to cook leg of lamb. >> he picked one and he mu mutilated it. >> a spreadsheet. couple more meals like this we'll be able to share shirts. >> we stayed up late, just telling jokes and busting chops. >> best part of the meat. >> even though the guys were making fun of us because we didn't cook enough, we had a great time. we are getting accepted. >> great night. little did we know. >> it was the night of september

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a beautiful day today, sunshine throughout. low humidity. really a splendid fall afternoon. tonight clear and cool, though. >> it's begun to sound like some sort of a cliche. but really, september 11 started out like every other day. i was off that day. 13 guys from my firehouse were on. around 8:30 -- >> engine -- >> i believe the run came in. >> get the run for odor of gas

in the street, i think it was. odor of gas. >> you don't think anything of it. you go. >> riding with the bah tal jhannian chief videotaping. >> it's just another call. riding as the battalion chief. we checked the area with meters and it was kind of routine. it was 8:46 in the morning. that's when this stopped resembling a normal day. >> holy shit. holy shit!

>> come on! >> holy shit! >> right then and there i knew this was going to be the worst day of my life as a firefighter. >> i knew this wasn't an accident. >> oh, my gosh. >> chief pfeiffer made the first official report. >> we have a number of floors on fire. looks like a plane is saimg aiming towards the building. we'll have a staging area. >> everyone was passing was looking up. it's like the world just stopped. >> apparently getting a look at the world trade center. we have something that has happened here. a lot of smoke from one of the towers. whatever has occurred has just

occurred, within minutes, and wierp trying to determine exactly what that is. >> as we swung around in front of the world trade, my mind tells me, wow, this is bad. what do we do? what do we do for this? we parked right under the awning of world trade center. chief puts his gear on. i asked him chief, can i come in with you? i want to come in with you. he says yes. >> you stay with me. >> come with me and i go and i hear screams from right to my right. there were two people on fire burning. i just didn't want to film that. it was like no one, no one should see this.

>> fighter was the first chief into the building. right away, a guy from the port authority told him the damage is somewhere above the 78th floor but all you had to do was look around. it was obvious something had had happened right there in the lobby. >> you just saw that part of the windows were blown out. the lobby looks like the plane hit the lobby. >> later they'd figure out that flaming jet fuel has come down the elevator shaft. >> it was all over the place. knew it was going to be worse when we got upstairs. >> flames are shooting out. smoke is pouring out.

>> get a team down there. >> my main concern was we had 20 floors of people above. and we had to figure out a way to get them out. as it turned out, we had no usable elevators. >> with the elevators out, there was only one way to get up there. walk. companies come in. you see them with a concerned look on their face. a

and. the firefighter in full gear carrying 630 something pounds of hose and equipment takes about a minute to climb one flight of stairs. these guys were looking at 80 stories just to get there. then, they'd start working. >> i thought that we were going to put the fire out. everybody seemed to be confident. i know i was. you basically looked at it and said, ok, we got 10, 20 stories of fire, we'll deal with it. we'll get up there. we'll get to it. >> fire crews are streaming into this area from every conceivable direction. >> by this time, some of the top chiefs in the department had joined chief peiffer, running

the demand post, sending guys upstairs. one of the men who went up was lieutenant kevin piefr who was in charge of engine 33 and was the chief's brother. >> i just remember we both looked at each other, said add few words and -- but it was more of a look of real concern that this was going to be something tough. it's going b to a tough job. it's going to be a long job. they'll put it out. that's what they do. the last time jewels had seen his brother was an hour ago at the firehouse. as far as jewels knee, he'd followed tony, the proby into the tower. so my brother is going up the stairs. >> it turns out gideon was with

tony. >> ladder one. >> but tony was still at the firehouse. >> no. i was off duty. >> now he'd been ordered to stay there. >> everybody's been recalled. all available units must come back with the firehouse. >> while tony tried to keep up with the phones, gideon took his camera and started walking down towards the trade center. he was sure his brother was inside and he wanted to get to him. >> what really stick in my mind is passing by people and filming them and filming their astonishment. we were fitting the camera back and forth between the people and the tower in front of me .

>> both towers of the world trade aircraft have been hit by aircraft. >> black smoke coming from both of the towers. it's a horrific scene here. >> mayday mayday. >> there were two planes. i saw the second one hit. get the other calais. >> we knew there was a second plane hit and we had a lot of people trapped. >> stay together, stay together.

they know what's going on. second plane -- >> now the chiefs would have to set up a whole other operation over in tower two. the second plane that's when we could see fear. you could see it in everybody's eyes. >> right there. >> what are you going to do? all the others are blocked out. the staircases must be -- right?

>> it was crowded. people were coming down burned. >> upstairs in tower one, the guys from myfire house were now ten floors up and climbing. >> if we did talk, it was to the people coming down, trying to comfort them, trying to tell them it's ok, get out. stay calm. >> i saw a woman in the staircase. her arms were burnt she was sitting there basically in shock. i picked her up under my arms and i put her with a group of guys, got some guys to take her down. i knew we had to get up -- to help people we had to get up there. >> i pretty much said i'm going up there. >> they're concern was to get everybody out. that's the key. as much people out as possible.

>> most of the people in tower one came out on the mezzanine above the lobby. then they'd get out through another building. >> i want to use lobby seven as -- >> the chiefs didn't want anyone going through lobby doors. first, it was because the wind was blowing outside. then, it was people falling. >> you don't see it but you know where it is and you know that every time you hear that crushing sound, it's a life which is extinguished. it's not something you get used to. and the sound was so loud. >> as you're looking up thinking

how bad is it up there that the better option is to jump. >> the fbi is now investigating reports of a plane hijacking before these crashes we're telling you about at the world trade center towers this morning. >> pieces of the building and the planes actually wound up blocks away. gideon was walking with his camera when he found a chunk of the plain engine that crashed completely through tower two. >> get out of here and just go. this is evidence. you're kicking stuff. what's the matter with you? >> that was as close as gideon would get to the trade center without a firefighter, anyway.

>> so i decided the smartest thing to do was to slowly walk down to the firehouse and find a way to get to jewels. >> one of the two planes was lie jacked after takeoff from boston. this is -- >> two airplanes have crashed into the world trade center in an apparent terrorist attack on our country. >> reports of fire at the pentagon, fire at the pentagon being reported this morning. >> i was just saying that officials are calling it an act of terrorism, they're saying that's clearly what it is, clearly not an accident. >> back at the fire hose, he hasn't know what to do. war. this is war. just by listening to him, freaking outs and swearing and behaving like i've never seen

him behaving, tony was expressing what we all felt. >> somebody has balls. >> tony just wanted to go there. >> it's open from 43 up. >> in the lobby, the chiefs were trying to run the largest rescue operation any of them had ever seen. >> got a phone that's working? >> i assume the entire world knew more than we did. everybody has seen the attacks. everybody had seen the tower burning. [ speaking foreign language ] >> i'd seen the pentagon. for us, we didn't have a clue. >> i need that done now. >> on top of everything else, just talking to the guys in the stair well was tough. the towers internal

communication center had been knocked out by the crash. that left fire department radio. hundreds and hundreds of firefighters that have radios. communication is becoming more and more difficult. one guy in the wtc who was trying franticly to reach anyone on the elevators. >> i'm going through the most -- there's about 98 elevators. middle of all this, suddenly an

ele elevator opens and people don't have a clue what's going on because they've been stuck in there since the first crash. we saw the look on the firef firefighters. it was not fear. it was what's going on. that made me panic a little bit. >> the first time i had seen father judge, the chaplain, as he's called, he was in the lobby with us and i could tell that he was praying.

you know father joe, he would at least make eye contact you and try to give you a reassuring look. that wasn't occurring, almost like he knew this was not good . back at the firehouse, off duty guys were starting to show up. >> we're just waiting right now. >> what's that? >> we're just waiting right now. >> tony was -- he just had one thing in his mind. >> this is bad. >> to go there, and he couldn't. that's when chief arrived. larry burns joined the fire department in 1957. he retired in 1998, a battalion

chief. >> i couldn't wait. i had to get down there. because you know what? they're my firefighters. it's my building. it's my city. got a flashlight? >> remember tony asking me to bring him some gloves, medical gloves. >> got a box of gloves, go get a box of gloves. >> i rush back. there were gon. >> the proby and the retired chief were lost in the crowd, headed down to the trade center. >> i think at that point, the lobby was pretty empty. there was just a few of us in the lobby and we were discussion tactics. >> tower one. tower one.

>> some outsideline companies didn't know what tower one was and tower two. so we were just trying to help them out by writing it on the desk to make it obvious to people. >> it was just before 10:00, a little over an hour since the first plane hit. firefighters from all over the city were inside those towers, hundreds of them. >> i remember i'm filming chief peiffer and he's on the radi o.

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the world trade center, south tower, which was hit by a plain and racked by an explosion approximately an hour has totally collapsed. >> what happened? if you're just joining us this morning, you're in for a who ichk surprise. >> scene here is right of what

you see in hollywood. people are walking around in tears, holding their heads, looking up at what's left of the world trade center and shaking their heads in disbelief. >> out on the street, everyone knew what just happened. the south tower was gone. they saw it collapse and ran. >> i waited. time slowed down and everything became pitch black. >> everybody all right? >> yeah. i'm ok. >> how's the way out of here? >> then realize, ok, i'm not

dead. >> right here! >> let's turn on my flood light on my camera. >> come down this way. get out of the way! >> come on back. >> inside the trade center, all jewels and chief peiffer knew, all anyone knew was that something had gone terribly wrong. >> they asked me, help us out. >> we got to get everybody out. >> i was pointing my life where i was needed. i remember seeing people -- >> mobile units, evacuate the

building. man post all units. >> he gave it right away, very calm. didn't wait. it was a precaution. something wrong is happening. let's get everybody out. and the tone of his voice, i knew it was no normal thing. i knew it was time to leave. >> i remember saying to the guys we're on our own now. for the first time i looked in someone else's eyes and saw fear, which you don't see with fire. it was such a long walk, 21, 16, 14 13rks. i was going down the stairs, a number of firemen resting on the landing and telling them, you know, you've heard of mayday, get out of the building. i know a lot of them did not take it serious.

>> i was just with my camera by my side. trying to actually help someone and i realize d. >> the escalator where we were, i remember his white collar and i opened up his shirt and i remember checking for his pulse and realizing at that time he was gone. >> we got four guys. top of the escalator. top of the escalator. >> after that, we had to figure out how to get out if you go out

this way, right where we are now, people are still jump ing and it's too dangerous. you can't go out this way. chief peiffer tells the people carrying him, ok, stay here. i'll be back, wait here. i'll see you at the bridge. >> chief peiffer went to check one of the foot bridges leaving out of the trade center, if it was still standing, it would be their best way out .

>> i wonder for the first time if jooul is still alive. i never thought of that before. i realize that he could be dead that very moment. >> gideon hitched a ride with three off duty firemen, determined to get to the trade center the only way they could. in a pick-up truck .

>> you walk and you walk and you walk. there are maydays being given and we start to figure out, ok, you cannot have that many maydays in all that dust and all that noise. >> mayday mayday mayday. >> that's when i felt the danger for the first time. it was all around you.

i moon, every single cell of your body is telling you shouldn't be here. >> what he was telling me it was radically different. there was white powder everywhere. >> got masks? >> i want to go in. >> just a few people here and there and it's kind of silent. >> it's straight down. >> there's no word on casualties. suffice to say the loss of life presumably high. >> everyone is concerned getting north, getting away from the world trade center as well as finding out where their families are. >> the south tower of the world trade tower minutes ago

collapsed to the ground. only one tower is standing other this point. >> what is left of the world trade center. the fire continues to burn. >> by this time, chief peiffer had found a safe exit. and tried to radio the men in the lobby. no anti-. >> we walked across the bridge back towards the trade center, still trying to call on the radio and not getting through. >> the guys that they left there, they're not there anymore. >> they had already gone out another way, carrying the body of father michael judge to st. peter's church.

they laid his body on the altar. his death certificate is number 00001. the first official cause july of the attacks. the chief is eddie and jules walked outside. they closed into a scene that none of them could even comprehend. >> there's debris covering everything. there's dust. and we look and the tower's here. it's ok. it's standing. the other we can't see it. it's probably just on the other side.

>> so we look now. just trying to figure out what to place high and then try to gain some control. there was just a sense that this wasn't a good place to stay. chief five's property was to set up a new command post and find his men. right now, they were coming down the stairs. >> at some point, i started to run. i don't know -- even know if i was touching stairs on the way down. when i got about to three or two is when i started to think of my family. i said i got to get out of here. when we reached the lobby, i joked about t it. i said the command post was

abandoned. the board was set up and nobody was there. i said, oh, this is not a good sign. >> i knew there was nothing i could really do. i mean, i was not a fireman. but as a cameraman, there was something i could do. and it was to document what was happening. >> the only thing i was -- my preoccupation was to clean my lens. >> jules was with chief peiffer who was plotting his next move. the firefighters from my house has reached the lobby and scattered. >> i'm kind of walking at this

point. we were out of the building. felt we were safe. >> there were people jumps out of windows. you could see them hitting the ground around you, debris hitting the ground. >> let's move, come on, officers! >> basically, everyone was stack in the shadow of tower one. it was 10:28 in the morning. >> this huge roar. >> and i don't even have time to think at that point. i just run. then i feel someone jumping on

top of me and then the - - >> at that point i realize that i was going to die. >> we need help! the only thing i could think about and irremember telling myself that if i would survive that, and i would be a better bro

brother. >> let's go. and it's dead silence. nothing. no radio calls, no sound, nothing. and i feel the person was on top of me get up. and i recognize it's chief peiffer's voice. i realized he was on top of me to protect me from all this.

chief peiffer said ok, let's go now. the dust starts to clear because the wind was blowing in the opposite direction. after that, it was just trying to walk around the block and walk back to the scene and see what we could do. >> holy shit. >> the most surreal scene i've seen. i cannot describe what took place. >> it is a scene not to be believed. the smoke still billowing. what we do have is a walk down. you can't get in, you can't go out, you can't go up, you can't go down. >> i'm fill in the middle of the street and i see there's a delhi

seems to be open in the corner. lot of people injured. firefighters. and then it hits me that now, where is my brother. i started realize ing. so i tried to go back to the world trade center and to go find my brother. where are the zbhiez. >> i have no idea. where is chief peiffer? >> and i'm in middle of the street walking and a cop approaches and said who are you.

>> i'm the chief of police at the time. >> oh, in taiwan? >> my letter. >> take your left and your camera and get out of here, all right? go. >> so i go back up, walk north, knot really knowing where i'm going. >> making documentary on the fire department. >> fine. this ain't fucking disneyland, get out of here. >> maybe go back there but at that point i just -- i think he's dead. it becomes too overwhelming.

it's not easy being a survivor. the guys started toe come back one by one. i can't explain why i'm here.

>> guys crying, so many thoughts and emotions. >> we were in one. two fell first and then they told us to get out. >> two fell first? that's why they were -- >> we got to call our loved ones, tell them we were ok. >> it was fucking sick. we just got out. we got out two blocks. i'm still not far enough. >> just needed to be with the guys, you know. >> get back in. >> i was never so glad to see firemen in my life. it was a great thing to know that people were surviving this.

god, am i glad to see you. we were the lucky ones. >> i don't think it's luck. it's a miracle. >> miracle isn't a word you hear much from firefighters, especially not on that day. what else could you call it? one guy after another was making it back safe. i can't believe we all made it out. how did we all make it out of the building? 30 seconds, another two flights hig higher. >> one guy from the firehouse came to me and i asked him, you know, i said have you seen jules. do you know where he is?

and he look at me and he said yes, he's behind you. and i turn over and he was there in the firehouse. i didn't even see him coming in. like meeting for the first time. i asked are you all right? he tells me yes. he says he was all that time in the lobby. i am done. i know what it's like now to think you're going to die. and then i tell him i got the

first plane and i filmed and do you have enough tape? >> unbelievable. unbelievable. >> ok? >> yeah. >> under. >> yeah. >> ok. >> i'm fine. >> and it definitely was a miracle, you know. >> worried about you. i didn't know what happened to you guys. everybody's alive. everybody's accounted for. >> and they would come back one by one to the house. except one. >> did you see tony? >> that's what i heard. >> we were all accounted for except for tony. everybody was wondering about tony.

in one hand you celebrate. somehow the guys from our house, they got out. we lost so much in that two-hour period.

and we felt like we got the hell kicked out of us. >> i don't know what toe do. go back down there or what? at the same time, we knew hundreds of firefighters, thousands of people had to have died in those towers. and every hour that passed, we were more certain tony benitatos was one of them. >> hey, guys, deputy chief hill called, first division. he doesn't want anybody else down here right now. >> but the truth is, the guys had to go back. had to start digging for survivors. >> i had to go back. and find the kid.

it's gone, man. >> i got down there just as seven world trade finally collapsed. no sign of tony anywhere. it had to be almost 6:00. nine hours after everything started. taupe just walked in. >> i walked in like a daze and they were all, hey, you're all right. >> how you doing? >> good. >> you ok? >> what happened on your end? >> i was in the building. >> were you? >> is everyone from the house? everyone? i just asked did everyone get back, and they were like, yeah. all right.

that felt pretty good. i left here right after the first collapse. >> turns out tony had been with larry burns the whole time. the probie and the retired chief. . they were right there when tower one came down. >> i checked on the rigs, there were rigs crushed, paramedics covered with rubble, fires burning everywhere. huge fires. that whole day i just searched through, lifting chings up, checking underneath. it's hard. very hard. >> he's only been a firefighter for a couple of months, but he proved himself that day to all the guys, yeah.

>> there was so much that we didn't know about that first day, who had attacked us, how, why, all we knew is that nothing would ever be the same. >> guiliani held a news conference saying it's important not to lash out in anger because of the attacks. >> yeah. >> one of the things that sticks with me more than everything i saw, as i sat down next to ted, he looked real bad. i said, tony, man, it was raining bodies. the roof of the area yacht, we were on the roof of the area yacht. there was parts all over the fucking lays. legs, feet, it was nasty. the man had been through hell. >> good evening. today our fellow citizens, our

way of life, our very freedom came under attack in a series of deliberate and deadly terrorist acts. >> a very depressed dismal, miserable mood losing firemen, thousands are gone. as quickly as you blow a match out, it was gone, that's it. gone. >> it's hard to believe they're not there. they're not there. >> it did happen, right? it's not something that i'm going to close my eyes and open them again and i'm going to see the tower, right? it's not there.

>> around midnight we sent tony up to lower the flag to half mast again. there was going to be a lot to do in the future. a lot of guys, we all lost friends and family. >> i never want to put that thing at half mast again. that's it. >> it's 24 on, 24 off. >> we got word that we start digging in the morning. some of the guys with wives and kids went home just for a few hours. they knew it might be days before they'd see their families

again. my son was sleeping. i picked him up and i put him in my bed. i wanted him to be with me. normally i would take him out of my bed and put him in his own bed. this time, it was the opposite. he didn't mind that. it was twoufl see that smile again. >> probably the best, best entrance i ever made toe a place and the kids came out and we just kind of all cried and one big hug and it was -- we just cried.

>> more guys out here. start a line. >> came back to the firehouse the next day. i couldn't wait to get back, actually, because i wanted to get down. i figured we're going to have plenty of people that are going to be trapped for sure. we're going to get them out. we have to. we always do. >> we're all alive. that's more than we could have possibly hoped for. so our job now is to go and do whatever needs to be done and do it as much and as hard as we can for as long as they'll let us. >> some of the guys took a city bus down to what the media was already calling ground zero. >> you guys put them in your pockets.

>> some fireman called it the pile. for us, it was still the trade center, even if it was gone. >> high, guys, you hear three horns, that means something might be coming down. keep your eyes open when you're walking around down there.

and i just realized something

that i always wanted to doan deny is how evil evil can be. >> 19 and 12. >> form the companies, five men and an officer. went to work right away, kind of look for survivors. >> get some bakts down here. guys were digging fast, passing those buckets quick. digging franticly. >> watch your back, guys. >> we'd be digging and all of a sudden everybody would say q quiet. >> the whole place would get quiet and people would look.

we were slowly going back to work and start again, and that's -- that's how things went down there. we'd clear what we could by hand. and the iron workers would come in, cut the steal beams and lift them out. then we'd just start digging again. you have two 110-story office buildings. you don't find a desk, a chair,

you don't find a tele, a computer. the biggest piece of a telephone i found was half of the keypad and it was about this big. the building collapsed to dust. how are we supposed to find anybody in this if there's nothing left of the building. >> bucket. >> we found a body. it was a girl. she was dead. she was definitely dead. all because -- she looked to be pregnant. some people thought maybe she was just bloated, but i don't think. she was encased in rubble. we had her about halfway uncovered and getting the body bag ready and they told us to run.

and we ran, so i never got to see if they got her outs. at least i got one person out, one family will be able to have a decent funeral . our first shift was 24 hours and in all that time there was one person pulled out alive. one. it was beyond discouraging. it was even hard to understand.

walking back to the firehouse, people were cheering us. >> thank you! >> but we sure didn't feel like heroes. every day total strangers were showing one supplies. >> somebody said you could still use towels. >> thank you for coming. >> i know it's early in the operation here, but i just wanted to thank everyone for all the hard work that they've been doing. how are we here? only god knows, but again, guys, thank you so much. i really -- you have no idea. [ applause ] >> check the lockers, bro, check all the lockers. >> listen, we tried to keep hope. but as days turned into weeks, you began to accept there just

wasn't anybody to find. >> yes, sir. >> got another body over here. >> day after day they'd push guys to their limit, maybe past it. lot of guys don't know if they can do the job anywhere. i know it's either this or the army now. and i like saving lives. i don't like taking them. but after what i saw, if they -- if my country decides to send me to go kill, i'll do it. >> every night the fire department would list out a list of firefighters confirmed dead and every night that list got

longer. >> it is with regret that the department announces that the doet of the following members: battalion chief john p. williamson. firefighter william henry. firefighter eric t. allen. firefighter manual mohica. firefighter -- >> there was so many people, that everybody has lost dear friends. not just one or two but dozens. ♪ >> most days there was a memorial service for some guy you knew. some days two or three. some days four. one of those services was for

kevin peiffer, the chief's brother. he was last seen in the stairs of tower one directing guys to the fastest way out of the building. >> i would say chief peiffer's brother saved my life. and i remember walking down west street, i just remember saying, you know, how much my brother and i used to love being downtown and doing this job and -- and how now i didn't love it anymore.

eventually we started going on runs again. >> feels good, though. >> and trying our best to love the job again. but things will never be the way they were. >> they said let's make a documentary about a boy becoming a man. during this nine-month probationary heard. turns identity tony became a man in about nine hours trying to help out on 9/11. >> he's not bragging about it. that's how we can tell.

>> do i feel like it's given me a moral sense of self-worth? yes. has it made me a man what's a man? >> i think it's so much the severity of an event that altars who you are. i think it's how you intercept that changes who you are. >> we keep forgetting how many people were saved on that day. on 9/11, firefighters saved 20,000 people. >> to have that much respect for human life, i'm honored to be a fireman.

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here in the 9/11 memorial museum, the last column, as its known, remind visitors of the 343 members of the fndy who lost their lives. noip was a day that defined the end of an era and the dawn of another. making us understand we are vulnerable as a nation and ever since, we've been adjusting to our new normal. wars overseas, acts of terror at hemoand abroad and a fear of where the next attack will come from. tomorrow we immediate some of the firefighters from the documentary who lived the true meaning of heroism every day of their lives. >> the firefighters of engine 7 and ladder 1 have a new responsibility soaring over the

neighborhood, the freedom tower. world trade center one. the firehouse on duane street is busier than ever. only a handful from 9/11 are still there. one of them is john. >> the new guys coming on are just as good as the guys we had before. they're so eager to learn and work. now i'm one of the old guys in a firehouse. >> there's nothing like getting on a rig, hauling down broadway with lights and sirens. johnny mack, as he's called in the firehouse, had been there for eight years on september 11, 2001. >> it was just a terrible day and it's tough being the hero. that's why i don't like that whole thing and whatever anybody says about that. we were there. we saw it firsthand. for me, the best thing i ever did was stay at the firehouse and stay down there. i think that was my therapy. a lot of guys after 9/11 had a

lot of trouble. drinking and depression and post traumatic stress. that's real. the only support groups were the firemen, the other men. that's all. the firehouse for me. >> have a good night. >> bye. >> still, that same firehouse for steve rogers, too. >> the firehouse is a big family. you have family at home and then the second family at the firehouse. when things happen everybody steps up and does the right thing. that's what a family does. >> that's what steve did when he rushed in to work on 9/11, his day off. >> i think 9/11 should be a national holiday. a lot of heroes that day. people doing extraordinary things and they should be remembered. >> driving to work for 31 years, the changing skyline has a meaning for him.

>> i used to come over the bridge from staten island and come to work and look at the skyline. for a long time there was nothing there. now actually it's -- it fills a void. it just makes you proud. show you we're not going to stand for it. >> dennis retired in 2002. >> even if 9/11 never happened, it's a tough job to leave. there's no other job like i. the brotherhood, camaraderie. he says not a day goes by without remembering. >> when my hid hits the pellow at night, i can see that plane hitting that tower. >> it's hard to believe they're not there. they're not there. >> that's etched in my mind and will always be there. >> the memories also used to haunt ron. he was promoted to chief the

year after 9/11 and asked for a transfer. >> i felt like i wanted to leave because every day you'd be driving by the site, so it was a reminder of my 343 guys. but the fdny had other plans for him. >> i thought for sure i'd be moved and the chief of the department said we lost so many guys in lower manhattan, i'm going to ask you to stay. stay for two years and help us out down there to rebuild, rebuild the fire department, get us back to where we were. so i did. and after two years was up, i stayed. and i became the battalion chief and i watched the fire houses grow again. >> you walk through here and you're -- >> it was like a breath of fresh air to see the young guys coming back into the firehouse again but it took years and years for us to rebuild and get back to where we were.

>> now you look at the entire landscape down here has changed so fast, so rapidly, the high rises that are going up, one building is bigger than the next. seems like they can't build them big enough and they can't build them fast enough. looking for waying to get firemen up to the fires, that's that many more people in the building to worry about. >> worrying about the public safety is front and center for chris conor. he retired in the fndy and became a construction expert on construction sites. >> i was assigned to work back at the world trade center. i was back at the scene of the crime, so to speak, back in a prays i never wanted to go again. >> he spent seven years within the 16 acre site. >> it was still very much a hole in the ground when i started working there. you had to walk down a ten story

ladder into the bottom of what we called the pit as firefighters. joishl as the low great construction was completed and the buildings started to come out of the ground, for me, that's when the magic happened. you really saw these beautiful, beautiful buildings. >> the first of five towers planned for the site opened in 2014. world trade center one. at 104 stories, 1776 feet high, it's the tallest building in the united states. with a bomb resistant base and like most new high rises, a concrete core. >> they've gone above and beyond the new york city building code, which is very strict. >> also now open, the marvel transportation hub with its startling sculpture, oculus joochl it's the most expensive train station ever bill. cost, $4 billion.

safety for the rebuilt area as well as all of new york city rests on the shoulder of fdny commissioner. >> the record of high rise buildings is that they are safe. as the city continues to grow vertically and that's happening at such a rapid pace. we hope we have the ability to keep up with it. but it is certainly taxing to our people. >> chief joseph peiffer, who lost his brother kevin, a lieutenant in the fire department, has turned that personal trauma into purpose. >> thoughts of my brother and losing him on 9/11 actually shifts a lot of my own thinking about how we can make it safer for our firefighters. >> it was the fdny's chief of counterterrorism and emergency

preparedness. >> he's invited to speak around the world and went to paris after the november attacks. >> let me tell you some of my nightmares. >> to share stroimgs with the french first responders. >> what we're worried about is the vesht cal threat, multiple floors. >> one of the things we need to prepare for is to deal a terrorist attack on high rise buildings. the use of automatic weapons and explosives. and the use of fire as a weapon. >> the 9/11 firefighters who now make up the fdny's top brass talk about managing the next attack. >> terrorism is always on your mind today. so when this does happen again, i think we will be a little more prepared. >> prepared so that nothing resembling that devastating death toll, losing 343 in one day, ever happens again.

>> i would have to say that most of us who made it out that day have survivors guilt as somebody who was in charge that day, i probably have the biggest case in the department. but it's something one must learn to live with. >> new york firefighters are also learning to live with the physical toll working at ground zero took on so many of them. diagnosed with a variety of cancers linked to breathing in that 9/11 dust. in 2006 we talked to retired chief larry burns about the gathering storm of disease. >> there's something out there cooking in all of us, and i fear for what ten years are going to bring us. >> my beloved chief larry burns died from a 9/11-related cancer. the third from the duane street fire highways.

now, there are words inscribed, firefighters who died from 9/11-related diseases. among them, john sullivan, who died of pancreatic cancer. his son mike is a legacy kid. the fdny's term for the new generation related to firefighters who died in the line of duty 9/11. >> it's not the day he passed away, but it's the day that made him pass away. >> he works in upper manhattan, latter 34. the same firehouse as his father and grandfather. >> well, hands down, the family and where i am. see your guys in the house, they're so anaysing. our uncles, now our brothers. they've thought me a lot between cooking, you know, that's the

big thing. watch out. i'd spend my career own hook and ladder 34 because that's what i love. it's the most beautiful rig on the jobe. the tillers are -- you know, that's -- that's sexy right there. >> the firehouse's street has been named for his father, john p. sullivan way. >> the only thing that i can hope is that one day i make the impact at the end of my career, i could put my goots next to his. i don't want to fill his. i could never fill his. i'm too emotional to fill his. he's tough, tough box of nails that guy. i'd do anything to have him back. you could have to job if it would mean my father standing in

front of me today. >> all legacy kids are special. i think -- it says a lot about what's inside them. it most likely says a lot about their parents and their parents how they lived the their lives. >> it was at the 9/11, what i knew that i have to make sure that i get on this job for me wanting to always be a firefighter but for also me wanting to carry on my father's legacy. >> another legacy kid, smith. her dad kevin was a has malt suspiciouslyist. he rushed to the towers that day and never came home. >> i'm going to be a firefighter one day. i'm going to work with you, and he never said no. he never sewed no, i don't want you being a firefighter. no, you can't be a firefighter. girls can't be firefighters. he never told me that. he would just smile. he'd look down and he'd smile.

>> joseph even is now on the job with more than 11,000 men. >> i can tell do the job. i want them to be able to trust me that i can have their back just as much as they can have my back. i don't think there's a guy in the house that don't believe i can't do the job just as much as they can. my father is a hero. he's someone i look up to still every day. >> ridley joseph looks up to a hero, too, his brother carl henry joseph. >> my brother, being on the job, the number one reason i became a firefighter. >> his rig was down to zero, crushed. no remains have ever been recovered. he finds solace visiting the

memorial. >> trying to imagine like where he was, now that i'm a firefighter and trying to imagine how he felt that day. >> his brother's name is inscribed with all those who died at the reflecting pools next to the 9/11 museum. it holds a collection of more than 11,000 artifacts including advise ral reminders of all the firefighters who headed straight toward danger. a crushed fire truck that we remember seeing in the street that day. chief peiffer's helmet is on display. >> to see bravery, to see courage right in front of you, for me has more of an imthat the fear experienced on that day. >> the brothers were made honorary members of the fdny. they have continued to live in

new york and still make documentaries together. >> this film is all about home. it's about the best of humanity at a moment when the worst is there. i am now a director in hollywood. >> i am now a director in hollywood. i could to work and i direct television, and i go home at the end of the day. and when i lie in bed, my head hits the pillow, i'm like a firefighter. and everyone always asks about tony bennetatos, the probie from our film. >> now being a lieutenant, being in the fire department and being able to make a difference, it's the best, the best profession i could ever hope to have. >> is it comfortable? >> he thinks he may have found the answer to the question what makes a man.

>> maybe getting up for work every day and then coming home and reading to your children and doing the dishes and taking care of your family. maybe that's what defines a man. >> family is at the center of the lives of all these firefighters we have had the privilege of getting to know over these years. chief's son steven is now a firefighter in manhattan. >> you had to go up 60 flights. >> i go to work and we go to fires, and you just do your job. you don't really think about the danger. until my son got on, and i think for the first time i realized what my wife was going through for the last 30 years. because i go off to work and she is wondering if i'm coming home the next day. >> they all say the horrors they witnessed and the challenges they face pale in comparison to the rewards of being on the job. >> every day is a great day in the fire department.

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tonight, the strength and beauty of this city is on display once again. from the top of the freedom tower, one world observatory now standing tall where the twin towers once stood, a symbol of this nation's resolve, rebirth and resilience. i'm denis leary. thanks for watching and good night. ♪ oh danny boy ♪

♪ and down the mountainside, oh summer's gone and all the flowers are dying ♪ ♪ 'tis you, 'tis you must go and i must die ♪ ♪

♪

♪ ♪ and i shall sleep in peace until you come to me ♪

♪ ♪

♪ the following is a cnn special report. 16 kids. >> my mom, she took a little extra time getting me prepared for the day. >> the children were facing president bush and myself. >> school kids with a front row to history. >> good morning. >> when he walked in a room, i was like oh, my gosh, that's him. >> this is actually the president. >> i could touch him if i wanted to reach at