visit >> announcer: building a better bay area for a safe and secure future, this is abc7 news. i'm kristen sze. welcome to our daily program called "getting answers." of course, today is september 11th. we've all seen me moirms and ceremonies throughout the day the south tower when the attack happened. 9/11 survivor joe, thank you for joining us. >> does it feel like it's been 19 years, joe? >> it feels like it was yesterday in some ways, and in other ways, it feels like it's

been forever. relive as if it were yesterday. >> as you wrestle with the emotions, does it get any easier? has time erased or healed any of the wounds? >> i think it's something that, you know, you don't necessarily get over. it doesn't become necessarily easier, but you learn to manage the circumstance. it's something that by doing things like i'm doing with you today, by talking about it, being able to explain it by doing presentation across the country. it helps me to manage and to stay safe, quite honestly, because i think something like this could absolutely get the best of you if you allowed it to. >> we're glad you're telling those stories because there's so many things about it. tell us about that day for you.

why were you in new york in the world trade center? i know you were not living there at the time. >> that's right. i was living in the chicago area at the time, i was there for a business meeting on the insurance industry. still am, 42 years. virtual mecca for the insurance industry, every insurance organization in the country, maybe in the world, wasn't was unusual to be called to the meeting. in from chicago for one day for that meeting. >> when was the first time of trouble? >> 41 of us in the room for this meeting, in this enclosed conference room, the flicker of lights. we didn't feel or hear, and we couldn't see anything because we were in a four solid wall

conference room. almost immediately, the gentleman from the organization >> everybody to leave and i was the last guy >> others took the elevator? >> you had a choice. you absolutely had a choice, once you're in the fire, the 78th floor, the sky lobby. you had a choice.

it was apparent to me stopped there, got on the elevator there, or hesitated there, you unfortunately were lost that day. and i was very, very fortunate man to have made the decision to keep going on the steps. >> smokier and smokier after the plane hit the south tower as well? >> we were inside a concrete bunker, the fires. the ventilation system worked okay. back-up electricity was on. so we weren't getting smoked out. we weren't getting anything that was

was, the glass windows of the south tower and looked like the best. the concrete, big red on the ground and knew what the big red markings on the ground were, and that's when we had the chance to see the devastation. >> you can get the images but the sound, the sound of hundreds of thousands of people all screaming the same scream on the streets of new york as the south tower came down. that's the sound i hear, last thing at night. and the sights, the pictures can

be managed in my head, again, only because i have the chance to give you those pictures verbal verbally, give me a chance to put some scab on the wound that i continue to have. >> i know in the past, you've shared the story and talked about how the thought of getting back to your wife and four kids, that's what's keeping you going. what you got out, tell me about reuniting with the family. how you got back there. and the north tower, the cell tower for all southern manhattan. the cell service was gone, the land lines were overmatched because everybody in the world's calling into new york or out of new york to try to make got through, seven hours after, quite an emotional.

>> when you finally got home to illinois at church, was that the biggest hug ever? >> very non-demonstrative. jumps over the back of the pews. runs to the back of the church. she gives me this big giant hug and a kiss. that was the moment, i knew i was truly home. >> joe, i know you live in delaware.

wpdi. action news. i don't know if you ever watch. >> of course. >> jim is the best. great colleagues there and here. i'm fortunate to myself. but i want to ask you, it's not that far away, delaware and new york city. but do you go back? do you return? do you take part in commemoration events? >> go back for the obvious reasons. continue to go there as needed for business. back for commemorations. i've been to the museum several times. greatest thing you could ever do is to go to that museum to get grounded in realism of what this day was all about. and i love the memorial. get the chance to go to the memorial. i cry every time, i break down every time. i think it's a good cry. if there is such a good thing, andhe folks that should have

gotten out of the that day and didn't. >> i know you've devoted your life ever since to telling yourstory. you've set up the always remember initiative, why is that so important? >> we can't forget. this is an event that needs to be remembered. we need to keep this in our hearts and minds so that the next generation, and the generation after that could potentially and hopefully not allow the same part of history to repeat itself, to overdo itself and i do this too because remembering is an obligation, it's a duty, for something part of the historic event. >> so many of us feel help less. it can feel like too much.

what do you feel like surviv fo. >> any result for granted. live life to the fullest. truly carpe diem, the people that love you how much you love them and make them know it and fear it and understand it every day, and probably the best lesson we can take from all of this is not to sweat the small stuff. it's really the truth not to sweat the small stuff. we will get through whatever it is that we will get through and we will come back on the other side.

>> short break on the air, we turn our attention after the break to the wildfires and how we can i

we are back. wildfires seem to be getting worse and worse every year. you know this. there's plenty of discussion, how we as humans can help. joining us more to talk about wildfires, a fire scientist, what is a fire scientist

>> generally, i try to understand how fires burn, where they do, why they do, when they do and how it affects people. >> so we're going to tap into your expertise now, in the past few years, california certainly has had bigger, more frequent and more destructive wildfires.. what are the main factors fueling these fires? >> california has always had lots of fire, historically, before colonizing the region. what we're seeing in recent years is really a function of returning to the fire that was always here and then amplifying that with climate change. the rain in thefa, all of those things, more explosive

fires. >> how quickly will we see a difference? >> unfortunately, it will be a while. the challenge with climate change, things pretty slowly change, so things we're seeing right now in terms of hotter temperatures, the function carbn for my kids sake and future grandkids sake, i hope we find that a worthy goal. >> we should still try. has the forest management contributed to this? >> the biggest thing in terms of forest management is that we had enormous amounts of fire suppression throughout much of the 20th century and that suppression led up to a lot higher density of trees that

were there historically. a fuel for the fires. a major change and trees alone might not have done the trick but climate change amplifying it, that's really the confluence, do th-- >> do they not do enough for them? >> they can be effective for reducing dangerous fuels on the ground. more easily resist fires. california has not done as much prescribed fire, especially compared to the southeastern u.s. some of the modelling done by

this by other scientists show it would reduce the number of trees that die and the severity of the wildfires. >> that's a policy issue. so how about where we build our homes? is that contributing? >> where we build our homes contributes to how much we're sort of in the way of these fires, right? and there have definitely been some calls for not allows people to build, falls. we can do the same thing with fire, we just haven't gotten that far along yet. >> what do you think? collectively on a policy standpoint, what kind of things can we do to try to reduce wildfire risk and damage? >> so individuals who are

worried about having to evacuate or see their homes burn down, they can do a lot of little things, harden their homes, they can join projects in their community to try to reduce fuels. >> okay, and what are other subdivisions for example? >> for communities, more broadly, develop protection plans, this is the community that helps communities prepare for wildfires and people can start thinking about prescribed burning and other activities that

that. >> we try to bring in viewer questions. they happen technology -wise >> incredibly resistant, and other people are building new homes in the fire front areas, they're building their homes to be more resistant to having embers land on the home and ignite. and a lot of those materials are actually already in existence, it's just expensive to upgrade existing homes and that's what

makes some people. >> it's clear there will be more wildfires. that's unavoidable. it's how we handle them, minimize destruction and damage, really important. all right, thank you so much for the conversation with us. we appreciate it. >> thank you so much for having me. >> we'll take a sho

welcome back. this afternoon, gavin newsom signed a bill for former inmates to become professional firefighters in california. we want to share that moment with you. >> one of the things we've been looking forwards to for years, the efforts last year, where we made progress. this year, where we actually got this done, thank you for your leadership, incredible leadership.

those are those prisoners, thousands of prisoners that are on the front lines. that are near in the end of their time in prison. out of the system to potentially join a workforce of which they've been trained. participated in heroic ways advancing advancing. a small number of people did feel it was appropriate to give these folks a second chance, and that was unfortunate many people i could thank for

their advocacy in this space. i want to thank brian rice, the the california, the yo unions that reasonable care nco moment. give these a chance by giving them an opportunity to expunge the records to get the certificate, and potentially get the career ladder coming out of prison. let me sign that and we'll answer any questions. >> very grateful.

>> all right. that was governor gavin newsom who signed that bill making it easier for firefighters or inmates to become firefighters and he did that, a north fire in beauty counutte fire in california. while there, also talked about climate change. the topic we were just exploring and had strong words. >> we're in the midst of a climate emergency. we're in the midst of a climate crisis. we're goingveas track our to get 2045. the challenges to this nation faces. we'll have to fast track our efforts and be more aggressive in terms of meeting our goals much sooner and this perfect storm, the debate is over around climate change. just come to the state of california. observe it with your own eyes.

it's not an intellectual debate. it's not even debatable any longer. you want to know the cheapest way to deal with it, to invest in the future and the low carbon green growth future. change the way, the cheapest way to go. temperatures, record breaking temperatures, record droughts. and then you've got something else and exactly what the scientists predicting for half a century, it is here. california fast, coming to the community all across the united states. unless we disabuse ourselves of all the bs by a small group of people, ideological reason, nott

going back to the 19th century. >> governor gavin newsom this afte

thank you so much for joining us today on this interactive "getting answers" show. today, we heard from fire scientist from uc merced talking about some of the causes for these intense wildfires we're getting. we're also, we heard from 9/11 survivor us to never forget. sharing his story. and initiative, 9/11 first

responders memorial. don't take anything for granted and live life to the fullest. and my favorite, don't sweat the small tonight, this nation marks 19 years since 9/11. paying tribute to the victims and to the heroes, the first responders on the 9/11. we're also following the emergency unfolding as we come on the air tonight. 500,000 americans put on alert now. the evacuations under way at this hour. in oregon tonight, fires closing in on the portland suburbs. the sky turning red. the mayor declaring a state of emergency. we talk with families in tears, not knowing if they will have homes to return to. one of the fires in california, now the largest in that state's history. loved on watchin as the home their family owned for more than a century goes up in flames. smoke blanketing several states

three cities with the worst air quality in the world. news breaking just a halftime report time ago on how one of these fires mig