Fire Captain Rescued Amid Sept. 11 Chaos
N E W Y O R K, Nov. 5 -- Fire Department Captain Alfredo Fuentes was used to rescuing others, but on Sept. 11, his was one of the voices seeking help on haunting 911 radio transmissions from the World Trade Center.
"Are you trapped, Cap? Captain Fuentes, are you trapped?," Manhattan emergency dispatcher Ivan Goldberg said, after losing radio contact with the captain. "10-4," came the reply: Fuentes was trapped under the debris on the west side of Tower One.
Theirs was just one of the radio exchanges from ground zero that exemplifies the rescuers' calm professionalism amid the chaos. Dispatchers smoothly passed on information, while rescue workers at the scene struggled to help victims.
But their rescue efforts turned into a struggle to survive when first one, then the other tower collapsed, trapping many of the emergency workers — including Fuentes. More than 300 firefighters died.
Fuentes suffered a head injury and was slipping in and out of consciousness, so he does not remember talking to the dispatcher or being rescued. Even listening to the tapes does not jar his memory.
"My only feeling is I'm kind of proud I was able to hold my own and talk in a reasonable way with radio discipline," Fuentes told Good Morning America. "That's always been a big thing for me, I hate when people yell on the radio."
Goldberg remembers trying to assure Fuentes to hold on.
"I wanted him to know that he was heard, that there was going to be help coming," Goldberg said. "It was like saying to him, 'Don't give up — don't give up. We are going to find you,' because I needed somebody to be found alive there.'"
Started Out as Normal Day
Fuentes heads the department's marine division from an office at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, across New York Harbor from lower Manhattan. As usual, he arrived at his office about 7 a.m. on Sept. 11, and was doing some paperwork when the first plane struck the World Trade Center. He ran out and saw the smoke coming from Tower One, knowing instantly that it was going to be a large-scale incident.
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