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Recalling survival

A former rescue worker in New York finds comfort in sharing his memories of Sept. 11.

By Times Staff Writer
Published September 15, 2005

CITRUS SPRINGS - Kevin Barrett remembers driving to work as an emergency medical technician for the Fire Department of New York on Sept. 11, 2001. It was an ordinary day, when, just around 9 a.m., he was asked to go to the World Trade Center twin towers.

From the call he figured a small commuter plane had gotten out of control and hit one of the buildings. He learned it was actually an airliner and thought the pilot must have been inexperienced or perhaps had even fallen asleep.

Crossing the 59th Street Bridge, he looked at the towers, with smoke billowing from the tops of them. "In my eyes, it looked like two cigarettes standing up," he told about 150 Citrus Springs Middle School eighth-graders last Friday morning.

At the scene, there was chaos and dust, great amounts of dust that made it difficult to breathe. "I inhaled almost everything you could think of," he said.

Barrett, who is now an emergency medical technician with the Nature Coast Emergency Medical Service, was at the school at the request of United States history teacher Gail Sotrines. Her husband, David Sotrines, is retired from the same company.

As the students filed into the lunchroom for the presentation they were greeted with a Newsweek magazine cover projected on a screen. "America Under Attack" was the headline.

Barrett had a video of the tower collapse showing the huge dust cloud rolling down the street, funneled between buildings with people running from it. It was like footage from a movie. The video also showed people and vehicles thickly covered with soft-looking, fine, gray dust.

He told the students the sad story of his partner's anguished run into one of the buildings in search of his wife who had been working there that day. His partner, Carlos Lillo, wasn't found until the spring of 2002.

"That was one of the saddest moments of my life when I carried him out," Barrett said. "Carlos was a hero, my mentor and a friend."

Carlos Lillo's wife, Cecilia, survived. Barrett remains in touch with her. Each year there is a golf outing to raise scholarship money to send a high school student to emergency medical technician school or an emergency medical technician to paramedic school. Barrett attends and visits with his friend's widow.

For a long time Barrett couldn't talk about the events of that day. He had nightmares. He received counseling. The nightmares have subsided, and he is now willing to talk about it and finds it is therapeutic.

Students asked him questions:

"If you could go back in time, would you still be in the fire department?"

"Yes. I love what I do. I like helping people."

"What do you think we should build to replace the twin towers?"

"I think they should build them again, show the terrorists they didn't get the best of us."

"Was there ever a time you thought you were going to die?"

"Yes, there was, but I was lucky. The only thing that hurt me was (in) my mind."

"When did you find out about the other planes that were hijacked?"

"Not until later in the day."

Then the teacher asked, "What would you like the students here to remember the most about 9/11?"

"People were there. I was there. I survived it. Think about everybody who was there, everybody who died and everybody who survived."

Barrett came to Citrus Springs in uniform. Among the decorations on his shirt is the World Trade Center survivor medal given to all living city employees. He also wears his partner's shield.

[Last modified September 15, 2005, 01:05:21]