 |
||
 |
||
 |
||
|
Home
News Sections Action Arts & Entertainment Business Citrus County Columnists Floridian Hernando County Obituaries Opinion Pasco County State Tampa Bay World & Nation Featured areas AP The Wire Alive! Area Guide A-Z Index Classifieds Comics & Games Employment Health Forums Lottery Movies Police Report Real Estate Sports Stocks Weather What's New Weekly Sections Home & Garden Perspective Taste Tech Times Travel Weekend Other Sections Buccaneers College Football Devil Rays Lightning Ongoing Stories Photo Reprints Photo Review Seniority Web Specials Ybor City
Market Info Advertise with the Times Contact Us All Departments
|
 |
Facing the flames
© St. Petersburg Times,
The men were still in shock. Like police officers and Marines, firefighters consider each other brothers. One hurts, they all feel it. They tried to make sense of what happened, to imagine what they would've done had they been there. The World Trade Center shouldn't have collapsed, they said -- at least that's what the New York City firefighters probably thought. They didn't know the planes that hit the buildings were each carrying a heavy load of fuel that made the fires a thousand times worse. That, they said, caused the structural failure. "The jet fuel changed the rules, and no one knew that until it was too late," said Lt. Mark Matthews. The men of B shift talked of that crucial moment when they first arrive at a major fire. There's little time to consider what might or might not happen. "The guys in New York had a job to do," said firefighter Bob Field. "They weren't going to pull up to that building and go home." "I think they looked up and realized they were going to die," said Hugh Forsythe, a firefighter for 16 years. "But they went in anyway. They did everything right. That's what's scary. In the back of your mind, you're always wondering if this is the one you're not coming out of." "But you go in anyway," added firefighter Steve Munsell.
 © St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved. 
|
|
From the wire |
