Citation
Picciotto, R. and Paisner, D. (2003), "Last Man Down: A Firefighter's Story of Survival and Escape from the World Trade Center", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 12 No. 5, pp. 466-466. https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm.2003.12.5.466.1
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2003, MCB UP Limited
As the tragic events of 11 September 2001 unfolded, Richard Picciotto saw the smoke of the World Trade Center from the fire station that he commanded in Upper Manhattan. Picciotto notified Central Dispatch, then raced with his unit to the disaster site to render assistance. Most of this book is Picciotto's retelling of getting an assignment to search for trapped victims, proceeding to the 35th floor of North Tower, then evacuating as the adjacent South Tower collapsed. Just before reaching safety, Picciotto was trapped in falling debris as North Tower also collapsed.
This book is written for the popular market. The author's tale, too often recounted with the unnecessary use of coarse language, should be weighed with all of the limitations adherent in the professional evaluation of personal recollections. At least this reader had the impression that Picciotto was overstating his role in the response, if not idealizing professionalism as well.
For example, at least one film source shows the bewilderment of some fire responders in North Tower. This is not reflected in Picciotto's story. Rather, Picciotto depicts a hierarchical organization in which his gut reaction was to take command, and in which all decisions were carefully calculated.
With all said, this book certainly does make a contribution towards understanding the reality of what transpired, particularly in the narrow stairwells of North Tower. To cite one example, during the evacuation Picciotto and his team encountered a group of non‐ambulatory people resting for a few moments with co‐workers who had been assisting them down the steps. How should they be evacuated? The co‐workers were told to move onward, as firefighters were assigned to assist the handicapped. In retrospect Picciotto is not certain that this was the correct decision.
Jay Levinson
The following have been abstracted from Natural Hazards Observer, Vol. XXVII No. 6, July, 2003.