The highest-ranking firefighter to survive the World
Trade Center collapse and the last fireman to escape the devastation,
Richard Picciotto was on a stairwell between the sixth and seventh floors
of the North Tower when it collapsed on September 11th. An FDNY battalion
commander, his is the harrowing true story of an American hero, a man who
thought nothing of himself and gave nearly everything for others during
one of our nation’s darkest hours.
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On the morning of September 11, 2001, Picciotto
answered the call heard around the world. In minutes he was at Ground Zero
of the worst terrorist attack on American soil, acting boldly to save
innocent lives as the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center began to
burn—and then to buckle. Already a veteran of terrorist attacks, Picciotto
was present fighting a similar battle at the World Trade Center Bombing in
1993. Again inside the North Tower, where he found himself years earlier,
burdened by an eerie sense of familiarity, he focused his concentration on
the rescue efforts at hand. But it was there in the smoky stairwells where
he heard and felt the South Tower collapse. He made the call for firemen
and rescue workers to evacuate, while he stayed behind with a skeleton
team of men to assist a group of disabled civilians in their struggle to
evacuate the inferno. And it was there in the rubble of the North Tower
where Picciotto found himself buried—for more than four hours after the
building’s collapse.
Having discovered that members of his team and a
59-year-old grandmother also were alive nearby, he and his men used their
radios to send out Mayday calls until making contact with a firefighter on
the ground and a search party was dispatched. When the light finally
appeared about four stories above, he climbed upwards, reached the top and
saw the "unfathomable, mind-boggling destruction." It was not until after
he organized the rescue of the others that he walked across the rubble to
safety.
Picciotto’s book, Last Man Down, is a tribute to
the 343 firefighters and some 3,000 civilians that lay dead in the rubble
that surrounded him on that day. And moreover, it is a heartfelt
remembrance of a day of infamy and profound humanity. The book was an
immediate New York Times Best Seller upon its release in May, 2002.
Chief Picciotto is also a former New York City police officer, and has
served as a fire marshal, an arson investigator, a lieutenant and a
captain, prior to becoming chief in 1992. He is a twenty-eight year
veteran of the FDNY, and for the past nine years, he has presided over the
department’s Battalion 11, covering Manhattan’s Upper West Side. He is the
recipient of departmental awards and commendations for his bravery and
meritorious service.
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