Nonsensicalities in the 9/11 firefighter oral histories

Anomalies relating to testimony of explosions are a red herring

Few of us can easily surrender our belief that society must somehow make sense. The thought that the State has lost its mind and is punishing so many innocent people is intolerable. And so the evidence has to be internally denied.

Arthur Miller

In 2006, 9/11 scholar, Graeme MacQueen, who sadly died of cancer this year, published 118 Witnesses: The Firefighters’ Testimony to Explosions in the Twin Towers, which examines all the references to explosions and related phenomena made in the oral testimonies by 118 firefighters who went to the World Trade Centre on 9/11. Focus on one element, however, can divert us from other extremely important information, especially when one’s paradigm is missing key elements such as the kind of event 9/11 really was - see 9/11: The False Dilemma propaganda strategy.

The selected anomalies analysed below show that the problem with the purported testimonies goes far beyond testimony of explosions: rather the real problem is that the testimonies contain nonsensicality to the degree that they betray they are not authentic which makes perfect sense in the context of the kind of event 9/11 really was.

All 9/11 First Responder oral histories published by the New York Times

This is a work in progress. Selected anomalies (I believe many more would be obvious to those familiar with the domain of firefighting and especially to those versed in how the FDNY operates) are highlighted by bold, italicised text.

A very large anomaly that applies to the testimonies as a whole is that no reference is made in any of the 118 oral histories to the alleged deaths of the firefighters’ 343 fellow firefighters.

Another anomaly is the lack of evidence of the actual “orality” of these testimonies. Why do we only have transcripts and not actual recordings when surely the transcripts would have been taken from recordings? It was the audio recordings of the astronauts to mission control that first convinced me of the reality of the moon landings when I first started to look rather skeptically at them. The fact that there are no recordings of these alleged “oral” testimonies is rather telling.

WTC timeline
8:46 Alleged crash of AA11 into North Tower
9:03 Alleged crash of UA175 into South Tower
9:58 South Tower crashes to the ground
10:28 North Tower crashes to the ground

Derek Brogan, Firefighter, Engine Company 5

“My name is Derek Brogan, assigned to Engine 5. We went out of the box about 8:30, at Irving and 19th Street [just north of Lower Manhattan]. Food on the stove [means it’s real, not a drill]. As we were taken up from the box, we were backing out of 19th Street, and we heard a plane go over our heads. … We continued backing out into the street. Just a minute later our officer told us that a plane had hit the Trade Center and that we were going on the second alarm. As we were going there, we heard the 10-60 transmitted. Going down 14th Street, we started looking down the avenues and saw a lot of fire down there.”

Selected anomalies:

As the alleged hit by the plane into the North tower wasn’t until 8:46, at 8:30 and shortly after what we wouldn’t expect for Manhattan firefighters:

• to be told a real event was happening (who knew where the plane was headed and what it would do?)

• to hear a plane overhead

• to be told a plane had crashed into the WTC

• to see a lot of fire down the avenues

“We got in the lobby. … Just as everyone was starting to walk towards the center stair, which was the only stair we thought led up to the upper floors, we heard the next plane hit the other building. We looked out the windows at the reflection on the Financial Center and saw the fire plume coming down. Then we really didn't know what we were up against. We were kind of hoping that it was an accident at the time for the first tower. But once the other building got hit, we realized that it wasn't an accident anymore. We started marching up the stairs. I'm not positive about what floors it was, but we took a break on like 10 for a few minutes. All the people were coming down, they were very calm. They would yell from a couple floors up that there was a burn victim coming down, and everyone plastered themselves up against the wall and the burn victim would come down. It was amazing to see that they were actually smiling that they were almost down the stairs.”

Selected anomalies:

• The tallest of the four Financial Center buildings across the road from the WTC had 51 floors and there are no images of the fire plume from the 93rd floor dipping down so far so it is hard to see how it would be reflected in the windows.

• That all the people coming down were very calm and would yell that burn victims were coming down seems to lack credibility. While we are shown alleged burn victims in hospital and well after the event none of the photos of the injured include anyone showing signs of burns or indeed any of the kinds of injuries one might expect from fire and destructions of 110-storey buildings.

Joseph Cassaliggi, Firefighter, third grade, Engine Company 7

“… We were actually one of the first companies on the scene. We pulled up right in front of One World Trade Center, right into the cul-de-sac right in front of the canopy. …

It was at that time when I saw the second plane hit the building. I called a mayday. I told them the second plane hit the south tower of the building. I wasn't sure which floors it was, but I knew it hit the upper floors of the south tower.”

Selected anomalies:

• WTC-1 fronted onto Austin J. Tobin Plaza, no cul-de-sac there and its rear side faced the thoroughfare, West St, in front of which a driveway curved in and out from West St. There was no cul-de-sac.

• In this situation, one would expect firefighters to be going about the business of rescue and firefighting in the tower they’re in, not calling Mayday about a situation in another location when obviously this will be clear to thousands immediately.

John Drumm, Firefighter, Ladder Company 16 (assigned to Engine Company 39 on 9/11)

“After heading downtown on Second Avenue, we came across on Houston. After we were coming across to the west side of Manhattan on Houston, looking southbound along the major avenues, I could see both towers -- (Interruption.) As I was saying, when 39 was making their way downtown, we had used Houston Street to go across to the west side. And as we passed other major avenues, you could have a clear view downtown. I was able to see both the north tower and the south tower, both in flames and plumes of smoke over them.

We came down the West Side Highway. …

… The windows on the first floor were all broken out, so we didn't even go down to the doorway. We just went into the corner of the building, which all the glass was blown out, and used that way to get into the building. …

Selected anomalies:

• As Engine 39 / Ladder 16 are on the Upper East Side it makes no sense to go to the WTC located at the southern tip of Manhattan via Second Ave, Houston and West Side Highway for a number of reasons, the two most obvious being:

  • the east-side highway, FDR Dr, is much more convenient than West Side Highway.

  • from Houston the only turn possible onto West Side Highway is northbound so you’d have to go north then backtrack south.

• It seems strange that all the windows on the first floor were blown out because if plane impact was the cause then we’d expect windows above to also be blown out but this wasn’t the case. And even if the glass in the first-floor windows was blown out, how would you access the floor from ground level?

They offered the firemen water and actually I want to put that in the record because it was a nice thing. One civilian offered to carry my rollup for a while at one point. I said, "Thank you very much, sir, but I'll get it." We helped a few civilians get down a little bit. Most of the civilians we passed were able to walk on their own. A few civilians I met on the way up were actually being helped by civilians too. A woman who was a burn victim, one of the firemen helped clear the stairway at that time because they were carrying her and it took a larger width of the stairwell. So we cleared all the civilians out of the way for that, just made sure the civilians stayed in order, which they did. They were very orderly. …

We also first went in there to make sure also -- when we were about 12 floors below that there was a transmission that there was several members and police officers on the 31st floor that had chest pains and difficulty breathing. Being an engine company, we went in there to see if there was any CRFD work we could do on the members. …

Selected anomalies:

• It seems hard to credit that people being evacuated from the North Tower were offering the firemen water and to carry their roll-ups and one would expect the evacuation to be conducted in such a manner that this kind of opportunity simply wouldn’t arise.

• Why are civilians carrying a burn victim instead of the firefighters? What is their role here? We see no evidence of burn victims in the images of the injured on 9/11. John tells us that while he normally worked for Ladder 16 (search and rescue company) he was assigned to Engine 39 (firefighting company) but he doesn’t say why. Where are the ladder companies?

• CRFD is not an acronym that has any application to chest pains or breathing difficulty as is implied - research shows it stands for a number of fire departments whose first two words start with c and r, eg, Cedar Rapids Fire Department.

But while we were on the 31st floor, everyone was down. Everybody was on their hands and knees. It was almost confirmed by -- it made me feel comfortable of not knowing what it was that one fireman was standing up -- I'm not too sure if he was a rescue member. I think I remember seeing a blue patch on his helmet. I'm not positive of the number. I think it was a blue batch on his helmet, and I think it was a rescue member. …

One woman we assisted. She was having trouble breathing. The only air we had left was a cylinder. One of the members had a cylinder and I helped to purge it to let the woman get a hit off our mask. So we gave her the mask. She was able to walk after that, and she was with two civilian men that were going to stay with her the rest of the way down.”

Selected anomalies:

• Why would everyone on the 31st floor be on their hands and knees if plane impact was on the 93rd floor?

• Why would you purge a cylinder of air when you’re giving air to someone?

Michael Morabito, Fireman, 3rd Grade, Engine 228

Note: Click here for an easier-to-read re-formatted transcript.

What prompted an analysis of Michael Morabito’s testimony was a discussion on another post with a colleague of his, “Jerms 9654”, whose position with FDNY began in 2004. While Jerms found Mike’s personal testimony to him a little implausible he also found it difficult to believe that it was simply made up, however, the evidence speaks for itself. While Jerms did point out a few things in the testimonies I believed were anomalies weren’t (since corrected) the number is significant enough to undermine the authenticity of all the testimonies including Mike’s.

I really wondered how any FDNY firefighter who wasn’t “in on” the hoax could read the testimonies and not notice they made no sense. If you read our discussion, however, you can see that Jerms, although he didn’t believe the 9/11 narrative, nevertheless found it difficult to believe the firefighters’ testimonies including Mike’s were made up. Propaganda really does have magical properties.

“I was working and the alarm came in. It was a third alarm at the World Trade Center. We didn't even know a plane had crashed into it. It wasn't like a rush right away. We were relocated to Engine 205. … and then we saw on the news that a plane hit the building. So then we responded immediately. We reported to Engine 205 and while we were in their quarters we saw the second plane hit and then shortly after that we had responded to Manhattan. First they told us take the Brooklyn Bridge. We started to go towards the Brooklyn Bridge. And then there was a little confusion. They said, no, take the tunnel. So we were stuck traveling back and forth, thank God, and we had taken the tunnel, the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel.

As soon as we got out the entrance, out on the Manhattan side of the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, we got hit with the first dust cloud and we had no idea what happened.”

Selected anomalies:

• Generally, it seems strange for no sense of the timing of actions taken to be indicated regardless of any actual times being mentioned there is an infantile quality to the testimony indicated by numerous instances of “(and) then”.

• According to Jerms, numbered alarms indicate whatever response has been made to earlier alarms it is insufficient, a greater response is required in which case to speak of both a third alarm and there not being a rush makes no sense nor does it make sense for them to report to a different Engine or to get stuck “traveling back and forth” between their station and Engine 205 as implied.

• In order to exit an entrance, a contra traffic flow situation needs to have been set up which takes a reasonable time and would be unexpected in such a situation.

• The second tower came down about 75 minutes after the first plane hit so it seems odd that they only got to Manhattan just at the time the first building came down as indicated by the mention of “dust cloud”. It is also strange to refer to “the first dust cloud.” There is no recognition of a number of dust clouds, what would be expected is “dust clouds from the collapse of the South Tower.”

I will leave it to the reader to determine the anomalies in the rest of the testimony. If you think it’s solid, please say why in the comments.

What do these very obviously deliberate anomalies betray?

That, besides being a massive demolition job, 9/11 was really a massive “live exercise,” that is, a Full-Scale Anti-Terror Exercise, comprising numerous smaller exercises and drills, many of which we were informed about … but a crucial few not. In “live exercises” there is an obvious rule that it include deliberate anomalies to let us know that the event isn’t real.

I invite you to scrutinise the image at the top for anomalies.