I was driving to work. My office was on the corner of the West Side Highway and Canal Street. When I got to the Intrepid fire engines started zipping by me. Lots of them. When I first spotted the Twin Towers, Tower one was on fire.
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I parked my car in my usual lot and took the elevator up to my office, where everyone was standing by the wall of windows looking out. The fire in Tower One was deep and ugly. I worked for a digital news agency so I pulled out a camera and put it on a tripod facing the fire.
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As I stood recording the fire thinking how difficult and scary it must be to get out of such a tall building safely I watched an airplane slam into Tower Two. Gasp. This was no accident. It was an attack. As both towers were now burning I experienced deep fear.
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Not sure whether I should evacuate or stay put I stood there filming. People were crying and comforting one another. Tower One fell. It slid down on itself like collapsible cups. Smoke billowed up from the base. Crying turned into screaming.
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After Tower Two fell our boss informed us that we had to evacuate. We spilled out onto Canal. People from further downtown were walking in the middle of the street heading uptown. They were covered in grey soot from head to toe. I was reminded of the refugee lines in Kosovo.
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I joined the march of people uptown. My phone didn’t work. I couldn’t reach my wife. She worked in midtown. The people I marched with were silent. They had escaped something unfamiliar to them. They had a look of panic that I had never seen before.
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My wife’s office was closed. She was not there. I found a pay phone and called friends who live downtown on the East Side. My wife was there. I began to walk back downtown to the safety of the East side. I looked up at the sky. Would more planes come? Was this war? Was it terror?
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After hours glued to the news, my wife and I walked across town and got my car out of the lot and drove back up the West Side Highway. It was empty. We arrived at our apartment in Riverdale and turned on the news.
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That is when we got the call. Our close friend could not find her husband. He was at a meeting at Tower One at the Windows of the World.
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This friend was my wife’s best friend in high school and my close friend in college. He introduced me to my wife. We loved him like a brother. He died on 9/11 in Tower One. His wife was 9 months pregnant. His son turns 18 in a week.
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We will never forget you Ariel Jacobs. You brightened our lives. You shared in so many laughs and so many tears. You were stolen from us by evil people. It has taken years to process why this happened, and we are still in pain from the loss. Rest in peace my friend.
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