20 Years On: Port Washington Fire Chief Recalls 9/11 Experience

PORT WASHINGTON, NY — Like many New Yorkers, Brian Waterson could tell you exactly where he was and what he was doing on Sept. 11, 2001.

On that blue-sky morning, Waterson — a North Hempstead Highway Department employee — was repairing roads in Great Neck when he heard the news.

A plane had just plowed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center.

In a state of panic, Waterson — who was also a volunteer member of the Port Washington Fire Department — left the construction site and hurried down to Great Neck's waterfront, hoping to get a clear view of the Manhattan skyline.

"You could see the smoke," Waterson recalled in an interview with Patch. "Then I got word that a second plane hit the World Trade Center. So I told my co-worker I was going home."

But Waterson, then 22, didn't go home. He went straight to the fire station in Port Washington, knowing there was a possibility that his department was going to be deployed to the city.

Waterson Answers The Call

In the deadliest attack on American soil, militants linked to the Islamic extremist group al-Qaeda hijacked four commercial planes and carried out a suicide mission that killed nearly 3,000 people.

Two planes hit the World Trade Center's twin towers in Lower Manhattan. A third plane flew into the Pentagon outside Washington, D.C. And a fourth one crashed into a field in rural Pennsylvania.

At 3 p.m., almost seven hours after Manhattan was attacked, the Port Washington Fire Department was deployed to Belmont Park. The Elmont racetrack temporarily served as a staging area for emergency vehicles and first responders.

By early evening, Waterson and three other Port Washington volunteer members were en route to Ground Zero.

But before reaching the disaster zone, Waterson called his parents and told them what he was about to do.

"They weren't happy about it because they didn't know if I'd be coming home," Waterson said.

While that thought crossed his mind, Waterson said his adrenaline had kicked in and he was ready to help his brethren on the frontlines.

"You knew you were a part of history and you were responding to something that people would talk about forever," Waterson explained. "To say you were able to help out really got everyone going."

But nothing could prepare Waterson for what he was about to see at Ground Zero.

Inside The Hellscape Of Manhattan's Ground Zero

It's impossible to forget what Lower Manhattan looked like after the collapse of the twin towers.

Like a ticker-tape parade, reams of shredded paper rained down from above. Dust and debris choked the air and blanketed the streets. And strangers clung onto each other as they staggered through the urban wasteland.

It was nothing like anyone had seen before. No stories, news coverage, or photos could ever truly, fully convey the enormity of what had just happened.

"Being there and walking down the streets, you saw things that weren't on TV," Waterson recalled. "When we got there, I remember getting out of the truck and seeing an arm on the sidewalk. I mean, that was the first thing you saw. And you were like, 'Oh my, God.'"

Like countless other first responders, Waterson dug through the rubble — searching for signs of life — in what firefighters called "the pile."

"On the first night, people were looking for survivors. But the bodies weren't intact," Waterson said. "People would be happy to find an arm or something, just a part of their loved one to bury."

For about a week, Waterson commuted to and from the city to help with rescue and recovery efforts.

"It was just the same thing every day for days afterward. It was just going to the city, members coming in a van, and them relieving guys who have been there for days," he said. "Many of us slept on a sidewalk just to get a couple of hours of rest before going back in and digging through the pile again."

The Aftermath of 9/11: Trauma, Cancer, and More Death

A lot has changed for Waterson since Sept. 11, 2001. For one, he's now chief of the Port Washington Fire Department. But like thousands of other first responders at Ground Zero, Waterson has also been diagnosed with cancer.

At the time, about 30 members of the Port Washington Fire Department worked on the pile, breathing in the toxic ash and dust from the collapsed towers. According to Waterson, half of them have been diagnosed with a 9/11-related cancer. And in the last three years, two members have died.

"Even though everything is over with on 9/11, members are still faced with health conditions," Waterson said. "In 2007, right after I got engaged, I was diagnosed with cancer (related to) 9/11. I've been through a lot."

Teaching a Post-9/11 Generation About The Attacks

To no fault of their own, most people born after the terror attacks — or who were too young to remember — do not have a direct, personal connection to 9/11.

Still, Waterson thinks it's important for today's generation to learn about what happened on that fateful day and how it changed America forever.

"There are people in the fire department now and you hear when they were born or when they graduated (from school) and you are like — oh my, God. They are so young," he said. "It's weird they are asking questions, like what it was like (on Sept. 11) because they weren't born yet."

Waterson's kids were born long after the twin towers collapsed. But eventually, the time will come for Waterson to share his story with them.

"When my kids are old enough, I'll break out the photo album and discuss everything that happened and why it happened."