USA: FIREFIGHTERS FROM LOS ANGELES OVERWHELMED BY EXTENT OF GROUND ZERO DEVASTATION.
Record ID:
376121
USA: FIREFIGHTERS FROM LOS ANGELES OVERWHELMED BY EXTENT OF GROUND ZERO DEVASTATION.
- Title: USA: FIREFIGHTERS FROM LOS ANGELES OVERWHELMED BY EXTENT OF GROUND ZERO DEVASTATION.
- Date: 20th September 2001
- Summary: (U3) NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (SEPTEMBER 20, 2001) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. GV/PAN: FIREFIGHTERS WALK PAST RUBBLE 0.09 2. LV/GV: VARIOUS OF RUBBLE BEING CLEARED AT GROUND ZERO (7 SHOTS0 1.00 3. GV: WIDE VIEW OF CLUSTERED FIREFIGHTERS 1.09 4. GV/PAN: LOS ANGLES FIRE FIGHTERS WALKING PAST 1.28 5. CU: SOUNDBITE (English) LARRY KEMPER. LOS ANGELES FIREFIGHTER SAYING: "Basically, my New York brothers are in need and we felt it was a positive thing to come out and lend a hand." 1.39 6. GV: FIRE TRUCK PARKED OUTSIDE GROUND ZERO PERIMETER 1.45 7. CU: SOUNDBITE (English) PAUL SEABORNE, LOS ANGELES FIREFIGHTER SAYING: "We had the Northridge Earthquake out in LA, I've been on big fires, but until you get out on that pile there is no way to describe it, I mean you feel so small out there, this huge pile of what was the World Trade Center, to see levels of beams that were floors and you can't even get your hand in between that level which was the floor before, so, I mean, it hits you hard." 2.16 8. GV/MCU: FIRE TRUCK/ FIREMAN SITTING INSIDE (2 SHOTS) 2.22 9. MCU: SOUNDBITE (English) LARRY KEMPER. LOS ANGELES FIREFIGHTER SAYING: "Last night I was down under some steel eye beams, semi confined space with two other LA firefighters, in there for three hours and it was non-stop work to go and we actually found a lady who had passed away, it was incredible, I mean we found her hand and wedding ring, she was intact and we had to wash her hands and teams came down and took pictures of them, so we can bring it back to show family members, so they can identify her." 3.04 10. GV/LV: FIRE TRUCK DRIVES INTO GROUND ZERO PERIMETER (2 SHOTS) 3.21 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 5th October 2001 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
- City:
- Country: USA
- Reuters ID: LVAF5BOZ1NJ76M1QGIF5O7K3FI7M
- Story Text: As the rescue operation at the site of the World Trade
Center attacks unofficially becomes a recovery operation,
volunteer firefighters from the Los Angeles Fire Department
take stock of the overwhelming sense of disaster that pervades
Ground Zero.
Paul Seaborne and Larry Kemper travelled from Los
Angeles, California to take part in the rescue operations in
Lower Manhattan.
"Basically, my New York brothers are in need and we felt
it was a positive thing to come out and lend a hand," Larry
Kemper said on Thursday morning (September 20). The New York
City Fire Department was decimated by last week's collapse of
the World Trade Center towers, with more than 200 firefighters
still missing.
The grinding devastation at Ground Zero is overwhelming,
the volunteers agree, and unlike any other disaster they've
seen.
"We had the Northridge Earthquake out in LA, I've been on
big fires, but until you get out on that pile there is no way
to describe it," Paul Miller said.
"I mean you feel so small out there, this huge pile of
what was the World Trade Center, to see levels of beams that
were floors and you can't even get your hand in between that
level which was the floor before, so, I mean, it hits you
hard," he said.
Working in shifts behind a guarded perimeter, the rescue
workers use heavy machinery and cranes to lift broken slabs of
concrete and piles of twisted steel beams. When a dog sniffs
what could be a sign of life, or where they believe there
could be a cavity that may harbour someone still living, they
begin carrying debris out by hand, with small buckets passed
from one rescue worker to another.
Hope is fading fast with each passing day at Ground Zero,
where more than 5,000 people are still missing. It's agonizing
work, and has in large measure become a recovery operation in
everything but name. But they are not giving up hope.
"Last night I was down under some steel eye beams, semi
confined space with two other LA firefighters, in there for
three hours and it was non-stop work," Larry Kemper said of
his search efforts.
"We actually found a lady who had passed away, it was
incredible, I mean we found her hand and wedding ring, she was
intact and we had to wash her hands and teams came down and
took pictures of them, so we can bring it back to show family
members, so they can identify her," he said, visibly moved by
the memory.
It's daunting work, but the firefighters who came from
another coast remain committed to doing everything they can to
help, for the sake of their New York brethren - and for the
families of those who mourn the lost.
jc/jrc
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