On September 11, 2001, a group of nineteen Al Quida hijackers took control of four planes and crashed two of them into the World Trade Center, one into the Pentagon, and one landed in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania killing a total of 2,995 people. In my blog I'm going to talk about rescue efforts and rebuilding.The Fire Department of New City (FDNY) sent half of their units to the Twin Towers. Many off-duty firefighters and EMTs helped out. The NYPD Emergency Service Unit (which is pretty much exactly like a S.W.A.T. team) was sent to the site and the NYPD also sent helicopters. The police department was given information from it's helicopters and commanders issued an evactuation of personnel before things got too bad. Since the FDNY had a different radio communication and were set up at different posts then the NYPD, they didn't get the warning and most of them didn't make it out before the first tower collapsed. I think this is crazy. I know I don't really understand how all this stuff works but I would think there was some way they could have warned the fire department. I also understand though, that this all happened so quickly that the NYPD and the FDNY didn't have time to get together and figure everything out. I feel terrible for all the firefighters and policemen who lost their lives trying to save others. All together the FDNY lost 341 men and 2 paramedics. The New York City Police Department and The Port Authority Police Department lost a combined 60 men. Also there were 8 EMTs and paramedics from private ambulances who were killed.With all the craziness that happened that day of course it took a while to clean up. Infact the site wasn't completely cleared until until the end of May 2002, and the work was constantly going. The rebuilding of the completely destroyed or badly damgaged towers is still going on (which included The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, 7 World Trade Center, 6WTC, 5WTC, 4WTC, the Marriott WTC, the World Financial Center, and the St. Nicolas Greek Orthodox Chuch). Some other buildings were condemned either because of damage or toxic conditions that happened because the towers fell. Other buildings that were damaged were restored. The part of the Pentagon that was hit was rebuilt within a year and they also have a memorial built. A new 7 World Trade Center office tower was completed in 2006, and when the 1 WTC (one of the Twin Towers) is completed in 2011 it will be 1,776 feet, making it one of the tallest buildings in North America. Three more towers are expected to be built about a block from the site.It still blows my mind when I think about 9/11. Of course I was pretty young when it happened but I remeber how it affected the people around me. Even though I was young when it happened, I really regret not having the chance to see the original towers before they were destroyed.
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