As Tara Byrnes Cummings watched the film, which features the only known footage of firefighters responding inside the World Trade Center immediately after the attacks of September 11, 2001, she had the opportunity to see the raw emotions of her father, former Fire Department of New York Chief Larry Byrnes, as he arrived at Ground Zero later that morning.
“It was a wonderful tribute to my father,” said Ms. Cummings, explaining that her father died on June 14, 2015, at the age of 79, after developing lung and bladder cancer from breathing in the thick clouds of black smoke in lower Manhattan while he was trying to save those trapped under the debris from the fallen Twin Towers.
Chief Byrnes, who was a firefighter for 42 years, was already retired on the day of the terrorist attacks, but that did not stop him from jumping in his car in Hampton Bays and rushing toward the city the moment he heard about the first plane striking the North Tower. After arriving at his old station—FDNY Engine 7, Ladder 1, Battalion 1 on Duane Street—he quickly took charge and helped coordinate efforts to rescue victims caught under the fallen debris.
“My Dad would say, ‘Firefighters never retire—they just go away for a while,’” Ms. Cummings recalled this week. “This movie shows you just a piece of the dedication these men have to their job and each other.”
Filmed by FDNY firefighter James Hanlon and French brothers Jules and Gedeon Naudet, the documentary tells the story of the terrorist attacks in lower Manhattan from the point of view of the first responders, including members of Chief Byrnes’s old outfit.
In the days leading up to September 11, 2001, the Naudet brothers began shadowing Tony Benetatos, a probationary firefighter who was assigned to Chief Byrnes’s former station so they could document what it is like to train to be a New York City firefighter. On that morning, Jules Naudet was tagging along with Battalion Chief Joseph Pfeifer as he was responding to a call about an odor of gas at the intersection of Church and Lispenard streets, about a quarter mile from the World Trade Center, while his brother remained behind at the firehouse with Mr. Benetatos.
As Chief Pfeifer was investigating the gas leak, he and Jules Naudet look up just in time to see—and film—the first airliner, American Airlines Flight 11, slamming into the North Tower. Chief Pfeifer immediately headed toward the burning building while being followed by Jules Naudet who kept his video camera rolling even though he had to constantly wipe soot from his lens. As firefighters were still ironing out a plan to get people out of the North Tower, a second airliner, United Airlines Flight 175, slammed into the South Tower.
The rest of the documentary captures the reactions of Mr. Benetatos, as well as his fellow firefighters and other first responders, as they clean up the debris left in the wake of the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people, including 343 firefighters.
The documentary originally aired on CBS in 2002—six months after the collapse of the towers. It was updated in 2011 for the 10th anniversary of the attacks to show how Ground Zero was rebuilt, and most recently a third time, for the 15th anniversary, to show how things continue to evolve in downtown Manhattan.
What hit home the most for Ms. Cummings was that the most recently updated version includes footage of her father’s funeral, as well as a photo of him as part of a special tribute.
“Everybody was just happy to see him and that he was remembered,” Ms. Cummings said. “I just want to thank them for including my father and putting him in such a moving film. I think they did such a beautiful job with all the families … I’m sure everyone else who lost a loved one that saw a glimpse of them are feeling the same way.”
No comments yet.