Posted by Tammie Hetzer-Womack (165.247.13.205) on September 19, 2001 at 12:19:47:
Tuesday, September 18, 2001
Local rescue workers talk about being at Ground Zero
Group helped at New Jersey hospital
By Tammie Hetzer-Womack
For The Daily Independent
FLATWOODS ÷ Karen Dickens received a phone call last Tuesday night at her Our Lady of Bellefonte
Hospital workplace that both shook her up and filled her with pride.
Her 20-year-old son, Nick, who also works at OLBH, was calling to tell his mother he would be leaving within
hours to head to New York City to aid in the rescue efforts.
``He said, 'Mom, ``I'm ready to go to work ÷ but not at Bellefonte. I'm going to New York,'" she said. ``Right
then, my heart just sank."
Nick left Greenup about 12 hours after the first hijacked plane hit the World Trade Center with a group of
Urgent Care Ambulance Service workers from Portsmouth and Greenup County that included Jeremy Oney,
Jason Skeen, Matthew Holley and Joey Fritz.
As the group headed out in an ambulance and two minivans, Oney, who borrowed a bulletproof vest for the
trip, said he felt uncertain of what loomed ahead.
``We only knew what we had seen on TV all day," said Oney, a Flatwoods Volunteer Fire Department
firefighter. ``So, we didn't really know what was in store for us when we got there. As I crossed the Greenup
County line, I did cry, because I didn't know if I would ever come home and cross that line again."
When they arrived 12 hours later, the rescue workers realized they could not have prepared themselves for
the haunting scenes that awaited them.
A thick cloud of ashen gray smoke encircled the area around the fallen twin towers ÷ dubbed Ground Zero
÷ and traffic was at a complete standstill. Streets in a six-block area were filled with several inches of burnt
and folded paper ÷ all detailing the work done in the hundreds of offices in the trade center.
``When we pulled up, I couldn't help but ask myself if I really wanted to go in there," said Skeen of Greenup.
``What you see on TV doesn't compare to how horrible it really is."
Oney agreed.
``It looked like a bomb went off with tons of debris all over the street ÷ everything from paper to ash. There
were so many papers on the ground that it looked like a huge winter storm had hit. It was that deep and
white," he said.
The local group was turned away almost as soon as it arrived and sent to an emergency services staging
area in Newark to wait for directions.
``There was some miscommunication between New York and New Jersey on Wednesday," said Dickens,
who is also a Flatwoods volunteer firefighter. ``There was a lot of time when we just sat and waited for
something to do."
Ultimately, the group's service was needed at a hospital in Newark later in the day ö preparing the site for
victims needing trauma services. At one point, hospital officials were told 70 patients were being brought
over on a barge, but they never showed up, Oney said.
That first night proved to be the hardest, Oney said, as the group camped out on the lawn of nearby Liberty
State Park in sleeping bags.
``None of us were really prepared for the trip. We just figured we would be taken care of once we got there,
so we didn't take a lot of money with us. One medic had $200, but that was just about it."
Despite the conditions, the physically and mentally exhausted men slept well. Thursday, they were ferried
into the city.
``From the moment we stepped off the dock, it was utter catastrophe," Oney said. ``And the farther we
walked, the worse it got. Windows were knocked out of cars. And cars and ambulances were pancaked on
top of each other for as far as you could see.
``You could see inside the buildings where the windows were burst out and you wondered what was holding
those structures together in all the destruction. It looked like they were being held by a thread," Oney
added.
``I just knew that there were people praying all over America and at that point and the angels flew down
from heaven to hold those buildings up."
Once at the scene, the local group joined in a chain of volunteers removing debris from the rubble. They
also cleaned the streets and worked in a triage area for rescue workers suffering from heat exhaustion and
head injuries.
``Though it seemed like menial work moving buckets through an assembly line ÷ everyone from doctors, to
nurses, to police officers, to firefighters to federal agents from almost every state were all there together for
a common purpose," said Skeen, a member of the Little Sandy Volunteer Fire Department. ``For once,
everyone was on the same plane."
``Everyone was together on the same level," Dickens said. ``America was pulling together to get the job
done."
Other rescuers shared their accounts with the men from northeast Kentucky. A Connecticut man said his
cadaver-sniffing dog recovered a seat from the hijacked plane that hit the World Trade Center. All that was
left of the body was a ribcage ö still strapped into the seat. Another volunteer spoke of finding a jawbone.
The next two days were full of images of triumph and generosity, the men said. There were also moments
when they feared for their lives as air horns signaled the possible collapse of another building. At the sound,
rescue workers fearfully ran through the wreckage fleeing the impending danger.
When recovery workers heard noises from the rubble, the crowd becamse still, waiting for a response. Then,
the rescue workers would explode into applause, believing there was still hope of finding someone alive.
When chilling rains fell Friday, New York merchants supplied the workers with blue jeans, jackets and shirts
to keep them dry and warm.
As the rescue workers stepped off the ferryboat at night, they were greeted on the dock by a sea of
candlelight from New Jersey citizens keeping vigil. The hundreds of people would stop to offer a standing
ovation as they stepped off the boat.
State troopers from the area offered to pay for the Greenup County/Portsmouth group's lodging at a hotel.
And after the men finished eating in the hotel's restaurant Thursday night, an anonymous patron picked up
the group's $100 bill.
Both Fritz, a Lloyd resident, and Holley, of Rush, said they were so moved by what they'd seen that they
couldn't speak to a reporter about it.
Oney said the experience reinforced for him the importance of God.
``We should pray in our homes and pray in our families for all the rescue workers still there," he said.
``Through all of this, I'm glad our country is finally realizing what God wants for us."
Dickens' father, Ercel, said the experience prepared his son for what he believes is to come.
``It was hard for me to let my boy go on Tuesday, but I know I might have to do it again soon as Nick heads
off to war," the Vietnam War veteran said. ``These boys who went to New York are doing what they are
taught ö God, country, your neighbors and family. ``I'm so proud of them."
TAMMIE HETZER-WOMACK is a freelance writer living in Greenup County.