The Story Behind the 9/11 Photo of a Fire Truck Heading Toward the Twin Towers
The true, chilling story behind the famous 9/11 photo of a doomed fire truck heading toward the Twin Towers
A jet crashed into the North Tower on September 11, 2001, just as amateur photographer Aaron McLamb reached his office on the tenth floor, close to the Brooklyn Bridge.
The 20-year-old was horrified to see a second plane fly into the South Tower less than 20 minutes later.
McLamb grabbed his camera and took a memorable picture of the smoldering World Trade Center in the background, with a red fire engine flaming across the Brooklyn Bridge.
When NYPD Ladder 118 arrived on the scene of a fire in Lower Manhattan, nobody realized it would be the final time six firefighters would ever respond to a fire.
Additionally, McLamb, who had previously visited the station often, said that “not all heroes wear capes” and that he respected their daring.
Twenty-year-old Aaron McLamb of North Carolina, who grew up dreaming of being a fireman, talked to the employees of the FDNY Ladder 118 station on Middagh St. in Brooklyn.
rr_equipment_and_more is the Instagram handle of McLamb, an amateur photographer.
He frequently snapped pictures of the truck, but he never imagined that the one he shot early on September 11, 2001, would become a famous picture that would forever record the last six firefighters’ run.
When the first plane, carrying 20,000 gallons of jet fuel, crashed into the World Trade Center, McLamb was on the tenth floor of the Jehovah’s Witness building close to the Brooklyn Bridge.
He stared in terror as flames erupted from the North Tower. A little after nine in the morning, a second airplane flew into the sky, slicing into the south tower close to the sixty-first level as it turned abruptly toward the World Trade Center.
He took his camera out of a storage room, stood outside a bay window, and began to take pictures.
The 37-year-old McLamb told the Daily News, “I just had to start taking pictures of them when I saw the fire trucks going across the bridge, without understanding those guys wouldn’t come back.
” Being so high above and watching everything that was happening below was nearly unreal. You were unable to hear the structures creaking or the fire crackling. The sirens of the fire engines crossing the bridge were the only sound we could hear.
On their journey to the World Trade, Ladder 118 is seen crossing the Brooklyn Bridge at the bottom of this picture.
On Sunday, August 23, 2020, Law Enforcement Officers Weekend posted
One of McLamb’s most well-known photographs of the 9/11 attacks depicts Ladder 118 crossing the Brooklyn Bridge and the increasing black smoke plume from the towers behind.
Ladder 118
Firefighters Vernon Cherry, Leon Smith, Joey Agnello, Robert Regan, Pete Vega, and Scott Davidson left the Brooklyn Heights fire hall and headed out after the second jet smashed into the South Tower.
When the 110-story towers collapsed, the Marriott World Trade Center Hotel shattered around the six men from Ladder 118 as they fled further into the carnage.
According to survivors, the heroes with the number 118 on their helmets ran up the steps to assist visitors.
They were never again seen alive.
Our public program lineup for Fall 2022 begins on Thursday with “Rebuilding After 9/11: How the Fire Department of
On Monday, September 26, 2022, National September 11 Memorial & Museum posted
“They knew what was going on, and they went down with their ship,” said Bobby Graff, a former hotel elevator mechanic.
“They weren’t going to leave until everyone got out,” he added, referring to the hundreds of patrons and Marriott staff that made it out alive.
That day, they must have saved a few hundred lives. I am certain that they saved my life.
Graff told the station staff a few days later that the courageous crew would not depart until they had safely left the facility.
According to retired firefighter John Sorrentino, “Everyone just started running when they heard the tower rumble coming down and Graff.
” [Graff] was in a location where he survived and everyone else perished once the smoke cleared.
“[Graff] could see the look on the guys’ faces from 118, that they knew this was going to end badly, but they weren’t leaving because they wanted to get as many people out safely as they could,” Sorrentino went on.
“And that’s how we found out what Ladder 118 did that day,” Sorrentino continued.
Fred J. Field took this staff photo on Monday, September 10, 2001. Due to a tank truck fire northbound just past the curve in the picture, traffic on I-95 south in Yarmouth is almost completely stopped Monday afternoon.
While some of the men from Ladder 118 were discovered days or weeks later, others were discovered within a few feet of one another.
Within days following the attack, the truck—a twisted mass of steel and glass—that had been last seen rushing across the bridge to the spot was found.
Tools with the Ladder 118 emblem were discovered by firefighters searching through the debris two months later.
The Ladder 118 heroes
At the conclusion of the year, 30-year FDNY veteran Vernon Cherry intended to retire. The 49-year-old also worked as a wedding singer in addition to living in New York City with his wife and three kids.
Cherry, according to a firefighter at the hall, “would just sing.” He would be going up the stairs to take a shower in the locker room. His voice was so lovely.
Leon Smith, a 48-year-old father of three, began working for the FDNY in 1982 and served as Ladder 118’s chauffeur.
“He would wash his rig every single day, and when he went off duty, he would say, ‘Listen, my baby better be clean,’” according to his mother Irene. He referred to that as his lover.
A 35-year-old father of two, Joseph Agnello “loved his kids, his dogs, his life.” Vinnie Carla Agnello, his wife, claimed that others on her block were unaware that her husband was a firefighter.
He doesn’t have to discuss himself or his work. He wasn’t the kind of person who required care.
After beginning his career as a civil engineer, 48-year-old Lt. Robert “Bobby” Regan joined the FDNY in order to spend more time with his young children.
His wife, Donna, remarked, “He was Mr. Mom.” We never had a day where we were unaware of what we had. We explained to our children that not everyone is as content as we are.
Pete Vega was honorably discharged from the U.S. Air Force after serving at Desert Storm for six years prior to joining FDNY in 1995.
Pete, 36, called Regan, his wife and the mother of their kids, just before he leaped on Ladder 118, according to Regan.
“If he was cleaning out our gutter, he would clean the neighbor’s, too,” she recalls, recalling his generosity and kindness.
Members of the FDNY take a minute of silence at Ladder 118 and Engine 205.
On Monday, September 11, 2017, the New York City Fire Department (FDNY) posted
In 1994, Scott Davidson, the father of Saturday Night Live actor Pete Davidson, started working as a firefighter.
Three weeks later, the 33-year-old man’s body was found in the debris. He was well-known for his love of Christmas, his comedy, and his golden heart.
“You know, Dad says he’s coming to pick you up and he doesn’t,” Pete stated, referring to the trauma he has experienced throughout his life. I don’t believe anyone for the rest of my life,” he remarked.
Still interred in nearby sites in Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery are Agnello, Vega, and Cherry. Agnello’s wife stated, “They should remain side by side since they were discovered side by side.”
Ladder 118’s crew is one of 343 firefighters who lost their lives on 9/11, which, according to USA Today, accounted for nearly half of all “on-duty deaths in the New York City Fire Department’s entire 100-year history.”
When McLamb arrived at the Brooklyn Heights firehouse with a stack of pictures, Sorrentino was also there. He presented them to the remaining men, who recognized the truck as Ladder 118.
McLamb then shared the terrifying image with the world’s media, where it was viewed as the fire truck’s deadly final call, symbolizing the sorrow and patriotism of September 11, 2001.
On 9/11, Ladder 3 courageously responded to the World Trade Center. The vehicle suffered significant damage as a result of the fall of the
Published on Friday, April 3, 2020 by the National September 11 Memorial & Museum
McLamb clarified the backstory of his photograph by participating in a Reddit discussion two years ago. “I took this picture,” he writes.
They were very good people, these [firefighters]. Every time I passed the station, they struck up a conversation with me.
He went on, “I was impressed by their bravery going in, but I had no idea that any of these people wouldn’t return.
I pictured them peering out the rig’s front windows, knowing they were about to engage in a life-or-death battle. Not every hero has a cape.
Our thoughts and prayers are with all of the emergency personnel who sacrificed their life because they were so dedicated to their mission. More people would have perished if they hadn’t helped.
We hope that the fact that hundreds of people attribute your loved ones’ survival to them brings some comfort to the families and friends of the soldiers on Ladder 118.
Please tell this story, and let’s honor our emergency personnel in remembrance of Ladder 118.
