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BOOK NEWS
"I’ll see you at the big one.’’ That’s what firefighters say to each other at a big fire, meaning that they’ll make it through this fire to meet again at the next big fire. But on Sept. 11, 2001, Battalion Chief Richard Picciotto of the New York Fire Department thought he would never hear or say those words again: Surely there would never be a fire bigger than the one he was fighting at the north tower of the World Trade Center. ``This was the big one we had talked about all our lives,’’ Picciotto writes in "Last Man Down: A Firefighter’s Story of Survival and Escape From the World Trade Center’’ (Berkley, 243 pages, $24.95) with Daniel Paisner, a gritty and moving firsthand account by the highest-ranking firefighter to survive the collapse of the twin towers. For the past nine years, Picciotto has been battalion chief on Manhattan’s Upper West Side neighborhood, overseeing seven fire companies. On the morning of Sept. 11, Picciotto kisses his wife and son goodbye, picks up a bag of bagels and heads into the firehouse. Then the call comes. A plane has hit the north tower. Since fire companies respond in order, Picciotto’s firehouse, which is several miles north, on West 100th Street, waits to be called in. But having responded to the 1993 WTC bombing, Picciotto calls the fire department’s command center and offers his expertise. Minutes later, he and a driver are racing downtown, without his men. When he arrives, he takes command of a fire company awaiting orders in the lobby of the north tower and heads up the stairs. They make it to the 35th floor even as the south tower comes crashing down next to them. "With the collapse of the south tower, I went from being a lone wolf chief, racing up to the fire to lend a hand, to the highest-ranking officer in the immediate area. Just like that. As far as I knew, I was now the highest-ranking officer on the highest floor of the tallest building in New York City. No one was higher, which meant that I was suddenly cast in a completely different role.’’ Then things change quickly for Picciotto and his men. As they clear the few remaining people from the 35th floor, Picciotto makes a tough decision: He gives the order to evacuate the north tower. ``Whatever small chance remained that we would find someone alive on the upper floors, I had to weigh against the far bigger chance that the few hundred of us on these lower floors wouldn’t make it out of the building. There was no choice but to surrender, to give up the building in order to save our own lives. Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t second-guessing myself, but there was a part of me that felt like I was abandoning someone, somewhere on one of those 110 floors.’’ Picciotto’s honesty - and honor - shine through every page of this page-turner. The book offers a glimpse inside the head of a veteran firefighter as he fights the biggest battle of his life. Each decision Picciotto made that day — from where to stand to when to head back down the stairs - was a matter of life and death. And something he clearly has struggled with since that day in September, when he survived but 343 of his brothers died.
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