Emergency Medical Technician, Renae O'Carroll"
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/nyregion/20050812_WTC_GRAPHIC/9110116.PDF
....... We went down Atlantic Avenue going
towards the Manhattan Bridge, and the heat was so
intense, so intense, you could actually feel it
while you were up on the bridge. I mean that
intense you could feel the heat. Cars were
coming this way, and we were driving that way.
They assigned us to go to Church and
Vesey. We were going towards that area. The
cars are coming this way. People are screaming
and running, and we're going the opposite
direction into the mess, into the belly of the
beast of this thing. I still can't believe I had
the nerve to do that to this day.......
There is quite a distance between the Manhattan bridge and WTC.....
Q. The building actually came down at that
point?
A. The building wasn't down yet. I was
getting ready to pull out, and the transportation
officer waved me over. He wanted to tell me what
hospital to go to.......
It was just basically dark. I had
never been through anything -- I thought I was
dying. The only thing I could see was balls of
fire, just balls of fire. At one point I thought
I was on fire because it was that close to me. I
could feel the heat. I said to myself, wow, I'm
on fire. This is what it feels like to be on
fire.