Last Man Down: The Fireman's Story - The Heroic Account of How Pitch Picciotto Survived the Collapse of the Twin Towers and Lead His Men to Safety (Paperback, Digital original)

The bravery of the New York firefighters on September 11 2001 was an inspiration to the world. In this book, the highest-ranking firefighter to survive the collapse of the World Trade Centre tells his story with the help of an adept but modest professional writer, Daniel Paisner. Summoned to the tower when the first plane hit, Battalion Commander Picciotto assisted in the evacuation of those below the affected floors, and was in the process of leaving the South Tower when it collapsed, trapping him and a few of his men in a pocket of air below the enormous mass of wreckage. Cut off from the outside world, their situation was precarious to say the least, their climb to eventual safety fraught with difficulties. The personal story is affecting enough: the hasty prayer for a quick death rather than slow immolation, the slow slide down a collapsing staircase - 'like a slow free fall, where you never fully leave the ground because the ground is free falling with you'. But it is in the end secondary to the horror and splendour of the occasion - the horror of the falling bodies of those throwing themselves from the upper floors, the disabled occupants of the building struggling down the stairs, floor after floor - but the splendour of the astonishing bravery of both victims and rescuers. Then there are the moments of extraordinary black farce: the man clinging to his computer, attempting to send messages to his stockbroker down a severed line, with the building aflame and collapsing around him. As a record of a defining moment of history this is but a first and personal sketch, but it has the merits of immediacy and first-hand observation, and from start to finish is deeply impressive. (Kirkus UK)

On September 11th 2001, Battalion Commander Richard Pitch Picciotto lead seven companies of fire fighters up the B stairway to Tower 1 of the World Trade Centre. Pitch and his men were on the 17th floor racing upward when the world seemed to explode around them. Out of radio communication with the command centre and with no time to reflect Pitch ordered the evacuation of Tower 1. Firefighters staged an orderly retreat until word came that the stairwell was blocked with debris. From his knowledge of the towers gained during service after the 1993 WTC bombing, Pitch lead the firefighters to an alternate stairwell, and the descent continued. After eight minutes when they reached floor 12 Pitch and his men discovered 50 traumatized civilians. Fourteen minutes had elapsed since the collapse of Tower 2. Pushing and cajoling them down and out Pitch was in the 7th floor stairwell when a sound of thunder was heard from above. It took eight seconds for Tower 1 to fall. Pitch and a handful of survivors woke to find themselves buried on the landing of floor 2, in an inky cavity broken by the screams of hurt men. This is the story of how they made it out.

General

Imprint:	Orion mass market paperback
Country of origin:	United Kingdom
Release date:	February 2003
Authors:	Richard Picciotto
Dimensions:	178 x 111 x 20mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Paperback - Mass Market
Pages:	253
Edition:	Digital original
ISBN-13:	978-0-7528-4941-6
Categories:	Books > Fiction > True stories > Endurance & survival Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Emergency services > Fire services Books > Social sciences > Politics & government > Political activism > Terrorism, freedom fighters, armed struggle > General
LSN:	0-7528-4941-7
Barcode:	9780752849416

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