On September 11, 2001, FDNY Battalion Chief Richard "Pitch" Picciotto answered the call heard around the world. In minutes he was at Ground Zero of the worst terrorist attack on American soil, as the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center began to burn—and then to buckle. A veteran of the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, Picciotto was eerily familiar with the inside of the North Tower. And it was there that he concentrated his rescue efforts. It was in its smoky stairwells where he heard and felt the South Tower collapse. Where he made the call for firemen and rescue workers to evacuate, while he stayed behind with a skeleton team of men to help evacuate a group of disabled and infirm civilians. And it was in the rubble of the North Tower where Picciotto found himself buried—for more than four hours after the building's collapse.

This is the harrowing true story of a true American hero, a man who thought nothing of himself—and gave nearly everything for others during one of New York City's—and the country's—darkest hours.

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.