Speaking Their Names

By 2001, Tim Brown was no stranger to an emergency. He had been a firefighter with the Fire Department of New York since 1984, and in 1993 he responded to the World Trade Center bombing as a member of Rescue 3 in the Bronx. In 1995 he joined New York Task Force 1, a FEMA Urban Search and Rescue team, with whom Brown would respond to the Oklahoma City bombing that same year. In 1998 he was detailed to Mayor Giuliani’s Office of Emergency Management, headquartered in 7 World Trade Center.

Tim was there, eating his breakfast in the Mezzanine-level cafeteria, on the morning of September 11, 2001. His meal was interrupted when the people around him started running towards the exit. Confused, he asked a woman why everyone was suddenly evacuating. She told him that a plane had struck the North Tower.

Brown quickly made his way to the lobby of the North Tower, hoping to help organize the response. There, he found many of his fellow firefighters. He recalled his best friend, Captain Terence Hatton, pulling him into an embrace, saying, “I love you, brother. I may never see you again.” Sadly, Captain Hatton was right. Ninety-three of Brown’s friends would be killed that day, including Captain Hatton.

After the second plane struck, Brown rushed to the South Tower lobby and saw hundreds of injured people trying to make their way out of the building. He told his fire chief that he was going to find paramedics and bring them back to the scene. Brown did just that, and he and the paramedics were only feet away from the South Tower when it started to collapse.

Brown ran into the lobby of the nearby Marriot Hotel, found a vertical support column, and hung on. The gusting wind and debris were strong enough to lift him off his feet. Reflecting on the moment later, he said that the lobby was “becoming our grave.” Still, Brown managed to survive. He and the other survivors in the area formed a human chain and gradually found their way to an exit.