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Exclusive: 911 Tapes Tell Horror Of 9/11 (Part 2)
Tapes Released For First Time

UPDATED: 5:48 pm EDT June 17, 2002

http://www.wnbc.com/news/1315651/detail.html

JERSEY CITY, N.J. -- They are the first 911 calls from 9/11 to be released. NewsChannel 4 has an exclusive account of the tapes from Jersey City, which sent hundreds of cops and firefighters into the thick of ground zero.

Dispatcher: Go ahead.

Official: Hold on, jets flying over here. Can you check with the controller there, we don't know if this is another one.

Official: It's getting pretty close, it looks like some type of jet plane.

Dispatcher: The news is reporting that it's jet fighters.

At one point, a cop called into a 911 center to talk with a friend, perhaps even his wife.

Officer: It's a terrorist.

Dispatcher: Once they find out who did this, that'll be the end of that country. That'll be the end of their country.

Many though were looking closer to home, wondering if the terror was over, and pointing fingers.

Dispatcher: Jersey City police.

Caller: Yes, we have a white van, 2 or 3 guys in there, they look like Palestinians and going around a building.

Caller: There's a minivan heading toward the Holland tunnel, I see the guy by Newark Airport mixing some junk and he has those sheikh uniform.

Dispatcher: He has what?

Caller: He's dressed like an Arab.

The biggest tragedy for Jersey City heroes came in its fire department that day, not for the rescue one guys who went in for search and rescue, but for a civilian who worked out of a dispatch center. Joseph Lovero was a trained EMT who volunteered to ride into New York with the Battalion 3 chief while the towers were still standing.

Official: Battalion 3 to dispatch, we've just had another explosion.

Official: Battalion 3 to dispatch, we've had additional explosion.

Dispatcher: Received battalion command. Additional explosion.

A handful of Jersey City firemen, with a civilian dispatcher, managed to survive, grouping near the still-standing north tower.

Official: Deputy one from Battalion 3, that's affirmative. I have all JCFD personnel on location.

Dispatcher: Received.

Dispatcher: Battalion 5, be advised we're trying to contact Battalion 3 at this moment to report north tower just collapsed.

Dispatcher: Dispatch. Battalion 3.

Official: Battalion 3. I am, I am Greg. North tower has collapsed.

Dispatcher: Battalion 3, all members accounted for?

All, but for Joseph Lovero, his body was found near that of his chief.

See also:

9/11 Firefighters: Bombs and Explosions in the WTC
The Five Dancing Israelis Arrested on 9-11

 

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