Around the fifteenth floor, Ladder 6 and Josephine ran into Battalion Chief Rich Picciotto, a longtime study partner of Jay’s for promotional exams. Picciotto brandished a bullhorn, a rare tool among firefighters, because he remembered the communications and crowd control problems during the 1993 bombing. “All FDNY, get the fuck out!” Picciotto boomed on his bullhorn. To anyone who could hear him over the radio, he yelled: “We’re evacuating, we’re getting out—drop your tools, drop your masks, drop everything. Get out, get out!” Dozens of firefighters heeded his lifesaving command and raced
...more