9/11 anniversary: The fire chief who sent his brother up the towers and never saw him alive again
“A routine emergency. Nothing to get too excited about.”
That was how Chief Joseph Pfeifer’s day started on 11 September, 2001, in New York, as he dealt with reports of a smell of gas.
The senior firefighter was in downtown Manhattan when the world changed at 8.46am.
Almost 3,000 people died during the 9/11 attacks. Pic: AP
Speaking to Kay Burley ahead of the 20th anniversary of the disaster, he said: “All of a sudden we heard a loud noise of a plane coming overhead, and you never hear planes in Manhattan, because of the tall buildings.
“And then I saw this plane flying at a very low altitude, and an extremely fast speed.
“And then I saw the plane aim and crash into the North Tower of the World Trade Center.”
The then 45-year-old knew straight away that this was no accident.
He has written a memoir – Ordinary Heroes – to tell his story of what happened that day and the actions of those around him.
Like many thousands of other emergency service workers, Chief Pfeifer’s ran towards the now burning skyscraper to do what he could to help.
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What is the legacy of 9/11?
When he arrived, he was the first New York City Fire Department chief on the scene.
He had already called for help – asking for more than 150 firefighters to join him and his crew.
Chief Pfeifer entered the stricken North Tower’s lobby and took control of the situation.
And then 17 minutes later, the South Tower was hit.
Of the hundreds of firefighters now streaming into the burning towers, one was Chief Pfeifer’s brother, Lieutenant Kevin Pfeifer.
“He reported in to me.
Lt Kevin Pfeifer died on 9/11. Pic: Chief Joseph Pfeifer
The end of the recovery efforts, in May 2002. Pic: FDNY
“And I can remember – we looked at each other – and he had a concerned look on his face.
“And we worried whether each of us was going to be okay.
“And he didn’t say a word – we just had a moment of understanding that this was going to be a tough day.”
Lt Pfeifer, like hundreds others, was ordered to go up the building’s stairs to try to help those trapped.
It was not until the day of the Superbowl on 3 February 2002, almost five months later, that the remains of the chief’s brother were found.
At 9.59am, the unimaginable happened – the South Tower collapsed.
Chief Pfeifer was still commanding operations in the North Tower.
Chief Pfiefer, and then New York Senator Hilary Clinton, as his equipment is displayed at the Museum of American History on 10 September 2002
“The lobby goes completely black. We couldn’t see anything,” he says.
He ordered the North Tower to be evacuated, but 29 minutes later the North followed the South.
“I made it out to the street, standing in front of the North Tower.
“And we hear a rumbling sound again and this time somebody yelled ‘the building is collapsing’. And we started to run.
Some 343 firefighters died on 9/11, and another 255 since. Pic: AP
“However, with helmet and bunker-code pants and boots, you don’t run too far or too fast in 11 seconds.
“And then this beautiful summer morning, full of sunshine, goes completely black, where we couldn’t see a thing.
“And then all that noise from the crashing steel and concrete goes silent.
“It was like a new snow for this muffle sound of silence. And for a few seconds, we wondered if we were still alive.”
The chief had survived, and continued to help in the rescue efforts in the days going forward – even meeting President George W Bush.
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Some 343 firefighters died on 9/11, and 255 more since due to illness and disease.
Chief Pfeifer’s book aims to celebrate the ordinary heroes on that day.
The dad of a missing Hawaiian woman who vanished took his own life after he flew to LA to try to find her.
Ryan Kobayashi had travelled from Hawaii to LA, retracing the steps his daughter Hannah Kobayashi took earlier this month before she went missing.
On 8 November, the 31-year-old Ms Kobayashi travelled from Hawaii to LA, on her way to New York, but missed her connecting flight.
Hannah Kobayashi. Pic: Instagram/Hannah Kobayashi
The 30-year-old budding photographer. Pic: Missing Persons of America
Her family initially thought she would catch another one but she told them she had begun to explore the area.
Then, on 11 November, the family began receiving “strange and cryptic, just alarming” text messages from her phone.
They referenced her being “intercepted” as she got on a train and being scared someone was trying to steal her identity.
“Once the family started pressing, she went dark,” her aunt Larie Pidgeon said.
Sky News US partner network NBC News reported that one of the texts received by Ms Kobayashi’s family read: “I got tricked pretty much into giving away all my funds for someone I thought I loved.”
Mr Kobayashi flew out to LA to try and find her, searching with other family members and volunteers.
However, he was found dead on Sunday in a car park near the LA International Airport having taken his own life, police and his family said.
In a statement, the family said: “After tirelessly searching throughout Los Angeles for 13 days, Hannah’s father, Ryan Kobayashi, tragically took his own life.
“This loss has compounded the family’s suffering immeasurably.”
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They asked for privacy as they grieved and requested the public “maintain focus on the search for her. Hannah IS still actively missing and is believed to be in imminent danger. It is crucial for everyone to remain vigilant in their efforts to locate Hannah.”
Ms Kobayashi is a budding photographer from Maui and had been heading to New York for a new job and to visit relatives.
The RAD Movement, a network aimed at helping missing and exploited people, said in an appeal that in footage, Ms Kobayashi “does not appear to be in good condition and she is not alone”.
Ms Pidgeon added that the search effort has been focused in the downtown area of LA.
Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK.
A motion has been filed to drop the charges against Donald Trump of plotting to overturn the 2020 US presidential election result.
Mr Trump was first indicted on four felonies in August 2023: Conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and an attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights.
The president-elect pleaded not guilty to all charges and the case was then put on hold for months as Mr Trump’s team argued he could not be prosecuted.
Special Counsel Jack Smith. Pic: Reuters
Donald Trump supporters storm the US Capitol
On Monday, prosecutors working with special counsel Jack Smith, who had led the investigation, asked a federal judge to dismiss the case over long-standing US justice department policy, dating back to the 1970s, that presidents cannot be prosecuted while in office.
It marks the end of the department’s landmark effort to hold Mr Trump accountable for the attack on the US Capitol on 6 January 2021 when thousands of Trump supporters assaulted police, broke through barricades, and swarmed the Capitol in a bid to prevent the US Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.
Mr Smith’s team had been assessing how to wind down both the election interference case and the separate classified documents case in the wake of Mr Trump’s election victory over vice president Kamala Harris earlier this month, effectively killing any chance of success for the case.
In court papers, prosecutors said “the [US] Constitution requires that this case be dismissed before the defendant is inaugurated”.
They said the ban [on prosecuting sitting presidents] “is categorical and does not turn on the gravity of the crimes charged, the strength of the government’s proof, or the merits of the prosecution, which the government stands fully behind”.
Mr Trump, who has said he would sack Mr Smith as soon as he takes office in January, and promised to pardon some convicted rioters, has long dismissed both the 2020 election interference case and the separate classified documents case as politically motivated.
Trump supporters try to break through a police barrier at the Capitol in Washington. Pic: AP
He was accused of illegally keeping classified papers after leaving office in 2021, some of which were allegedly found in his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida.
The election interference case stalled after the US Supreme Court ruled in July that former presidents have broad immunity from prosecution, which Mr Trump’s lawyers exploited to demand the charges against him be dismissed.
Mr Smith’s request to drop the case still needs to be approved by US District Judge Tanya Chutkan.
No date had been set for a trial.
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At least 1,500 cases have been brought against those accused of trying to overthrow the election result on 6 January 2021, resulting in more than 1,100 convictions, the Associated Press said.
More than 950 defendants have been sentenced and 600 of them jailed for terms ranging from a few days to 22 years.
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