Transcript
INTERVIEW WITH FRANCIS CALTON, ABS, 3-21-04, Paramus, NJ Also in office on 91st on 1 WTC (see Int Claire Mclntyre); PC's office space towards of interior wall (eastern wall of ABS space), center of floor; Felt and heard impact of plane all at once, shocked out of his seat, smoke and dust in the area; Jumped up and ran towards coffee area, near exit; everyone started coming together there, found out right away it was a plane, (probably from Claire); Went back to get briefcase w/ cell phone and returned to exit area where everyone was gathering; counted everyone and knew right away hey were going to leave; Heard the fire alarm kick in right away; no announcements at any time; smoke on the floor, thinks there were flames on the south wall of their space; computer went right off; probably only emergency lights on the floor; but still bright enough to see (from outside); Office not to damaged except for northeast corner of office; In 1993, FC was on the 106th floor of south tower; he and other ABS colleagues decided to go up to roof because so close; no one told them what to do; a lot of other people went up; to get away from smoke; only smoke, but it was spreading; they stayed there for about 3 hours until smoke cleared and firemen came up to the top floor; after that told in fire drills with PA that they did the wrong thing, told never to go up; told to go down to at least 5 firs below fire; The stairway to the south was no good; Someone said there was a stairwell they couldn't get to at all (presumably in northeastern most part of floor); So they left via the remaining one, probably stairway C; Had organized and decided to leave within about 3 mins; began descent within five; The stairway was initially pretty bad; debris all over, sheetrock laying across stairs; 1 person (George Sleigh) slipped down a flight of stairs on the sheetrock; FC helped him move it out of the way so everyone else could come down; water flowing down; FC did not look up and determine that the stairway was blocked above; it was very dark; Bad conditions lasted for about for about 5 or 6 floors, until they got to fire door in the 80's (this may be transfer hall on the 82nd floor); go through but stay in same staircase; Believe they had not met up with others until that point; there was no one ahead of them because they were at the lead checking doors for heat; After this point, normal conditions in stairway; started seeing other people; this was about 8:55 AM; people generally knew what happened, had either seen the plane hit, or seen jumpers etc.
Evacuation was orderly; improvements since 1993; after the initial floors, the lights worked; it was clear and bright; made it much easier (than '93); In the low 80 's, ABS group started to lose each other, very crowded; Around the 77th 78th floor, some people couldn't get through but FC was able to keep to going down by the same stairway; separated from other ABD people at this point; In the 50's or 60's, they were occasionally asked to move aside for people being carried down or needing assistance getting down; no bad injuries, maybe some cuts or people just needing help descending; people were being assisted by co-workers, not emergency personnel; In the 50's there was a PA worker (dark blue windbreaker type jacket, not blazer) standing by a door with a 2-way radio; he was a security guard; he informed them at that point that building two had been hit (FC did not hear the plane hitting 2); the radio seemed to be working (at least he had heard this info); FC does not recall him having trouble with radio or trying to transmit messages; he was generally just listening to the radio; he stayed, stationed, to guide people down; In the 30's, started encountering FF's climbing up; every once in a while there would be a group of 3-5; maybe encountered about 30 in all on trip down; they were basically just climbing (not giving directions etc); Around 30 or 34, where there was a cafeteria, some people branched off to try to get a drink; At one point, in the mid-20's, a FF was having heart trouble or fatigue and went into floor to get a drink, in mid-20's; FC does not recall FF's going onto floors for specific calls from civilians; does not remember them trying to get/send radio messages; just climbing; Mostly just going up, not onto floors; FC tried his own cell phone the whole way down and never got a signal; a lot of people were trying; a couple got through and got cut off; FC had not tried to make any calls from the office before he left; Everyone was calm; letting the FF's up; The stairway came out at plaza level; there were FF's and PD all over the place saying go down the escalator, don't look etc; Standing in water, all windows and the revolving doors broken out; Directed through concourse, Sprinklers going off in there; Emergency workers stationed in concourse, making sure everyone went out; Seemed to be more FF's than civilians in concourse; FC was walking pretty quickly was basically walking by himself, people a little in front of and behind him; Directed to exit, near Borders, on Church St [see Int Claire Mclntyre]; Got to Church Street at about 9:50, (checked how long evacuation took, a little over an hour), told not to look up, keep moving; Saw ambulances on street, police cars, a lot of emergency workers; does not remember seeing anyone doing triage;
Told to get across Church St. and keep going; Walked across Fulton, maybe a block and a half away, looking back to see if he could find co-workers, when heard rumble; turned back, saw cloud of debris, did not know what it was, thought it was another explosion; turned and ran; Some people ducked into buildings, but FC thought he could outrun it; about a block, he got engulfed, kept moving but slowly, didn't know what was happening, and couldn't see; encountered one police man; Eventually got to clearer place, where other people said that the building had collapsed, still didn't know/believe it was the whole building, thought maybe just a part of it; Ended up by the east river; finally got through on cell phone at 10:20; Then walking north with everyone else;