08:46 a.m.

I was standing in the street for an odor of gas emergency. Suddenly I heard jet engines. Then I watched the first plane aim and crash into the World Trade Center. Immediately I knew this was a terrorist attack and thousands of people were in their greatest moment of need. I transmitted multiple alarms. As the first chief to arrive, I took command to manage the escalating crisis in the North Tower.

Filmmaker Jules Naudet captured the only pictures of the first plane crashing into the WTC and our operations inside the lobby of the North Tower.