James Vaz oral history interview conducted by Julie Broihier, December 1, 2010

About

On 9/11, James, known as "Jim," managed the fire alarm systems at Brookhaven National Labs and conducted fire rescue training. He also served as a volunteer fireman and EMT. As the second assistant chief at his firehouse, Jim was eager to help when he learned of the attacks on the World Trade Center, but faced delays in receiving orders to go to the site. On 9/12, realizing a team member, Link, was missing at Ground Zero, Jim and four other firemen decided to take matters into their own hands. They gathered some gear, piled into one car, and headed into the city. They didn't care what happened to them. They only knew they had to go and find their brother. With identification as firefighters, they faced no questioning while entering the city. Amid the surreal scene of gray dust, and unreadable street signs, they reached Engine 10 at the WTC's base, where they were directed to work on the pile. Hoping to find Link, they navigated through smoldering rubble, crawling and winding through openings, like gophers or moles. Despite exhaustive efforts, they found nothing and emerged wet, dirty, and tired. Working on the bucket brigade for a few days, Jim described the situation as organized chaos, involving the purely manual labor of digging through the debris. After a week, losing pay from their regular jobs, Jim and his co-workers reluctantly left without finding their friend. Jim was heartbroken. He had dreamed of opening a scuba/dive shop in the Cayman Islands with Link after…

Archive

Library of Congress, in Library of Congress

Licence or status

Rights statement at the Library of Congress, as the Library of Congress states it.

Credit

Library of Congress

Language

English

Country

United States

Who can watch

The archive gives no rating. Invisible Network shows it to Teens profiles and older, judged from its collection and subjects. How films are placed