10 Years, Two Beams, One Survivor's Story: Fire Districts Remember 9/11

Tom Jones knew something was wrong when he saw the sheets of white typing paper fluttering through the air.

He was too high up — an errant gust of wind couldn’t have delivered that much paper from ground level to the 61st floor windows of the World Trade Center.

Then he saw the smoke. And then he decided to leave.

Jones, a Darien resident since 1987, was in New York City for a business meeting on Sept. 11, 2001. He was in the south tower of the World Trade Center by chance, having set foot in it for the first time only the day before.

The chance visit turned into a miracle of survival as Jones descended the 61 flights of stairs to safely exit the tower just minutes before it collapsed.

Jones shared his story Sunday at separate ceremonies marking the 10th anniversary of 9/11 at the and .

“With all those other people fleeing the building, it was the New York firefighters who were entering the building,”

There’s something different in the DNA of people who become firefighters and police officers.

First responders have made a choice that seems antithetical to most of us. They deal with disaster as a living. Any day could be their own 9/11.

“Every day, you never know what’s going to happen,” said Jim Hobbs, a firefighter/driver operator at Darien-Woodridge Fire Protection District. In his 36th year with the district, he’s the longest serving firefighter at Darien-Woodridge.

But even for those eternally braced to encounter the worst, 9/11 was different.

“It’s still basically a shock it even happened,” he said. “I’ve seen a lot in my career but nothing ever like that.”

Just a little more than a month ago, Darien-Woodridge received a from one of the Twin Towers, which it dedicated as part of a memorial Sunday.

In the grass before the memorial, the district placed 343 American flags, one for each firefighter who perished after entering the World Trade Center on Sept. 11.

Jones, who in 2001 had just taken a job with Morgan Stanley, trusted his gut when he saw the smoke wafting through the air outside the south tower’s windows. It wasn’t even thick, he said, but it was black. He knew something was wrong.

“A sixth sense told me you just want to be leaving,” he said. “You can always go back.”

He plodded down the stairwell with a man he refers to as his “90s friend,” who worked on the 92nd floor. A voice over the PA system told everyone to get off on the 44th floor, that there was a cafeteria there, that they would be safe.

Jones saw the face of a Port Authority security guard as he exited the stairwell on 44.

“He was there manning his post, doing his job,” he said. “But he was so afraid.”

That’s what first responders do: They carry on despite the fear.

Jones was six blocks from the World Trade Center when the first tower collapsed. He’s had the same thought running through his mind that day and every day after.

“As I was in the stairwell with all those other people fleeing the building, it was the New York firefighters who were entering the building,” he said.

“I was proud of how people helped each other.”

Fear is a tricky thing. Peoples’ reactions to it are unpredictable even in the most ordinary circumstances.

There was no precedent for the terror of Sept. 11. But the people who shared the stairwell with Jones that day channeled their panic into action, even as the tower shook from the impact of the second plane.

“I made a promise to myself I would inch my way along the railing as far as I possibly could,” Jones said.

As he made his way down the stairs, determined to survive, he helped push aside discarded coffee cups and briefcases — the accessories people brought when they thought they might later in the morning return to their offices.

In some of the many miracles of kindness that day, he witnessed the young helping the old and the weak helping the strong. The crowd inched its way down the stairs, calling out every five floors along the way.

"I was proud of how people helped each other," he said.

In June, the Tri-State Fire Protection District from the World Trade Center wreckage between New York City and Darien.

The district unveiled its memorial featuring the beam Sunday as a symbol of the resilience and spirit Americans demonstrated on Sept. 11, 2001.

“This piece once stood as a proud part of America’s well-known symbols of our economy and our strength,” Tri-State Deputy Fire Chief Paul Ross said. “This piece now stands in a different structure representing the same strength and perseverance that the United States of America showed through 9/11.”

When Jones reached the south tower’s lobby on Sept. 11, he heaved into the open space with the crowd. Police officers turned them away from the doors because debris continued to crash from above.

As instructed, he made his way down the unmoving escalator and into the World Trade Center concourse. Before he left the building, however, there was something he had to do.

Jones rifled through his pockets for a calling card. The first pay phone he tried didn’t work. The second did.

He called his wife, helping her survive the day in her own way by telling her that he was alive.

Though it’s difficult for him to tell his story, Jones said he feels it’s important to share his memories of Sept. 11: the selflessness, the courage, the resilience. 

“In recent years, I’ve done my best not to be too aware of Sept. 11 because it does bother me,” he said. “I thought on the 10th anniversary, this was important. I don’t want anyone ever to forget it.”