Firefight: Inside the Battle to Save the Pentagon on 9/11 (Hardcover)

by Patrick Creed (Author), Rick Newman (Author)
Key Phrases: shoring crews, helipad lawn, command buggy, New York, Randy Gray, Chief Schwartz (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal
Adult/High School–A well-paced, well-written account of a successful battle. It was fought by numerous civilian firefighting companies from the Washington, DC, area, especially those from Arlington County, where the Pentagon sits. The response by firefighters from the Virginia and Maryland suburbs, the District, and also from nearby Reagan National Airport was admirably rapid and the dangers to them were immense; the relatively small loss of life in the Pentagon is a tribute to their courage and skills. Hundreds of workers–civilian and military–risked their lives and certainly harmed themselves by breathing toxic fumes laced with petroleum and building dust to save coworkers, and readers will learn of the many people deserving recognition. What many who are familiar with the 9/11 attacks do not know is that those gathered to save the Pentagon, normally occupied by 25,000 people, were warned that another commercial airliner was potentially inbound, perhaps to finish the job. This saga is much less well known than the story of the New York City Fire Department responding to the attacks on the World Trade Center. Teens will be enlightened and inspired by this valuable book.–Alan Gropman, National Defense University, Washington, DC
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From The Washington Post

Reviewed by John N. Maclean

It took only eight-tenths of a second for American Airlines Flight 77 to strike the outer wall of the Pentagon, penetrate the concentric E, D and C Rings, collapse upon itself like an accordion and ignite chaos. The jet spewed thousands of gallons of fuel through hallways, offices and meeting rooms inside the nation's premier defense installation -- into every place that airborne mist could go on the wings of an enormous shock wave. A series of explosions sent an ominous mushroom-shaped cloud into the air.

The aircraft had punched a hole 90 feet wide at the entry point, then compressed into a bullet-like shape and burrowed 310 feet, or about twice its length, into the building. Its speed decelerated from 530 miles an hour to zero in less than a second. The bodies of the five hijackers were found about 100 feet from the point of impact; most of the bodies of the 59 passengers and crew, who had been herded to the rear of the plane, carried farther into the building. The final death toll included 125 Pentagon employees.

Because the fire got under a thick slab of concrete covering the roof, flames burned for three more days. The repercussions of that day, though, will be felt for decades. In the same way that a previous generation remembers the Kennedy assassination, many Washingtonians will forever remember where they were standing, what they were doing and thinking, when they learned of the Pentagon attack and felt the shock of a terrible vulnerability.

The Pentagon attack understandably has received less attention than the destruction of the World Trade Center towers in Manhattan and United Airlines Flight 93 in a grassy field in Pennsylvania; the first was far more catastrophic, the second a more compact drama. After all, the Pentagon opened for business the next day, Sept. 12. For the onlooker, only one wedge of the Pentagon's five sections appeared to be involved, though about 40 percent of the building eventually received damage and smoke invaded every cranny.

Yet vital facilities were compromised. It took hours for a secret backup facility to be made operational to replace the destroyed National Military Command Center. Top secret documents were strewn everywhere, prompting fears that enemy agents would scoop them up. Flames came close to destroying equipment on the roof whose loss would have shut down the entire building.

The direst scenarios did not come to pass, however, thanks to hundreds of firefighters, medics, FBI agents and military and civilian personnel. Heroes came in all shapes and sizes, from a vintage fire truck small enough to squeeze into the Pentagon's central courtyard to generals willing to forget their stars. Most people run from fire. At the Pentagon, military and civilian personnel rushed into the building to save others and protect vital information. A four-star Army general with 20 soldiers at his back got into a wrestling match with a firefighter who had been ordered to keep people out of the building. The firefighter won, and the general apologized. Capt. Jennifer Glidewell, an Army nurse at a Pentagon clinic, went to the central courtyard as it began to fill with wounded and found herself, momentarily, the ranking medical officer. She took charge, but after a few minutes a three-star Air Force general approached. He was a doctor, he told the captain, and asked where she needed him.

There were screw-ups, of course. D.C. Fire Department officials sent too much equipment, established separate command facilities and then ducked out early. But after three grueling days, the firefighters had saved the Pentagon -- and done the job safely: Not one emergency worker was seriously injured.

It took five years for authors Patrick Creed, a volunteer firefighter and Army officer, and Rick Newman, a writer for U.S. News and World Report, to pull together this story. Combing public records and conducting 150 interviews, Creed and Newman have done a monumental reporting job. Firefight tells the tale moment by moment through the accounts of dozens of participants and eye-witnesses. The book needed an editor with a sharper blue pencil -- it's too long, and the writing can be monotonous. Not unlike the heroes whose stories they tell, however, Creed and Newman faced a daunting challenge, rose to the occasion and rescued a piece of history from the ashes.

Copyright 2008, The Washington Post. All Rights Reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 512 pages
• Publisher: Presidio Press; 1 edition (May 27, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0891419055
• ISBN-13: 978-0891419051
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.3 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #315,982 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars RICK "SHAQ" GOLDSTEIN SAYS: "THE INSTANT ITS NOSE STRUCK THE OUTER WALL OF THE PENTAGON, FLIGHT 77 CEASED TO BE AN AIRPLANE!", May 27, 2008

By	Rick Shaq Goldstein "Rick Shaq Goldstein" (Danville, Ca, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

"THE NOSE OF THE PLANE HIT THE FACADE JUST BELOW THE TOP OF THE FIRST STORY, ABOUT 14 FEET ABOVE THE GROUND, GOING 530 MILES PER HOUR. A DEAFENING BOOM SHOOK THE MORNING AS A VIOLENT CONCUSSION TORE THROUGH THE AIR, JARRING BYSTANDERS. THE COLLISION PRODUCED A FORCE ON THE PASSENGERS FAR GREATER THAN THAT FROM ANY HIGH-SPEED CAR CRASH. PEOPLE BECAME PROJECTILES. BONE SEPARATED FROM FLESH. BODY PARTS FLEW AS IF FIRED FROM A CANNON."

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September 11, 2001 the day America was violently and savagely attacked by terrorists on its own soil in the Continental United States. A preponderance of all the publicity that has followed the multiple attacks has been directed toward the World Trade Centers. After all, that was the first attack and had many more casualties, and the Pentagon which manages our worldwide military forces, has uncounted security issues, which by all common sense should not have as free access by the outside world. And that's what makes this book by author's Patrick Creed and Rick Newman even more remarkable in its detail and scope.

When the Pentagon's design was unveiled in 1941, "its size and secrecy had made it one of the most intriguing buildings in the world. The structure was notoriously huge - its SIX MILLION SQUARE FEET of office space was three times larger than the Empire State Building." After the crash of Flight 77, fire crews were alerted from all over the Washington area, and as they all headed to the Pentagon, many of the men and women involved weren't even aware of what had transpired at the World Trade Centers. From this point out is where this story will add another dimension to every American's memory of this historical day of terrorist evil. When you are done reading this testimony to the way America's citizens, including but not limited to Firemen, Military, FBI, FEMA, construction workers, crane operators, policemen, and everyday American citizens, responded to our countries darkest hour, you will forever be able to see a `GIANT-SILVER-SIDE" to this dark cloud of cowardice against our citizens. I purposely said "SILVER-SIDE" instead of "lining", because the way our beloved American's performed was too bright to be nothing but a lining.

As the Firemen arrived at the scene there were people running in and out of buildings, fire and smoke billowing to the sky, portions of the Pentagon were destroyed, multiple floors had pancaked down upon each other, and some floors were hanging by unknown forces. There were critically injured and burned people in need of immediate medical attention. Captain Jennifer Glidewell, an Army nurse along with an assistant tried to give medical care right in the main court yard. As things slowed down for a moment, a scene played out that made me proud to be an American, and I believe set an example for the type of spirit and teamwork that America needed to recover and fight back as a country. A man approached Captain Glidewell in a blue Air Force uniform. He was THREE-STAR-GENERAL P.K. Carlton, who was the Surgeon General of the Air Force, the service's top doctor who was at a meeting on the other side of the Pentagon when the building shook. He didn't know what had happened. General Carlton was on the way to the clinic to see if he could help. "On the way, he ran into two burn victims, their clothes and skin smoldering. Carlton was wearing a flame-retardant vest, and he hugged each of them to put out the remaining fire." "By the time Carlton found Glidewell, most of the initial urgent care patients had been evacuated." "An enlisted man came racing out of the building and said: "General, if you want to see where the dying is, come with me." The General said, "I'm going in!"

Craig Powell was a Navy Seal at the Pentagon in civilian clothes when the plane hit. He saw two women on the second floor trapped by fire. He had no way of reaching them to get them out. Craig gathered several people around and told them to form a human net. Five or six people gathered around and put out their arms. Powell told the first lady to jump and "the moment she jumped, however, the human net disintegrated. Some of the people jumped back; human instinct, Powell knew. Unless you were trained for it, it was extremely difficult to overcome bodily instincts and stand in the path of a heavy object descending upon you." "The woman ended up coming straight down at Powell, who caught her by the hips and brought her to the ground, roughly but safely. A second woman appeared in the window. "Come on!" Powell shouted, even though he was now a one-man net. As she climbed out, he could see that she was very large. "Oh man," he said, preparing himself. "This is gonna suck."

There are countless individual stories of heroism, bravery, street-sense-survival, and more than anything, the absolute refusal to give-up. The problems and humongous obstacles that are encountered, range from "BLAST-RESISTANCE-WINDOWS" that had been installed in most of the Pentagon's windows, and in many cases it's a shame they worked. Employees couldn't get out through them and Firemen couldn't get in. They also had the laws of Physics working against them. The fire was well over 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit... water turns to steam at 212 degrees Fahrenheit... at 1,000 degrees water can EVAPORATE IN MID-AIR! It was so hot that cement was melting from the ceilings.

Incredibly, right when the workers are finally making headway, they get ordered to evacuate the Pentagon because they are told a second high-jacked plane is within twenty minutes of Washington D.C. The tale is so gripping that the reader almost forgets that "we" (readers) historically know what happened to that plane, and yet, you're literally on the edge of your seat as shaken as the workers.

In addition to all the physical issues, there was also the problem of protecting documents that were "MORE" classified than top-secret! The military had over 300 classified safes that had either melted closed so the combinations wouldn't work, or they were (just like you see in the movies) safes that needed two people to open, and one of the people were dead or missing. And the deeper into the firefight and salvaging the Pentagon they got, the more pieces of human bodies they would find, often in heart-breaking-gut-wrenching condition. As I read this book, I was so engrossed in this unrelenting story, that when I had already read over one hundred pages, I couldn't believe that the story had only reached the first two hours after the crash. This narrative, will literally transport you from wherever you are reading it, into the inferno at the Pentagon. The best compliment I can give to the author's, is to relate a sports analogy: When you go to a ballgame, when it's over, if you don't even remember anything about the umpires or referees, they've done a great job, because the game isn't about them. This book is so well written, and so finely researched and documented, that you never even think about the writing style... because you are "THERE!"

THIS IS A LANDMARK EPIC BOOK! CONGRATULATIONS TO THE AUTHORS!

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Incredible tale of the firefighters, FEMA, and the FBI efforts at the Pentagon Sep 11 - 21, 2001, June 3, 2008

By	J. Rudy "Major, USAF" (Fairfax, VA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

"Shoes. Bits of clothing. Wallet-size photographs. A suitcase. They were routine objects, unremarkable in ordinary life, yet it was hard to look at them. He felt a confusing mixture of sadness and anger that had been simmering inside, rapidly coming to a boil. As he sat on the bucket, engrossed by the sight of the everyday belongings on the ground in front of him, Titus realized that his feet were still dry. He was grateful for the small comfort." Patrick Creed and Rick Newman describe a FEMA worker's observations of the FBI evidence recovery operations on September 12, 2001.

Patrick Creed's firefighting background and Rick Newman's writing talent combine to provide an incredibly detailed look at the efforts of the men and women who fought to save the Pentagon after Flight 77 crashed into the building.

The story begins from the perspective of the Arlington County Fire Department, the "first responders" for the Pentagon. Fire Chief Ed Plaugher, the initial incident commander, quickly finds himself coordinating efforts in four different sections of the Pentagon, the largest low-rise office building in the world. To add to the confusion, the FBI arrived to investigate the crime scene; FEMA arrives to aid in the recovery efforts; and the incredible outpouring of individuals and organizations who simply want to help. By 6 pm on September 11, almost nine hours after the attack, the command structure is announced and the first signs of synergy among the various agencies finally emerge.

The tales contained in this book range from the heart-wrenching to the downright humorous. Even with such a tragic event unfolding, it's hard not to laugh when you read of Nero the rescue dog who almost snaps at a wasp flying around Vice President Cheney's hand.

The book's 463 pages go very quickly, as the book is very well written, although readers with a weak stomach should be prepared for some gruesome descriptions in the book. This book is an outstanding tribute to the men and women in blue who led the rescue and recovery efforts for the Pentagon.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Riveting, June 22, 2008

By	Margaret Davis (Southern Oregon) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a powerful, minute-by-minute account of the attack on the Pentagon on 9/11 and of the struggle to save the survivors and fight the subsequent fire. The authors have gathered together accounts from many firefighters, rescuers, and pentagon staff and woven them into a riveting account that is both horrific and awe-inspiring. The book is well-written and the authors' clear descriptions brought the scene to life. For anyone who is interested in 9/11, firefighting, or surviving a disaster, this book is highly recommended.