Michael
Warchola Ladder Co. 5 Looks For Five of Its Own September 19,
2001 Five members of Ladder Co. 5 were killed when terrorists
obliterated Tower One of the World Trade Center. Lt. Michael Warchola
and firefighters Andrew Brunn, Louis Arena, Thomas Hannafin and
John Santore are confirmed dead. Santore was known for playing
Santa every year at the Christmas party. Their company trudged
up a stairwell of the North Tower of the World Trade Center, and
apparently into the fireball. On the night of the attacks, surviving
members of the company dug with their hands through metal, plaster
and mounds of rubble, looking for their men near their smashed
ladder truck. They used hooks and shovels to clear debris. But
nothing worked like their hands, and they dug until they were
raw. "Everyone was hoping to find someone alive and pull him out,"
said Stephen Sullivan, a retired member of No. 5 on the scene.
"You hope. But you're afraid, too, of what you'll find." The men
of No. 5 and No. 24 were among the first to respond to Sept. 11's
suicidal plane attack. They pulled their trucks, both brand-new,
out on West Street, right up to the North Tower, and headed up
the "A" stairwell. "We made it up 37 floors carrying a lot of
heavy equipment," said Marcel Claes of Engine No. 24, "and we
got an urgent message to come right back down. I think the Ladder
5 guys may have proceeded up farther." - Jo Craven McGinty (Newsday)
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