Remembering 9/11: 72 Hours at Ground Zero

There's one image burned into Michael Sepe's memory that he won't ever forget.

Surrounded by a world of confusion, chaos and sadness hours after the Twin Towers fell, he says the image of the people waiting blocks from Ground Zero will be frozen in his mind forever. 

Hundreds of people stood outside a police checkpoint on Canal Street, holding signs of loved ones, begging responders to search for moms, dads, sons and daughters—almost all of whom would never be found.

"You see guys your age holding pictures of daughters your daughter's age, that was tough," said Sepe, 55. "I never saw such despair on people's faces as I saw that day."

Sepe, who lives in Harrison and owns a construction business, said he went to Ground Zero early in the morning on Sept. 12, 2001. Responders at the scene were calling for volunteers with construction experience to help them sort through the rubble. He made the trip to Manhattan with a few of his cousins.

He spent 72 hours at the scene, operating machinery and helping police and firefighters look for loved ones. Hours before his arrival, late in the evening of Sept. 11, responders had found a police officer and a woman in pockets of debris underground. He said at the time there was some optimism that more people could be brought out alive.

There were some rescues in other areas of Ground Zero on Sept. 12, but Sepe said no one was found in his area alive. When he arrived at the scene he realized almost immediately that rescues there weren't likely.

"You saw the antenna roughly 30 feet over your head, so reality will tell you that you weren't going to find nobody," Sepe said.

The antenna he mentioned had stood at the top of the North Tower—more than 1,300 feet from the ground. 

Outside of the well-publicised powder and debris that overtook lower Manhattan during the days after the attack, Sepe said he remembers being awed by how much of the towers were buried underground. He mentioned several times how shocking it was to see the North Tower's antenna so close to the street, which meant so much of the damage was underground.

"It was surreal," he said. "You're seeing the roof of the World Trade Center 30 feet above your head, and you're saying, "where could the rest of the building possible have gone?'"

Sepe operated a crane and other machinery during his time at Ground Zero. He says he remembers the gory details, the body parts and the fractured steel. He says everything was, "just crumbled to unbelievable compression."

But none of those sights affected him like the people still waiting on Canal Street.

"The rest you're looking at mangled steel, but nothing compared to the people," Sepe said. "Please find my daughter, please find my son, they said. It was really disheartening."

Sepe said he went down for the search and rescue part of the ground zero recovery effort. He said although it was one of the most difficult experiences of his life, it's a 72-hour window that he, like most Americans, will never forget.

By Sept. 14, 2001, the hopes of finding anyone alive in the rubble began to dwindle. Sepe said that the first two days were mostly local volunteers, but by this point volunteers began arriving from all over the country. He spent his last day there working with people who had traveled thousands of miles to help sort through the debris.

"It was great to be a part of that experience, but something not that pleasant," Sepa said. "But you were working with a great bunch of people."

When rain washed over the site that evening, Sepa and his cousins decided it was time to go home. He said firefighters and police officials were using sound detectors that could hear voices hundreds of feet away, and that no voices were in the rubble. No one down there was still alive.

"After that you realize you're not going to find nobody," Sepe said. "You realize there's not much more you can do."

Sepe went home to Harrison and returned to work a few days later. He didn't return to World Trade Center site for almost 10 years. He and his son visited the area just this week, a few days before the 10th anniversary of the attacks. His son was only 3 years old when the towers fell, since they were in the area anyway he decided it was time to go back.

"I remember the buildings the way they were," he said, adding that he and his son stood in the area where a Burger King was used as a station to clear hazardous materials from the eyes of first responders. "Seeing the difference between that day and now... It's interesting. It's just different."