AS the Twin Towers fell around him and whipped up winds of 160mph, firefighter Tim Brown clung to a pillar and “made a deal with God”.
He vowed that if he lived through the deadliest terror attack in history, he would dedicate his life to sharing the heroism he saw that day.
Firefighters were on the frontline of the 9/11 terror attacks 25 years ago and paid a heavy price Credit: Getty
Tim Brown has written a book with the mission of sharing the heroism he witnessed on 9/11 Credit: Supplied
Now, 25 years on from his miraculous survival and living with 9/11– induced prostate cancer, he has made good on his promise.
Tim, 64, said: “Until my last breath I will do everything I can to make sure the world never forgets.
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“We have at least one full generation now of people who were not alive and don’t remember 9/11.
“The narrative has to come from us, the people who were witnesses, otherwise the truth will get lost in history. I’m determined that won’t happen.”
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At 8.46am on September 11, 2001 Tim was eating breakfast in 7 World Trade Center, a 47-storey office block next to the Twin Towers, when al-Qaeda terrorists crashed American Airlines Flight 11 into the North Tower.
As office workers streamed out on to the street, Tim raced towards danger and quickly began helping to evacuate the shocked masses.
As he did so, he bumped into two of his closest firefighter friends, Chris Blackwell and Captain Terry Hatton.
Terry pulled him into a tight embrace, telling him: “I love you, brother. I may never see you again.” Sadly, he was right.
Firefighter Tim says he is determined to ensure the world never forgets about the attacks Credit: AP:Associated Press
When two passenger planes hit the Twin Towers in 2001 the world as we knew it changed forever Credit: Getty
Tim said: “Terry and Chris were just two of the fallen heroes that day.
Terry took his men and they went up the stairs just like all of the firefighters and police officers.
“Chris went up alone. Every one of them said, ‘Send me’. They all knew they weren’t coming back.
“It was my job to stay in the lobby in the command post, to co-ordinate the enormous response.”
Then at 9.03am, United Airlines Flight 175 struck the South Tower.
Tim hurried into the building’s lobby and helped hundreds to flee.
He recalled: “There were injured people immediately in the lobbies of both towers. The scene was as horrific in the South Tower.
“Jet fuel had poured down the elevator shafts, creating a fireball.
Brave firefighters rushed up the stairs in the burning towers to try and save lives Credit: EPA
Tim says he saw the ‘goodness of humanity’ in the wake of the evil terror attacks Credit: Getty
“It was a scene of utter horror as that fireball burned a lot of people very quickly. There were bodies everywhere.
“While the worst of humanity led to this attack, I noticed that for every person who needed help, four or five people helped them.
“In them I saw the goodness of humanity — it was already a fight back of good against the evil that had struck.
“One elevator had free-fallen 70 floors, as when Flight 175 crashed, it snapped the cable.
“The emergency brakes had kicked in and stopped it from hitting the concrete. But now they were trapped, getting burned in front of me.
“Out of nowhere appears Firefighter Michael Lynch, from Ladder Four, who managed to save three women.
“I told his widow Denise that he was an angel that appeared out of nowhere to save their lives.
“He was killed when the South Tower collapsed. He ran out of time saving them.”
Tim says he was in the ‘eye of the storm’ when the South Tower collapsed Credit: EPA
He is still haunted by the loss of his firefighter colleagues and the civilians they tried to save Credit: Getty
The collapse, 56 minutes after impact, sent thousands of tonnes of debris and hurricane-force winds surging through the streets.
As it collapsed, Tim ran to the lobby of the neighbouring Marriott hotel, and recalled: “I was getting pummelled by debris.
“The wind was so strong it blew the helmet off my head. I crawled, trying to find a vertical column as I knew it was my best shot at living.
“You can’t breathe or see due to the dust. You are at God’s mercy.”
Finally he saw a column, and he said: “I held on to it in 160mph winds which were created when the South Tower collapsed on to the hotel, and then the hotel collapsed around me.
In a building collapse, all the air on all floors of the hotel creates a hurricane of wind. I was in the eye of the storm.
“I made a deal with God during those 20 seconds — ‘Please let me tell my family that I love them one more time, and then I will come to your side whenever you ask me to’.
“That’s why 25 years later, I speak out as much and as often as I can about all the innocent people — the heroes of the day, the firemen and the cops who lost their lives.”
A total of 343 members of the New York City Fire Department died in the 9/11 attacks Credit: Getty
‘MY BID TO TEACH KIDS ABOUT ATTACKS’
AMONG the 67 Brits who died in the 9/11 attacks was Michael Egan, 51, who was an executive at insurance giant Aon on the 103rd floor of the World Trade Center’s South Tower.
His sister Christine, 55, who had grown up with Michael in Hull, was visiting his office that day, and she also died.
Michael’s son Jonathan, 43, who lives in Manhattan, was then an 18-year-old student.
He said: “My father was able to call my mum and tell her they were stuck on the 103rd floor and trying to get to the roof.”
Jonathan, pictured with his dad and Christine, later heard his father helped staff escape, returning twice.
He added: “Reading that made me proud.”
Today he is an ambassador for UK charity since911.com, which aims to get the terror attack on the school curriculum.
He is also a volunteer CEO of The Queen Elizabeth II 9/11 Garden in downtown Manhattan, which he will attend for a memorial on Friday.
At 10.28am, the North Tower fell, with a total death toll of more than 1,400.
In all, 2,977 people died, including 343 of Tim’s New York City Fire Department colleagues.
He is still haunted by their loss and says he thinks of them “from the time I wake up to the time I pass out”.
On Friday’s anniversary, Tim will take his place at the September 11 National Memorial, on the site of the World Trade Center, to honour them.
He said: “I will stand shoulder to shoulder with some American heroes from the intelligence and military community who worked in silence over the past 25 years to serve justice for the murder of my friends and colleagues and the innocent civilians.
“It was an intentional murder of the innocent.”
Since the attacks, more than 2,000 deaths have also been attributed to 9/11 illnesses, caused by toxic smoke and dust exposure that day.
Tim was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2023, and said: “We found it early as I’ve been watching very closely for it.
“Mine is what they call a slow spreader. I know a close friend who died very quickly from the same thing.
“So I am blessed — and until my last breath I’ll work to make sure people don’t forget.
“I am focused on my friends and their families who lost their lives — and my life’s work until the day I die will be ensuring that the world remembers the truth.”
Tim’s book, The Greatest Love: Lessons For Living With Extraordinary Courage – Even After The Worst Day Of Your Life (Penguin, £27.99) is out now.
