The New York firefighter's account on Thursday sounded like his worst nightmare. "It was like snow flakes coming down, with no one around," 53-year-old Ernie Armstead said. "The ambulance blew up, then the fire truck blew up, six police cars blew up, one after the other. "I was in shock. I was in smoke and the debris."
http://www.abc.net.au/news/features/stories/s366501.htm
"The Scott cylinders and the oxygen cylinders were all letting go. They were blowing up left and right." FDNY Firefighter Todd Heaney (FDNY oral testimony transcripts)
PAPD Lt. Daniel Carbonaro
"We continued our efforts until the combination of dust, smoke, and secondary explosions along with reports of gas main leaks, bombs, small arms fire and buildings about to collapse forced us to again relocate further north on West Street." (PAPD transcripts 3, pg. 77)
"Then you could see little fires, like paper fires.
I remember just walking up that block. That first block, all the cars were on fire.They weren't totally engulfed in flames, but there was fire on them and their tires were exploding. walking up that block. Everything was quiet except for the explosions of tires and stuff like that." – Firefighter James Murphy, Engine 212 (FDNY oral testimony transcripts)
Teresa Veliz
Veliz went down a staircase with a coworker to the concourse level. In the mall, they got onto an up-escalator as the South Tower collapsed, causing a rush of wind which knocked them down. In the pitch black, Veliz and her coworker followed someone carrying a flashlight:
"The flashlight led us into Borders bookstore, up an escalator and out to Church Street. There were explosions going off everywhere. I was convinced that there were bombs planted all over the place and someone was sitting at a control panel pushing detonator buttons. I was afraid to go down Church Street toward Broadway, but I had to do it. I ended up on Vesey Street. There was another explosion. And another. I didn't know where to run."
From "Teresa Veliz: A Prayer to Die Quickly and Painlessly," in September 11: An Oral History by Dean E. Murphy (Doubleday, 2002), pp 9-15.