Arlington County firefighter Matthew Herrera was racing to a call for an apartment fire in Rosslyn, Virginia, 20 years ago, when his crew was rerouted. Their new destination: the Pentagon, for a report of a plane down in the area.
It was Sept. 11, 2001.
Herrera, now a captain, struggled to get through piles of debris inside the building, right where the plane had hit, to fight the blaze.
“The first time I fell, I got up real quick and I remember (thinking), ‘I hope I’m not stepping on somebody.’ And I knew that I probably was,” Herrera told WTOP. Jaleel Davis was off-duty that day, but reported to his firehouse after seeing news of the Pentagon plane crash on television. The fire trucks had departed, but he hitched a ride to the Pentagon in a volunteer firefighter’s pickup.
“I do remember the bodies,” Davis said. “I actually remember seeing feet still in shoes that weren’t attached to anything.”
D.C. Fire and EMS Chief John Donnelly was a sergeant with the department that day.