Manhattan Medics

This firsthand account of September 11, written by a paramedic on the scene, chronicles the days before and after the collapse of the World Trade Center towers. Frank Rella describes the paramedic crew stationed at St. Vincent's Hospital in lower Manhattan, the eerie foreshadowing of the coming disaster, and his encounter with a Middle Eastern man who offered a tarot card reading. Rella details how he and his partner arrived at Ground Zero just as the second tower collapsed and rescued a firefighter who was having a heart attack. The vivid descriptions of turf battles between paramedics and fire department personnel at Ground Zero and elsewhere will arouse controversy and interest.

Francis J. Rella, NREMT-P, is a registered emergency medical technician-paramedic serving in the EMS 911 system of the City of New York. He is also an award-winning radio writer who produced and wrote the PBS Radio miniseries Great American Musicals, which later became a regular weekly program called Opening Nights. He lives in Old Bridge, New Jersey.