It was “pitch black” and the car shook as rubble piled up on the vehicle, “beams, concrete, cars were exploding, I couldn’t breath there so much dust, I started choking. . .then it stopped. I realized it was okay and I came out from under the car.”The destruction surrounding Ceraulo was “like a nuclear holocaust, like a dream. . .there was paper-like snow, dust so thick you couldn’t see five-feet, but I saw some flashing lights,” of emergency aid vehicles.Residents started to appear, asking Ceraulo and other EMTs how they could help, bu7t “only one person walked through the cloud, a WTC maintenance worker who had two broken arms and shoulders. He was the only one,” although the EMTs and others stayed throughout the night waiting for more survivors. Sifting through mountains of debris, “there was nothing bigger than the palm of my hand.”The “enormous support of the public, from dishing out hot food to those other public safety agencies that showed up with their equipment to help, construction workers with their heavy machinery,” all responded unasked to the scene, said Ceraulo. “It was a tremendous effort by the entire country, that response is what held us together in our darkest hour,” he noted with a catch in his voice. “. . .everyone was truly a hero.”Life and death was separated by inches and “blind luck, it was blind luck that I wasn’t killed.”All public safety officers would respond the same, Ceraulo stressed. Being in public safety is a “job in here,” he said, lightly tapping his chest.The emotional aftermath has been tremendous for some, he noted. New York required that all police officers undergo therapy but the NYFD - which lost 343 firefighters and paramedics - offers counseling by request.“Some cope, some don’t and I don’t why,” said Ceraulo, who noted that his training included staying calm and coping with emergencies.Deborah Ceraulo said a goal of the tour is to “get the message out to the kids that these types of things are what happens when there is no tolerance.”It was a theme touched on by her husband during his remarks when he referred to a Muslim paramedic, a “wonderful, wonderful guy,” who also rushed to the scene of the attacks.The appearance of Ceraulo, the Bureau of Community Affairs Project Coordinator for the New York Fire/Emergency Medical Services Department, was part of the Cops ‘n’ Jocks effort to “bring history here, touch it one on one,” said SPFD Reserve Rich Randolph, who founded the program.
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Stephen B. Ceraulo speaks to Santa Paula High School students about what happened on September 11, 2001. Photo by Brian D. Wilson |
New York Fire Department paramedic describes 9/11 attack, aftermath
October 09, 2002
Santa Paula News
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula TimesSome might say EMT-D Stephen B. Ceraulo is a lucky guy, his brush with death in the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center Twin Towers a call closer than most, seeking refuge under a car as the first 110-story tower collapsed into rubble.Ceraulo described the terror of 9/11, the shock of the lack of survivors to treat with only a lone maintenance engineer stumbling out from the wreckage, to almost 500 Santa Paula High School students and later to a gathering at the Community Center.“You could hear a pin drop,” as Ceraulo spoke to the students, said SPHS Superintendent Bill Brand.At the Community Center, Ceraulo noted that the “people here in California have been absolutely wonderful,” as he and others have crisscrossed the state on a Cops ‘n’ Jocks - the national program founded in Santa Paula that matches police officers with students - sponsored tour.Ceraulo was on his way to a meeting near Ground Zero when the first hijacked jet struck one of the Twin Towers.“I was at the first bombing of the Trade Center in 1993, have worked riots, gang wars, crack gangs, but nothing, nothing, nothing prepared me for 9/11,” he noted.When Ceraulo saw the first tower burning, he assumed it was an accident, and he called and left a message for his wife, Deborah, also an EMT, to turn on the television to see what had happened. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw the second jet strike.“People were screaming, cars were crashing into each other. . .it was errie,” as the sound of the explosion took several seconds after impact to travel to where Ceraulo stood.“I thought we were under attack,” and as lower Manhattan was being evacuated, Ceraulo fought his way to head towards the destruction. He was momentarily delayed by a policeman - Ceraulo said the delay saved his life - and then hopped a ride with an off-duty fireman also headed to the scene.“There was no other traffic on the bridge and then we heard a clap like thunder and the tower came down. . .the driver stopped and said his whole company was in there.”When he reached the scene, Ceraulo said as headed to a triage area he saw the hole in the remaining tower, “people jumping out windows. . .the tower was leaning to the left and continued to lean. I heard a crack and the top collapsed, the building righted itself and then collapsed, I heard a giant roar and then there was a gigantic dust cloud, a pressure wave, a wall of debris,” that went through the 50-story WTC building number seven. “It acted like a chute. . .I watched as WTC seven disappeared. I started running, heard the roar, felt the heat and wind and dived under a car.”His first thought was “God, take me quick,” and then he thought about the phone message he left his wife, that “would be on my tombstone: Turn on the television. . .not I love you, I wished I’d said that.”
