Security at the World Trade Center complex is suddenly increased shortly before 9/11. Measures, which are introduced around late August 2001, include the use of “sniffer dogs and systematic checks on trucks bringing in deliveries,” according to the London Independent. [Independent, 9/17/2001] Security at the checkpoint leading to the garage below the complex, through which “the deliveries and everything” have to pass, is “markedly increased about two weeks before” 9/11, firefighter Timothy Brown, a supervisor at New York City’s Office of Emergency Management, will later recall. There are “a lot more Port Authority police officers” at the checkpoint, and there are “dogs running around and checking all the trucks,” he will say. [Project Rebirth, 6/30/2002 
] Additionally, in the two weeks prior to 9/11, security personnel at the WTC are required to work extra-long shifts, according to Daria Coard, a guard in the North Tower. [Newsday, 9/12/2001] And Ben Fountain, who works for Fireman’s Fund insurance company on the 47th floor of the South Tower, will say that in the “few weeks” before 9/11, he and his colleagues are evacuated from the building “a number of times, which is unusual.” “I think they had an inkling something was going on,” he will comment. [People, 9/24/2001] The increase in security is “unusual,” Brown will similarly remark. “We had wondered if something was up,” he will say. [Project Rebirth, 6/30/2002 ] However, security at the WTC is apparently lowered back to its usual level just before 9/11. The bomb-sniffing dogs are “abruptly removed” on September 6 and September 11 will in fact be “the first day there was not the extra security” at the complex, according to Coard. The reason for the increased security at the WTC is unclear. Coard will say that security personnel have to work longer shifts due to “numerous phone threats.” [Newsday, 9/12/2001] But when Brown and his colleagues ask people “in the intelligence area” if something is going on, they are told, “No.” [Project Rebirth, 6/30/2002 ] “No explanation has been given” for the increased security measures, The Independent will state. [Independent, 9/17/2001]
8:46 a.m. September 11, 2001: Power Briefly Goes Off in WTC 7 When the North Tower Is Hit
The electrical power in World Trade Center Building 7, a 47-story office building located north of the Twin Towers, goes off around the time Flight 11 crashes into the North Tower but it comes on again after a few seconds. [National Institute of Standards and Technology, 9/2005, pp. 109]
Lights Go Out When Flight 11 Crashes – Firefighter Timothy Brown, a supervisor at New York City’s Office of Emergency Management (OEM), which has offices in WTC 7, notices when the power goes off and immediately realizes something serious must have occurred. He is in the cafeteria on the third floor of WTC 7 eating his breakfast and does not feel any vibration or hear any explosion when Flight 11 hits the North Tower (see 8:46 a.m. September 11, 2001). However, he notices the lights in the cafeteria suddenly going out. After about three to five seconds, the power kicks back in and the lights come back on.
People by the Windows Report What Has Happened – It is “very unusual for lights to go out,” Brown will later comment. [City of New York, 1/15/2002; Project Rebirth, 6/30/2002 ; Firehouse, 1/31/2003] Because of his experience in “emergency stuff,” he knows immediately that “something big had just happened.” He is initially unaware of what it is but soon learns what has occurred. [Radio on the Real, 7/9/2013] The people in the cafeteria sitting by the windows facing the North Tower suddenly get up and start running, and when Brown asks them what is wrong, he is told a plane just crashed into the tower. [City of New York, 1/15/2002; Firehouse, 1/31/2003]
Elevator Stops When the Crash Occurs – Calvin Drayton, a deputy director with the OEM, also notices the loss of power. While he is going down in an elevator in WTC 7, he hears a noise that he thinks is a “transformer explosion.” The explosion “rocked the building and temporarily stopped the elevator,” he will recall. The elevator then continues down to the first floor and after Drayton gets off it he runs into a colleague who tells him there has been an explosion in the North Tower. [Greenville Tribune-Times, 9/25/2001]
Substation under WTC 7 Provides Power to the Complex – The reason the crash high up in the North Tower causes power to go off in WTC 7, which is located about 370 feet from the tower, is unclear. WTC 7 was built over an electrical substation owned by the utility company Con Edison and this substation now supplies power to the entire WTC complex. [National Institute of Standards and Technology, 11/2008, pp. 633] Before Flight 11 hit the North Tower, “all indications were that the power system was operating normally,” a report by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) will state. [National Institute of Standards and Technology, 11/2008, pp. 643]
Workers See No Damage in the Substation – Con Edison employees are at the substation around the time of the crash. These include two mechanics who are there to perform scheduled work and are at the site when the crash occurs or arrive shortly afterward. The Con Edison employees will be at the substation until around 10:20 a.m., when it is evacuated. They will notice “[n]o fire or significant physical damage” at the substation that could have caused the power to go out, according to NIST. [National Institute of Standards and Technology, 11/2008, pp. 357, 640]
Power Loss Is Reportedly due to ‘Collateral Damage’ Caused by the Crash – According to Con Edison, the loss of power occurs because two “open/auto” feeders go off. [9/11 Commission, 2/26/2004 ] (Feeders are sets of conductors that distribute power from a substation. [National Institute of Standards and Technology, 11/2008, pp. 637] ) According to NIST, “two of the circuits [i.e. the feeders] tripped automatically… as a result of collateral damage caused by the aircraft impact into [the North Tower].” [National Institute of Standards and Technology, 11/2008, pp. 643] The power comes back on quickly because “it was rerouted automatically by computers,” according to Brown. [Firehouse, 1/31/2003] “The backup system kicked in, another feeder kicked in,” he will explain. [Radio on the Real, 7/9/2013] The power in WTC 7 will go off again at around 9:03 a.m., when Flight 175 crashes into the South Tower (see 9:03 a.m. September 11, 2001). [9/11 Commission, 2/26/2004 ; National Institute of Standards and Technology, 11/2008, pp. 643]
Shortly After 8:46 a.m. September 11, 2001: Office of Emergency Management Activates Its Operations Center in WTC 7
New York City’s Office of Emergency Management (OEM) activates its Emergency Operations Center (EOC) on the 23rd floor of World Trade Center Building 7. The OEM is responsible for managing the city’s response to major incidents, including terrorist attacks. [9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 283-284, 293] Its personnel arrived at WTC 7, where it has offices, early this morning to prepare for Tripod, a major biological terrorism training exercise scheduled for September 12 (see September 12, 2001). [Jenkins and Edwards-Winslow, 9/2003, pp. 15 ]
Staffer Is Told to Open the Operations Center – OEM Commissioner John Odermatt and Richard Bylicki, a police sergeant assigned to the OEM, heard the explosion when Flight 11 crashed into the WTC, at 8:46 a.m. (see 8:46 a.m. September 11, 2001). As they look out of the window at the burning North Tower, Odermatt debriefs Bylicki and instructs him to open the EOC for a fully staffed operation. Bylicki therefore sets about activating the operations center. [Bylicki, 6/19/2003]
Staffers Call Agencies and Tell Them to Send Their Representatives – EOC personnel start contacting agencies, including the New York Fire and Police Departments and the Department of Health, and instruct them to send their designated representatives to the center. They also call the State Emergency Management Office (SEMO) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which they ask to send at least five federal urban search and rescue teams. [9/11 Commission, 5/18/2004 ; 9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 293] Meanwhile, Bylicki helps the OEM’s Watch Command handle an “enormous influx” of phone calls, many of which are from senior city officials. [Bylicki, 6/19/2003]
Activation Proceeds without Any Problems – EOC personnel initially struggle to make sense of what has happened at the Twin Towers. [Wachtendorf, 2004, pp. 77] However, the activation apparently proceeds without any problems. Firefighter Timothy Brown, a supervisor at the OEM, is instructed by Calvin Drayton, a deputy director with the OEM, to go up to the 23rd floor of WTC 7 and make sure that personnel are getting the EOC up and running, and the Watch Command is being properly supervised. He goes up to the 23rd floor and first checks the Watch Command. He sees that its supervisor, Mike Lee, has things under control. Then, in the EOC, he sees Michael Berkowitz, a supervisor with the OEM, powering up all the computers and television screens necessary to handle the emergency, and beginning to notify the dozens of agencies that need to send representatives to the center. Berkowitz tells Brown he has the manpower he needs to get the center up and running. “I was very comfortable that OEM was beginning to do what we do in a major emergency,” Brown will later recall. Activating the EOC is something OEM personnel have “drilled for and drilled for and drilled for… and so we were very good at it,” he will comment. [City of New York, 1/15/2002; Project Rebirth, 6/30/2002 ; Firehouse, 1/31/2003]
Center Is Designed for Managing a Crisis – The EOC, which opened in 1999 (see June 8, 1999), is a state-of-the-art facility designed to operate as a stand-alone center from which the city government can operate during a crisis. [City of New York, 2/18/2001] It is one of the most sophisticated facilities of its type in the world. It includes a communications suite, a conference room, a press briefing room, and a large number of staff offices, and has numerous computer-equipped workstations. [Disasters, 3/2003 ] It has enough seating for 68 agencies to operate during an emergency. [City of New York, 2/18/2001] However, it will be evacuated at 9:30 a.m. due to reports of further unaccounted-for planes, according to the 9/11 Commission Report (see (9:30 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 305] Other accounts will indicate that it may be evacuated at an earlier time, possibly even before the second crash at the WTC occurs (see (Soon After 8:46 a.m.-9:35 a.m.) September 11, 2001 and (Shortly Before 9:03 a.m.) September 11, 2001).
Shortly After 9:03 a.m. September 11, 2001: Office of Emergency Management Requests Air Cover over New York
Personnel with New York City’s Office of Emergency Management (OEM) request “air security” over the city following the second crash at the World Trade Center. Staffers in the OEM’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC) in WTC Building 7 contact the FAA and request air protection over New York “immediately” after Flight 175 crashed into the South Tower, at 9:03 a.m. (see 9:03 a.m. September 11, 2001), according to a report by the Mineta Transportation Institute. The FAA assures them that federal support is on the way but it also instructs them to use New York Police Department and Port Authority Police Department air assets to clear the airspace around the WTC. Additionally, it mentions that the control tower at New York’s JFK International Airport is reporting that an unaccounted-for plane is heading for the city. [Jenkins and Edwards-Winslow, 9/2003, pp. 16 ]
Firefighter Thought the First Crash Might Be an Attack – OEM staffers apparently contact the FAA on their own initiative. However, personnel in the EOC are also contacted by Richard Sheirer, the director of the OEM, after the second crash at the WTC and he tells them to request air protection over the city. [9/11 Commission, 4/7/2004] Sheirer is at the Fire Department’s command post in the lobby of the North Tower (see (Soon After 8:46 a.m.-9:35 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [New York Magazine, 10/15/2001; 9/11 Commission, 5/18/2004 ] He possibly calls the EOC to request air cover on the suggestion of firefighter Timothy Brown, a supervisor at the OEM who is with him at the command post. Brown started discussing the need to have fighter jets over New York before the second hijacked plane hit the WTC. “One of the first things I brought up with my bosses in the Fire Department was that we needed to get air cover from the military just in case this was a terrorist attack,” he will later recall. [Firehouse, 1/31/2003] “We weren’t sure [if] this was a terrorist attack, but we knew there was a good possibility that it was,” he will comment. [City of New York, 1/15/2002]
OEM Director Calls His Deputy to Request Air Support – After Sheirer and the other officials with him are notified about Flight 175 crashing into the South Tower, they realize this is definitely a terrorist attack. Sheirer then calls Richard Rotanz, the deputy director of the OEM, about getting air protection over New York. [9/11 Commission, 4/7/2004] Rotanz initially went to the North Tower following the first crash at the WTC, but he is now back at the EOC. [Urban Hazards Forum, 1/2002] Sheirer instructs him to call the State Emergency Management Office in Albany, New York, and get it to arrange for the Air National Guard to provide cover for the city. He also instructs Rotanz to contact the Pentagon and tell it to arrange “air support.” Rotanz says there are other unaccounted-for planes, besides the two that crashed into the WTC, which may be heading for New York and Sheirer passes this information on to the officials with him in the lobby of the North Tower (see (9:30 a.m.) September 11, 2001). It is unclear exactly when Sheirer calls Rotanz. Sheirer will tell the 9/11 Commission that he contacts the EOC “[a]lmost instantly” after Flight 175 crashed into the South Tower “to confirm that air support was on its way to New York.”
OEM Director Asks for Helicopters to Protect the City – Following his call with Rotanz, Sheirer gives the instruction for the Police Department’s aviation unit to prevent any other planes from hitting a target in New York. “But looking back, how could a helicopter stop a commercial jet going over 400 miles per hour?” he will comment. [9/11 Commission, 4/7/2004; 9/11 Commission, 5/18/2004 ] Fighters will arrive over Manhattan at 9:25 a.m., according to the 9/11 Commission Report (see 9:25 a.m. September 11, 2001). [9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 24] However, numerous witnesses on the ground there will recall only noticing fighters overhead after 10:00 a.m. (see (9:45 a.m.-10:45 a.m.) September 11, 2001). Brown will later on try, unsuccessfully, to call the White House to make sure that air cover is being provided for New York (see (Shortly After 9:37 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [City of New York, 1/15/2002; Project Rebirth, 6/30/2002 ]
Shortly After 9:37 a.m. September 11, 2001: Firefighter Tries Unsuccessfully to Call the White House to Request Fighters over New York
Firefighter Timothy Brown, a supervisor at New York City’s Office of Emergency Management (OEM), tries calling the White House and other agencies in Washington, DC, about getting fighter jets to protect New York, but is unable to reach them. [Project Rebirth, 6/30/2002 ; TEDx Talks, 10/7/2015] Brown headed to the Fire Department’s command post in the lobby of the North Tower after the first hijacked plane crashed into the World Trade Center, at 8:46 a.m. (see 8:46 a.m. September 11, 2001). After arriving there, he discussed the need to have fighters over New York with senior officials. [City of New York, 1/15/2002; Firehouse, 1/31/2003]
Firefighter Heard about an Additional Suspicious Aircraft – After the second hijacked plane crashed into the WTC, at 9:03 a.m. (see 9:03 a.m. September 11, 2001), personnel in the OEM’s Emergency Operations Center contacted the FAA and requested “air security” over New York (see (Shortly After 9:03 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [Jenkins and Edwards-Winslow, 9/2003, pp. 16 ] Brown went to the lobby of the South Tower to help open a command post. [Project Rebirth, 6/30/2002 ; TEDx Talks, 10/7/2015] While there, he will later recall, he heard over his radio that another suspicious aircraft was heading toward New York and that “we should be prepared to get hit again” (see (9:30 a.m.) September 11, 2001).
Firefighter Asks to Be Connected to the White House – At some point, he decides to try and call Washington, to make sure that New York will be getting air cover. [Firehouse, 1/31/2003] He goes to the phones in the southeast corner of the South Tower’s lobby and tries to find one that works. Eventually he finds one that has a dial tone. [City of New York, 1/15/2002; Project Rebirth, 6/30/2002 ] He dials zero and then talks to the operator. [TEDx Talks, 10/7/2015] He tells her New York is under terrorist attack and he needs to talk to the White House to make sure the city has air cover.
Operator Cannot Reach Agencies in Washington – The operator tries hard to reach the White House. “She tried many different ways to get me through, many different offices in the White House,” Brown will recall. However, she is unable to get through, since the phones in Washington are overwhelmed. “Apparently [operators] had been getting a volume of phone calls similar to mine, of people trying to get through to federal agencies, trying to get help,” Brown will comment. [Project Rebirth, 6/30/2002 ] Brown then learns from the operator about the attack on the Pentagon, which occurred at 9:37 a.m. (see 9:37 a.m. September 11, 2001). After failing to reach the White House, he says to her, “Well then get me the Pentagon” and she replies that the Pentagon has been attacked. “That’s the first time we knew it, knew that it was also under attack,” he will recall. [TEDx Talks, 10/7/2015] He also asks the operator to try and connect him to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which has its headquarters in Washington, but she is unable to reach it.
Firefighter Talks to the State Emergency Management Office – Finally, she is able to connect him to the New York State Emergency Management Office (SEMO) in Albany. [Project Rebirth, 6/30/2002 ] He asks the person there for assistance and is told the office already knows about the problem and is in the process of getting help from the military. [Firehouse, 1/31/2003] They say fighters will be coming to protect New York as fast as they possibly can. [TEDx Talks, 10/7/2015] Brown feels “pretty comfortable” with this response, he will say. [Firehouse, 1/31/2003] After the call ends, he returns to the command post. [Project Rebirth, 6/30/2002 ] Fighters arrived over Manhattan at 9:25 a.m., according to the 9/11 Commission Report (see 9:25 a.m. September 11, 2001). [9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 24] However, numerous witnesses on the ground there will recall only noticing fighters overhead after 10:00 a.m. (see (9:45 a.m.-10:45 a.m.) September 11, 2001).
Shortly After 9:37 a.m. September 11, 2001: Firefighter Is Told that a Suspicious Plane Approaching New York Has Crashed
Firefighter Timothy Brown, a supervisor at New York City’s Office of Emergency Management, is told that a suspicious plane that was reportedly flying toward New York has crashed. [Firehouse, 1/31/2003] After the second hijacked plane crashed into the World Trade Center, at 9:03 a.m. (see 9:03 a.m. September 11, 2001), Brown went to the lobby of the South Tower to help open a command post. [Project Rebirth, 6/30/2002 ; TEDx Talks, 10/7/2015] While there, he heard over his radio that another suspicious aircraft, in addition to the planes that hit the Twin Towers, was heading toward New York (see (9:30 a.m.) September 11, 2001). Since then, he has talked to the New York State Emergency Management Office about getting fighter jets to protect New York (see (Shortly After 9:37 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [Firehouse, 1/31/2003] He then told people at the command post they should “be prepared to be hit again.” [Project Rebirth, 6/30/2002 ] However, he now hears over his radio that “the third plane was no longer inbound, that it had crashed.” This news “gave us a sigh of relief,” he will later comment. [Firehouse, 1/31/2003] The identity of this third suspicious plane is unclear. Brown will say it turned out to be “the one that crashed in Pennsylvania,” meaning Flight 93. [Project Rebirth, 6/30/2002 ] However, this is apparently impossible, since Brown will describe hearing it has crashed before 9:59 a.m., when the South Tower collapses (see 9:59 a.m. September 11, 2001), but Flight 93 will reportedly crash later on, at 10:03 a.m. (see (10:03 a.m.-10:10 a.m.) September 11, 2001 and (10:06 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [Firehouse, 1/31/2003; 9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 30]
