Virginia Fire + Rescue Conference 2016

Joe Torrillo
Lieutenant



Joe is a 25 year veteran of the New York City (NY) Fire Department and was promoted to lieutenant in 1996 after spending 15 years in Engine Company 10, across the street from the South Tower of the World Trade Center. While recuperating from a severe injury in 1996, he was assigned to light duty in the office of fire safety education. Eight months into this "light-duty" position, Joe was ultimately named the director of this public-based program and would later co-design a children's state-of-the-art fire safety learning center which opened in 2000. On the morning of 9/11, while on the way to a 9 a.m. press conference, Joe was minutes away from the World Trade Center when American Airlines Flight #11 struck the South Tower. Fearing for Engine Company and Ladder Companies 10, Joe diverted to the scene to render assistance. Three minutes after donning borrowed bunker gear, the second jet flew over Joe's head and slammed into the South Tower at 9:03 a.m. With a background in structural engineering, Joe made an immediate assessment that everyone above the fire was doomed to death, and that the buildings would collapse. While Joe was involved in the rescue operation, the South Tower fell and he was buried alive with a fractured skull, broken ribs, broken arm, crushed spine and heavy internal bleeding. Shortly after being found alive, he was removed and placed on the deck of a boat in the Hudson River. As emergency personnel were tending to his care, the North Tower fell and buried Joe again in the engine room of the boat. After 45 minutes, he was once again rescued from the debris, and taken across the Hudson River to the Jersey City Trauma Center. Because he was wearing a borrowed set of turnout gear, Joe was misidentified, and was declared missing. By the time the sun set on the evening of 9/11, Joe had miraculously survived the collapse of both towers, however, he sustained life-long injuries. On February 21, 2004, Joe was officially retired from the New York City Fir

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