When Joe Torrillo went to work on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, he was the living embodiment of a rescue action hero.
A few minutes later, the New York City fire lieutenant was buried alive when the World Trade Center’s South Tower collapsed.
Torrillo was pulled from the rubble and taken to safety: a boat on the Hudson River that would be transporting him and other injured firefighters to a hospital.
Then the North Tower collapsed and debris rained down on the boat. For the second time in an hour, Torrillo was buried alive by the collapse of a Twin Tower.
It was three days later when his family knew Torrillo was alive.
Torrillo shared his tale of tragedy, recovery and — ultimately — patriotism Thursday as the keynote speaker for CDM Caregiving Services’ annual lunch. The Vancouver-based nonprofit provides care for the elderly and disabled.
As he described it, the career path that led Torrillo to 9/11 was a series of ironic twists and turns. In 1981, when he was sworn in, there were 357 New York firehouses he could have been assigned to. He was assigned to Engine Company 10, he said, “across the street from the South Tower.”
After he was injured in a fire, Torrillo was assigned to desk duty — even though “I didn’t know how to turn a computer on.”
He found a niche in the department’s fire education program, then became its director. So when Fisher-Price was considering a firefighter action hero, the toy company called him.
After six months, the company had a prototype — Billy Blazes. When everybody gathered to evaluate the figure, a Fisher-Price executive took a Sharpie and drew a mustache on Billy’s plastic face so the action figure would look like Torrillo, he said.
The introduction of Billy Blazes was scheduled at Torrillo’s fire education center on Sept. 11. After all, Torrillo explained, 911 is the emergency phone number.
Then the first plane hit the World Trade Center, and Torrillo made a quick decision: “The heck with Billy Blazes!”
He drove to his old firehouse, ran in, grabbed the gear of off-duty firefighter Tommy McNamara, and ran to help rescuers. When the South Tower fell, it collapsed a neighboring structure.
“I landed face-first and the Marriott Hotel fell on top of me,” he said.
Torrillo suffered a fractured skull, broken ribs, a broken arm and internal bleeding. Torrillo wasn’t alone in the debris.
“People were screaming,” he said. Torrillo then heard cries, then whimpers, then silence.
“They all died.”
Rescuers found Torrillo in the rubble and took him to the boat. Torrillo was in the boat’s engine room when the North Tower fell. He was rescued for the second time and taken to a Jersey City, N.J., hospital.
He initially was identified as Tommy McNamara because that was the name on the gear he’d borrowed. He was declared missing for three days.
After a long recovery, “I didn’t know where my life was going,” he said. Torrillo became a tour guide at Ground Zero, keeping alive the stories of 9/11 responders. He came up with the idea of a patriot flag that would fly at all three 9/11 sites on the 10th anniversary of the attacks.
The flag also has flown at symbols of patriotism that include Mount Rushmore, the home of Stars and Stripes designer Betsy Ross and Fort McHenry, the inspiration for the national anthem. Torrillo also has been a supporter of veterans and military personnel, as well as an advocate for community service.
Torrillo closed his speech with a reminder that not all heroes are represented by action figures: “Every one of you is a hero to somebody else.”
Thursday’s fundraising event at the Hilton Vancouver Washington had a different focus than the five previous Symbol of Freedom events, said Eric Erickson, executive director of CDM Caregiving Services.
Funds raised at the previous events supported CDM’s adult care programs. This year, “We need a center. Our lease is up and we can’t find a suitable place to lease,” Erickson said. “This money will go into our capital campaign.”
If things go according to plan, CDM will break ground on the new project in March and move into the center a year from now. The building will be called the John McKibbin Center, named for the community leader who died in a plane crash in March.
