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The Journal: Firefighter looks back at his work on 9/11

By Jeff McCoy

The Journal     

INWOOD, W.Va – Carroll Lowe started in the fire service at the Bedington Volunteer Fire Department. It was 1983 and he was a senior in high school. That humble start may seem a long way from being a firefighter at the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001.

On that date, 19 terrorists hijacked four passenger jets carrying civilians and carried out the largest attack on U.S. soil in our nation’s history. One jet was overtaken by the passengers and went into a field in Pennsylvania, two flew into the World Trade Center Towers in New York City and one crashed into the pentagon in our nation’s capital.

Carroll Lowe was there.

Article Photos

Submitted photo
Capt. Carroll Lowe is shown in his Arlington Fire Department uniform.

The Inwood resident, who went to work at the Arlington Fire Department just a few years earlier, was at the fire station and on duty on that day.

“We were actually in what we call PT – physical training – we do an hour a day and we heard one of our units go on the air and say they seen an airplane go down in the area of the pentagon. We figured we were going, we were second due on that building. We were the second apparatus to arrive,” Lowe said.

They were dispatched to what everyone thought was a tragic, single aircraft crash.

“So we were dispatched to the pentagon and I was on site at the pentagon five minutes after the airplane hit. I was very early into the building. It was very dark. I mean obviously it was full of smoke and when we got into those areas (there were) a lot of injured people, but not injured seriously. The biggest job we did was kind of funneling people towards the doors to get them out. The injuries went from, walking wounded type people to people that were deceased. There were some in between but there wasn’t a lot. It was just like a line drawn and if you were on this side of the line you were maybe mildly injured and if you were on this side you perished. Jet fuel was sprayed everywhere,” Lowe said.

At that point, they still thought they were dealing with a single plane crash but their superior officers outside were learning of the attacks in New York.

“What we didn’t understand is, we got inside the building and started to work and we got told that we needed to come out, they have ways to tell us, radios and air horns and things like that. So they called us all back out of the building which we didn’t understand,” Lowe said.

As most of America sat in front of their televisions in shock Lowe and his the firefighter crew made their way back out of the biggest fire they had ever been on and learned why they had been pulled out.

“Because there was an airplane in the area, before they got all the planes on the ground, and they thought maybe another plane could be coming into the building so they pulled all of us out and that’s when they got us together and said ‘listen this is what’s going on and we pulled you out because we were afraid another plane was coming in. Probably about five minutes after that they found out what the plane was and it was actually just a plane trying to get on the ground at National Airport, which isn’t far from the pentagon,” Lowe said.

Soon they were pulled out and they began to understand the gravity of what was going on.

“When we were pulled out we were standing near some military personnel and you could kind of hear them chattering so we were kind of getting the picture of what was going on. We just wanted to do our job. We didn’t like being outside we wanted to be back inside trying to help,” Lowe said

Eventually they were allowed to go back in.

“Where to start was a good question and we got off carrying fire hose and emergency medical type equipment. As you went you were hoping to find somebody that had survived. There was so much fire. Initially, we went in and looked for the injured. There were a few companies that found people in the rubble that were saved,” Lowe said.

“I guess the biggest problem we ran into is when the plane went through the building it destroyed all the plumbing in the building so the pre-piping and stuff that is in place where we can hook our hoses up to (was destroyed), we couldn’t just hook to the outside of the building and supply water. We had a four-inch supply line, we had to drag that through the building and set up and make areas where we could hook a fire hose to it to start fighting the fire,” Lowe said.

There were hydrants outside. Those hydrants supplied the needed water but it took some creative thinking to make it come together. “So we would hook an engine to the hydrant outside and then the supply line, that you would normally hook to the hydrant and layout going to a fire. We drug that inside and put adapters in line and reduced it down the size of a fire hose. There was a lot of grunt work just to drag that through the building because it is five rings, five stories high, so there was a lot of hose drug around so we could spray water,” Lowe said.

Only a small amount of the airliner survived the explosion and fire. “The aircraft was in so many pieces. When we got there pieces of the skin was laying around the outside of the building and it was obvious that it was an airplane because of the striping of the airplane, the red and white and blue stripes, because it was American Airlines. About three rings in we found some of the landing gear and I actually helped put some of that landing gear (fire) out,” Lowe said. The aircraft had also ripped a large opening into the building destroying a big section of the pentagon and anyone that was in the direct path of the plane.

While they fought inside, a command center was established outside and a coordinated effort was made to bring all the fire departments into a proficient machine. “Our battalion chiefs are pretty squared away fellas,” Lowe said.

“National Airport (fire dept) was there. They were one of the biggest helps because they brought in air crash equipment and they could drive right into the hole that was made by the airliner and open up their foam and water and they put out a large bulk of it there so we could start making entry,” Lowe said.

Lowe’s wife, Jennifer Lowe, back in West Virginia, was very worried. She knew her husband worked at the fire department that was now fighting the fire in Washington but she had not heard from him. Carroll Lowe was busy fighting the fires and was not able to make a call out.

“She’s a teacher at Harper’s Ferry Middle and she was not real happy because I didn’t call her until very late, eight or nine in the evening, to tell her I was okay. Everyone didn’t have a cell phone back then and I finally got a hold of somebody that had a cell phone with enough battery left for me to just call and say ‘tell everybody I am okay and I’ll be home when I get home. Yeah, she was worried. She was glad to hear from me even though I couldn’t talk very long. It definitely put her mind at ease,” Lowe said.

It was a long, hard day for the firefighters that stood the front lines against terrorism on that September day. Fighting a fire is dangerous and very hot. In addition, the firefighter has to wear protective clothing which adds heat to their body. Most fires are manageable in a very short time. Not so on that day.

“At about 2 a.m. they took us off duty because we work a twenty-four-hour shift and they said ‘that’s it, you guys are done for the day’ and they sent us home or if they could find you a bed in one of the firehouses, which was tough. I came home and most of us went back the next day and we were given other assignments,” Lowe said.

Lowe drove home to Inwood but was back that very next day even though it was his scheduled day off. “It was hot inside still and if you moved things areas may catch on fire and you would knock it back down. It was no more a large fire,” Lowe said.

Our country lost many firefighters on that fateful day. Luckily Lowe’s crew survived although one of the men later attempted suicide and left the department on medical leave. “There were guys that were hospitalized. A lot of us had smoke inhalation,” Lowe said. That was the beginning of a whole new way of life for all Americans. The ‘Norman Rockwell’ days were gone. U.S. citizens would learn to live in a different world, a place with more security steps and procedures.

“Maybe that’s one of the things I came out of the pentagon with is I don’t look at things quite the same way. If you pull up on a car and something doesn’t seem right, you know the smoke color isn’t right or it doesn’t belong where it is, think about it. You might not want to go charging up on that one. We have bulletproof vest on the apparatus in case we have an active shooter situation,” Lowe said.

“I think during 9/11 we had less trouble than the regular citizens because everybody wanted to help and we were actually getting to help so I think that was a relief for us,” Lowe said.

“Shortly after 9/11, I flew back to Texas with my nephew who had flown up here with my dad. My nephew was seven or eight and we didn’t really want him flying alone. When I flew home you could smell jet fuel real plainly when we were boarding the plane and it definitely made me think about it. It does make me understand why the TSA agents really work you over and as far as I’m concerned they can just keep working me over. It makes us all safer,” Lowe said.

Life is a risk and there is no guarantee that anyone will live through the day but for a firefighter that risk can be much higher. Spouses know that and have to deal with the worry every day their love one walks back into the station, including his wife Jennifer. “She takes it pretty well but I think in the back of her mind she knows it’s a dangerous job but at the same time if you think about it, all the shootings we have in schools now and she’s a school teacher and my son is in school,” Lowe said.

“I’ve never considered leaving the job. I’ve known since the day I started that I would retire there,” Lowe said. It was a horrific event but he, and the other firefighters showed up again to wait for the next call.

For Lowe, there was no other way. Even now, looking back on all that he has been through, the training, the risk, the long hours from home, was it worth it? “I’d do it again, yep, absolutely!” Lowe said.

So a man that participated in a historical event, that defended us on our weakest moment is now a captain still standing his watch, protecting us still. How can we ever say thank you for that type of dedication and service? For Lowe doing what he does makes perfect sense.

“It’s been a great career,” Lowe said.

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