NYTimes: Before the Towers Fell, Fire Dept. Fought Chaos:
Walter Kowalczyk, the senior Emergency Medical Service officer on duty that day, recalled driving up West Street and seeing body parts and debris. "My mouth went dry," he said. "I had the sensation that I had a job to do. I had to ensure the safety of the E.M.S. work force. But how do I do this if I can't talk?"
A chaplain, the Rev. John Delendick, recalled fleeing from the collapse, next to a police officer who asked the priest, midstride, to hear his confession. Invoking a little-used power, the priest said he believed an act of war had taken place and was declaring "general absolution" for sins that covered all believers in the area.
Some day they will say about me what they are now saying about Heinz Tschabitscher:
[His] enthusiasm for email takes to the limit what many Internet users take for granted -- electronic mail.