Your Voice. Your Community. Your News.
Volume 4 Issue 7
September 2014
Serving the Inland Empire Communities
Steve Sullivan 9/11’s luckiest survivor: Fire chief breaks years of silence to tell his incredible story We stand as American people to say that “we have not and will never forget the thousands who lost their lives on that fateful day, those who were injured, and all the families of the victims who carry with them daily a sense of pain and suffering.” We would like to once again express our deepest, heartfelt sympathy to them. We are thankful for Chief Steve Sullivan having enough courage to share his story of survival. He should not be here now to explain what happened that day. Quite simply, he was the luckiest man alive. And now, ahead of the 12th anniversary of the terror attack, he breaks his years of silence to reveal for the first time what really happened. Dad-of-three Steve was traveling between fire stations in New York. He had been transferred from his usual Squad 41 to help another team out and had just set off when the attack began. The rest of his team were sent to the Twin Towers. Not a single man survived. When Steve arrived at Ground Zero an hour later, all those colleagues and friends had perished, except one – the fireman he had been meant to replace. Steve’s name was on the official list of dead and missing, and for hours his family had
no idea where he was. The firefighter, now 47, says: “I still can’t believe what happened that day. “I have never spoken about it publicly before. I fully understand how lucky I was. I am so grateful. I lost so many friends that day and spent a lot of time with their families in the following months. I didn’t feel comfortable talking about how lucky I was with so much sorrow around me. Steve, now Chief in Charge of the New York Probationary Firefighter School, shared that “many of those lost were like brothers to me.” Remembering the day, he says: “I was the extra man that morning and I received a call to go from my usual work at Squad 41 in the Bronx to Squad 288 over in Queens. “They had some men having medicals and needed cover so that was the reason I was switched and that decision obviously saved my life. I was driving and I had a music station on and it was interrupted to say a plane had gone
into one of the World Trade Center buildings and there was a fire. “They said that it was a private plane so I assumed it was something like a Lear jet or a Cessna. “From our quarters we had a clear view of the burning buildings. When I saw the South Tower come down it was by far the worst moment of my life. “I knew that not only had many civilians died, but many of my friends and colleagues. I rode into lower Manhattan with other members of Squad 288 who had come in and we were almost there when the North Tower came down. I prayed that everyone had been pulled from the building when the first tower came down, but I was sure that we had lost more guys.” See Steve • page 6
Hope For Discouraged Students By Professor Raymond Gerson September is here and we at Yes We Can Newspaper thought this article written by Professor Raymond Gerson could encourage many of you to consider going back to school. We want to encourage you to consider your future and the goals that you had set for yourself. Its never to late to go back to school. Education is so important and we believe if you make that first step you will and can complete your education. Hope you enjoy this article. Professor Raymond Gerson' article: Do you think that teachers or other students see you as dumb and a failure? What others say or think about you is not as important as how you feel about yourself. Don’t let others define or label you. Find your own limits and discover from experience what you are capable of accomplishing. Discover your own abilities. There are many different types of intelligence. Everyone has their own
special talents and types of intelligence. For example, some have a gift for music, teaching, counseling, writing, sports, comedy, etc. These require different types of intelligence. Also, your intelligence is not fixed at birth. You can continue to increase your intelligence throughout your life in spite of obstacles. Read the biographies of great men and women and you will see that many of them were once labeled by others as unintelligent or mediocre. Winston Churchill failed the sixth grade and he had teachers who thought that he was not smart. Helen Keller was born deaf and blind. She was unable to speak until she was taught to do so by Anne Sullivan. Most people had no faith in her ability to accomplish anything of importance. As an adult, Helen Keller gave inspirational talks to audiences all over the world. It is not the hand that we are dealt that See Student • page 6
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