Deputy Fire Chief of the New York Fire Department and 9/11 survivor, Jay Jonas, told UT students on Tuesday night to make the most of their time at UT.

"Seize the day," Jonas said. "There are a lot of people who would have loved to be in your shoes. Sons who will grow up without fathers, fathers who will grow up without sons. Mothers, sisters and brothers. This was your generation's day of infamy."

In a speech to UT students as well as local firefighters, Jonas told his emotional story of surviving the collapse of the North Tower of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.

Jonas was one of only 20 firefighters who went into the North Tower and survived to tell the tale.

"We paid a horrible price for our actions that day," Jonas said. "But from the bravery of the people I saw and heard about, I also believe it was our finest hour."

That day 343 firefighters and paramedics, 23 NYPD officers, 37 port authority police officers and eight emergency medical technicians lost their lives at the World Trade Center. Jonas wants people to remember their bravery.

"I saw the true spirit of altruism that day, in the stairwell of North Tower," Jonas said. At the time he was captain of Ladder Company 6.

"People were scared but they were not panicking," Jonas said. "People were handing us water as we went up the stairs, shouting encouragements, telling us how happy they were to see us."

Of all the events of that day, the scariest moment for Jonas was when he heard, across his radio, that South Tower had collapsed.

Having reached the 73rd floor, he made the call to head back down.

"The guys in my team didn't understand why we were going back down," he said. "I assumed they knew what I knew."

He wants people to remember the stories of the heroes of that day.

"Captain Paddy Brown of Ladder Team 3, my friend, was ordered to leave the building," Jonas said. "He refused. I was shocked. He was on the 43rd floor trying to save badly burnt civilians. He and his ladder company never made it out."

Jonas had words of advice for the firefighters present to hear his story.

"There was no script for this; you're plugging your knowledge with procedures and working as you go," Jonas said. "Act on your instincts. They're usually pure."

On the seventh floor, Ladder Company 6 was slowed by deciding to save the life of port authority bookkeeper Josephine Harris. She had made it down 50 flights of stairs, but due to an injury from a car accident could go no further.

"I just couldn't leave her, so we took one of the guy's tools and he carried her down the stairs," Jonas said.

Around the fourth floor the building started to collapse.

"North Tower collapsed in a pancake formation, one floor after the other," Jonas said. "Every time we were bounced up from where we sat. The noise got louder as it got closer, the sound of bending steel crashing ever closer."

And then his team was engulfed in rubble and dust. They were trapped inside the tower, not knowing how much rubble was on top of them.

In the confusion of the day, despite Jonas telling the would-be rescue team of over a hundred people his company's location multiple times, the mountains of rubble made it almost impossible to pinpoint them.

"I felt humble," Jonas said. "I thought there must be someone worse off than me.

"Three and a half hours in the dark. Then a pencil thin beam of light breaks through. We thought we were covered with 100 feet of steel. I was proud of my team that day. The things they did, without being ordered, were truly heroic."
And that is when Ladder Company 6 managed to work its own way out and towards freedom.

Jonas finished his speech by reminding the gathered audience to never forget the men and women who lost their lives on that day, and especially the heroics of the people of the emergency service response teams.

"I saw fathers digging for sons, sons digging for fathers, brothers digging for brothers," he said. "So please, every Sept. 11, take a moment to quietly remember them."

He finished his speech by playing a short film displaying the faces of the men, his friends, who lost their lives helping to save the innocent victims of 9/11.

"I thought it was a very good event; he was a very compelling speaker," said event organizer Robert Lumley, an Issues Committee chairperson and senior in chemical engineering. "I was pleased with the turnout of about 300. He was one of the best speakers we've had. It was a very interesting story, very compelling. It was a personal story."

Stan Sharp, Fire Chief of the Knoxville Fire Department, was touched by the speech.

"Firefighting is a very family orientated environment, so when we heard about what was going on in New York on Sept. 11, 2001, it felt like we were losing family members," Sharp said. "Jay did such a great job on the day. It's amazing to hear his story."