"When they built the road

"When they built the road there in the first place, people were cringing, as we knew what was underneath," said James Spollen, a Fire Department spokesman.

For months firefighters had suspected that many of their colleagues might be buried in this southern section of the site.

The south tower was the first to fall, so there was little sense of the extreme danger among the firefighters in the lobby, on the sidewalk, on the adjacent street, as well as those trying to help rescue victims in the lower floors.