Flashlight

Shortly before the 2001 attacks, Ladder Company 5 Firefighter Dan Potter had been assigned to a 90-day rotation at FDNY Ten House (Engine Company 10 and Ladder Company 10), on Liberty Street just south of the World Trade Center. A 19-year veteran of the department, Potter was off duty on September 11, studying for the lieutenant’s test at a training class on Staten Island. Another firefighter in the class told Potter that a plane had crashed into the Twin Towers. Fearing for the safety of his wife, Jean, who worked in the North Tower, Potter left for the city. By the time he reached the Ten House, both towers were on fire. He suited up and intended to join fellow firefighter, Peter Alexander Bielfeld, who had just begun walking toward the burning towers, Potter ran back into the firehouse, hoping to retrieve a tool he thought would be useful to him in rescuing trapped individuals. With this important piece of equipment in hand, he turned to catch up with Bielfeld just as the South Tower collapsed. Potter safely sheltered in the firehouse, but Bielfeld was killed.

Focused on finding his wife, Potter was trying to make his way to the North Tower command post when two New York City police officers ran by, yelling that the building was on the brink of collapse. Hearing a thunderous roar, Potter retreated into a neighboring building. He and another firefighter crouched down to shield themselves from the fiery debris of the collapsing North Tower. Potter’s hands shook so hard that he could not switch on his flashlight for several moments.

When he could turn on the light, he used its powerful beam to track his way through the dust. Fearing for his wife’s well-being, Potter sat on a bench to collect himself. As he rested, a photographer snapped his picture before Potter shooed him away. The photo would be widely published.

Returning home, Potter learned that Jean had survived. The couple reunited later that day at a firehouse in Chinatown, where she had found safety after descending 81 floors to escape the North Tower’s collapse. At the firehouse, she fielded incoming phone calls from realtives and friends of firefighters who were unaccounted for. When Potter donated the flashlight to the 9/11 Memorial Museum, he recalled that as a young firefighter he had been advised to buy his own flashlight as a backup to department-issued tools.

Jean Potter later chronicled their experience in By the Grace of God: A 9/11 Survivor’s Story of Love, Hope, and Healing.