A fast-paced, gripping, expertly-researched must-read!

books:

	• Firefight: Inside the Battle to Save the Pentagon on 9/11 Patrick Creed, Rick Newman Presidio Press, 2008 - 512 pages average customer review:based on 14 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A good read

This book is a good read but probably too much detail for most readers. It is a good book telling how ordinary people made extraordinary decisions to save people's lives that day. It also shows how many firefighters and others worked as quickly as possible to save people, and put out the fire that was raging in the Pentagon while overcoming the confusion that reigned in the first hours after the plane hit the building.

A fast-paced, gripping, expertly-researched must-read!

As a novice in the area of firefighting yet a subject matter expert on September 11, I picked up this book to learn more about this mostly overlooked piece of American history, and was delighted to find such a well-written, important and fascinating account of the 9/11 terrorist attack on the Pentagon. This book is accurate and insightful - and the research impeccable. It is fast-paced and highly readable, and a great addition to the information of the events of this tragic day in our nation's history. Readers experience the events as if they were there (and yes, it can get graphic, but not gratuitously so), and the authors did an expert job of weaving together the many intricacies and power struggles involved in the battle to fight this fire at our nation's most critical military facility. Military commanders working to protect their own and all of the classified information flying about while firefighters sweat and scramble to contain the monstrous inferno . . . reading this book is like experiencing it first-hand. This book is wonderful, and certain to quiet any naysayers that still refuse to accept that American 77 caused the horrific fire at the Pentagon. Well done!

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One of the year's best

When American Airlines Flight 77 hit the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, local firefighters were the first responders to the inferno. A huge hole marked the point of impact of the jetliner, the building was doused in jet fuel , flames roaring out the hole with the people inside in various stages of awareness of what had just occurred. Within moments ordinary men and women stepped into the breech and began to do whatever needed to be done to try and rescue the building's occupants and to give aid to the injured. People from all walks of life join to do whatever need to be done at the scene.

Fire crews from all over converged on the iconic building and began the work of trying to bring the fire under control. Military personal struggled to aid and rescue their comrades and to recover sensitive military files. Others commandeered materials and staff and set up triage and treatment for the wounded. Despite the possible loss of friends, coworkers and loved ones in the building or in the other terrorist attacks, these people kept working until they could no longer move. As the firefighters tackled the building, they also set in place a very unusual role reversal...the local firefighters were in command and the military took direction from them. Working together, the firefighters aided the military staff in recovery of sensitive files, discs and safes despite the sagging building. Pulled out by rumors of other jets attacks and pushed back by fire, the fire crews continued to battle, despite toxic fumes, falling buildings, personal loss and uncertainty , these crews return and continue the work. It would be easy to focus on the inevitable rivalry between military and civilian crews, between agencies on the scene. While the natural rivalries are mentioned, Patrick Creed and Rick Newman focus instead on the heroic contributions of the men and women on the scene. Step-by-step, minute-by-minute, day-by-day the fight to extinguish the fire and to rescue and recover are detailed in the days following the attack. Following several of the participants, an unforgettable portrait of courage and compassion emerges.

I couldn't put this book down. When I finished I was overwhelmed with memories of that terrible day and the following weeks. I felt as if I had a small understanding of what a firefighter does (my son is a firefighter) and the willingness both firefighters and members of the military have to do whatever is necessary to preserve and protect. This is one of the five best books I have read in the last year. Firefight is an honest and compassionate portrait of ordinary people rising to the horrific challenge of 9/11.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3

Amid all the stories of tragedy and heroism on September 11, there is one tale that has yet to be told?the gripping account of ordinary men and women braving the inferno at the Pentagon to rescue friends and co-workers, save the nation?s military headquarters, and defend their country.

Pentagon firefighters Alan Wallace and Mark Skipper had just learned the shocking news that planes had struck the World Trade Center when they saw something equally inconceivable: a twin-engine jetliner flying straight at them. It was American Airlines Flight 77, rushing toward its target. In his Pentagon office, Army major David King was planning a precautionary evacuation when the room suddenly erupted in flames. Arlington firefighters Derek Spector, Brian Roache, and Ron Christman, among the first responders at the scene, were stunned by the sight that met them: a huge flaming hole gouged into the Pentagon?s side, a lawn strewn with smoking debris, and thousands of people, some badly injured, stumbling away from what would become one of the most daunting fires in American history.

For more than twenty-four hours, Arlington firefighters and other crews faced some of the most dangerous and unusual circumstances imaginable. The size and structure of the Pentagon itself presented unique challenges, compelling firefighters to devise ingenious tactics and make bold decisions?until they finally extinguished the fire that threatened to cripple America?s military infrastructure just when it was needed most.

Granted unprecedented access to the major players in the valiant response efforts, Patrick Creed and Rick Newman take us step-by-step through the harrowing minutes, hours, and days following the crash of American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon?s western façade. Providing fascinating personal stories of the firefighters and rescuers, a broader view of how the U.S. national security command structure was held intact, and a sixteen-page insert of dramatic photographs, Firefight is a unique testament to the fortitude and resilience of America.

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