Running for the Hills: A Survivor’s Escape of 1 World Trade Center

By Alyssa Manfredi

When the body perceives itself as being under attack, the nervous system operates a fight or flight response. There is no way to prepare for a threat, one can only rely on instincts. Sometimes these instincts will save a life, like they did for Vinnie Hill on September 11, 2001.

Hill was a steamfitter from New Milford, New Jersey. He had worked on and off at the World Trade Center for ten years. In 1993, he had been only a block away when 2 World Trade Center was initially bombed. In fact, he was supposed to be there that day, but stayed late to finish repairing the pipes the night before.

“All of the buildings, you could feel that shake,” he said about that day.

The night of September the 10th, Hill had run 12 miles to train for the New York City Marathon that November. He came into work, exhausted, at 7 AM the next day.

“Man, I just wanna get outta here,” said Hill. Little did he know, it would be one of the longest days of his life.

Vinnie was working on the 34th floor of the North Tower, the first one to be hit. At 8:45, Vinnie climbed down from his ladder and asked his co-workers who was going to get coffee on their break. At that moment, an explosion caused the building to move back and forth. Hill said the floor felt like it was being lifted up a few inches. Vinnie looked across the floor and saw debris falling from outside.

“Someone yelled, ‘head for the stairs’ and I just ran like hell,” said the steamfitter.

Vinnie ran down almost 34 flights of stairs, jumping a few flights at a time to get through. The odor of jet fuel was so strong he had to cover his face.

Though Vinnie personally does not believe in the conspiracy that a bomb went off on the ground floor, he said he felt the explosion from above and from below.

“It was probably just jet fuel,” he said.

His anxiety eased after someone said that the explosion was a plane. Vinnie thought that a plane surely could not cause such extensive damage. Almost at the bottom, him and countless others scrambled down the escalators.

Hill said he heard another explosion and glass walls blew out across the lobby. He said that there were security waving which way to go, and it was amazing to him that people were still doing their job.

“The security guard said, ‘Put your head down and just run. Don’t look back.’” said Hill, and he certainly did.

Hill had been training to run a marathon, never expecting that he would instead be running for his life. He ran to Battery Park, where he finally turned around and saw both buildings burning. It was at that moment that he realized how drastic the situation was. “It’s just getting worse, they’re not gonna be able to put this thing out,” he said.

Vinnie Hill met up with a few friends at the Brooklyn Bridge. They travelled through the city looking for ways to leave for almost seven hours. Fighter jets above the city scared pedestrians who were also trying to get out. Hill did not get home until 9 PM, despite living only 15 minutes from the George Washington Bridge.

17 years after this event, the memories still haunt survivors like Vinnie Hill. He had friends on the 98th floor of the South Building who were killed. Electricians, engineers, and friends working in Port Authority were killed as well. As a way to cope, Hill watched and read anything he could find on the attack.

“I’ve never been the same,” Hill said. When he hears thunder or loud bangs he becomes tense, as if he is reliving the moment when it all started.

It is moments like the one Vinnie Hill had on September 11 where every second counts. The tragedy of that day brought out the strength, endurance, and humanity of many. Hill had to rely on his instincts for every one of his decisions that day, and it is because of this that he is alive today.