Ladder 12 & the Marriott Hotel

The Marriott Hotel was a 22-story building with 825 rooms located at the SW corner of the WTC site, just beneath and west of Tower Two. Its structure saved the lives of many firefighters – and took the lives of many others. When Ladder 12 arrived, they were assigned to clear everyone from the 16th floor and above. Again, no elevators. When they were on the 18th floor, the South Tower came down, splitting the Marriott in half but miraculously leaving a sliver of the upper floors standing at the south end where they were. Descending to the 4th floor, Ladder 12 found the stairway blocked by debris. Thinking they would need to evacuate down the rubble pile outside, Lt. Petti and Firefighter Angel Juarbe ran back up to the 17th floor to retrieve a roof rope. After a few more minutes searching, the others found a 3-foot opening they could slide down and they radioed the Lieutenant above. Then the North Tower came down taking that sliver of the Marriott with it.