OK, today is Friday the Fourth of February, and the time is about five minutes after two. I'm being very meticulous. Um, my name is Lee Ielpi. I am a retired NYC firefighter, ah, twenty-six years on the job, retired in Ô96. Um, my son Jonathan was a firefighter at the time. He's my oldest son. Um, my son Brendan was ah, going off to, um, college, he's my youngest son and there's two daughters Anne Marie, is the oldest of the children, and Melissa is the youngest of the children. Um, my wife's name is Anne. We live in Great Neck. I was born and raised in Great Neck. Um, let's see. Ah, on September 11th, of course I didn't know that Jonathan was working, but, um, he called, um, right after the first plane struck the, ah, North Tower. Of course the fire department-all the special units in the fire department were notified immediately to respond. My son Jonathan was in ah Squad 288, which is a special unit in the fire department. There are seven squads in the fire department. Um, as far as the special units go, you start at the top at the rescue companies. Um, I spent nineteen years in Rescue Two. Underneath of the rescues, as far as, um, make it sound like its special but it is. The elite of the job would be the rescues the squads and then you have the line companies, the engine companies and the truck companies. Jonathan wanted to, of course, follow in Dad's footsteps and go to Rescue Two where I worked, which is a Brooklyn Rescue. Um, he was working that morning in Squad 288, which is a Queens Squad. He called me right after the first plane struck the North Tower to turn the TV on to, ah, you know, to just see what's going on, which we did and I still had him on the phone, and, ah, you know, he said a plane hit the tower. Of course we didn't know that there was a terrorist attack going on, we just thought somebody maybe ran, ah, astray, but it was unusual that it was such a beautiful clear day, you know. But it wouldn't be the first time that unusual things happen like that on a beautiful day. At home was, let's see, my wife, myself, Melissa-the youngest. I think that was it. Anne Marie was, maybe Anne Marie was home too, you know, it-it's-maybe Anne Marie was also home, yeah I think so. It was, it was, um, I say breakfast time, we never really had breakfast per say but it was coffee time, ah, you know, tea time in the morning, around the kitchen table. Jonathan, as far as Jonathan goes, Jonathan would try to call me on all major inc-incidents within the fire department that were-that was happening. The family grew up within the fire department-ah, you know, all the children, 26 years in the NYC fire department; I'm a volunteer in my hometown of Great Neck. 40 years there as a, as a volunteer fireman. So that's all anyone in my family knew was, was the fire service. In the volunteers I went up the ranks of, you know, Lieutenant, on up to be Chief of the Department. Um, so the kids rode around in the Chief's car for many, many, many years. So and they loved it, it was exciting, it was fun and plus the boys just had this desire that, ah, you know, I want to following Dad's footsteps. So this was nothing unusual. Jonathan was, Jonathan would always, I hate talking in the past tense. I really do. So when we looked at it, I said 'Wow,' and he explained it looked like a plane hit it, that's what we're getting now, and in the background you could hear the tone alert. The tone goes off, which means that there-there's a run coming in for the company. Um, he immediately said was he was at the house watch, which receives all these messages. He said, "Dad, it-it's for us, were going to the World Trade Center." I said, "Ok John, just be careful." He said, "Okay Dad." And that was the last time I spoke to John. Phone calls were already being made at home, you know, I told them you know give Brendan a call, see if he is working, and he wasn't. So, and he was on his way to the house, Brendan is the, are, ah-let's see, Brendan is now twenty-eight, so he was twenty-five-at the time. Brendan came out of high school, went to college, spent four years in college. Came out of college, with two degrees, and decided then he wanted to be a fireman. Um, mom said, "Egads" and I am saying "leave him alone, he still has the degrees, he'll always be beneficial." He was just on the job for four months when this happened so he was; I call a snot-nosed probie. But he was a snot-nose in the fire department at the time, in a good sense. So he came right away, he was right there. So Brendan and myself, immediately jumped in the car and we took off to the city. Ah, be-before I left the second plane hit the South Tower, so all of us knew, I mean, I knew immediately that this was a an act of terrorism, this wasn't, ah, the mistake that we thought it might have been. So, um... So Brendan and I hopped in the car. We took his car which was a Jeep CJ5-type. We took off. The drive through Great Neck to the city, we were going to Brendan's firehouse, which is located at the foot of the Manhattan Bridge, Brooklyn side. So it's right across from the World Trade Center, basically. On the way down we had a fire radio with us, a scanner that we were listening to ah, what was going on the radio. Ah, I had never heard anything quite like it and I had been through the riots we had here in the ghetto areas in the early 70s-70, 71, 72. Um, but the radio was just, you knew this was just, something that was going to be really ah- Anyhow on the way in, um, the drive into Brooklyn to drop Brendan off was something that could never be portrayed again. Helter skelter isn't even the word to use, I don't know what-how to express it. There was no such thing, and I mean this in a good sense, so you understand it. There was no such thing as law and order when it came to, driving into the city. Red lights meant nothing, you approached the red light, you were cautious but it was like you were driving an emergency vehicle. You got to the light, you looked both ways, you went through the light. And the funny thing was it wasn't just you going through the light it was, loads of cars going through the light, with that same expression on there face. It was mainly guys and they were all firemen and cops and, and, and-who else thought that they could help-going in. The entire fire department had a recall, which means that everyone was told to report to your firehouses immediately. The police department had the same thing go out, and it's just a chain, phone chains, you know, people calling people calling people, and notifications going out. On the way in, going down Grand Central Parkway, Jackie Robinson Parkway used to be the Inter-Borough Parkway. Speed limits, we were doing um, eighty, eighty-five miles an hour easily, and cars were blowing past us like we were standing still. I don't know and the Good Lord had, the Good Lord came into play immediately after this, you know. And the Good Lord couldn't stop what was happening it doesn't work that way. But I guess the Good Lord can maybe direct some things. I don't know how there weren't, major, major, major, multiple accidents in the city. When I tell you we were doing eighty, eighty-five, and they were blowing past us, blowing their horns at us to get out of the way, no matter what lane you were in. It was like crazy and, and I'm even saying it and stayed down around eighty. And this was the entire ride into the firehouse. On the way in listening, to the radio, you...you know, I didn't, and, and even to this day, I didn't want to believe it, but you didn't believe that towers came down, but you knew something happened you could start to hear the-the yelling on the radio. The closer you got to the city the more you could pick up some of the, other transmissions, and it depends on how high we were. But-ah, over the fire department frequency you could hear it out in Suffolk County in some spots, that's how, and when you key the radio to speak, and that's another subject how that works, a little technical. P.S., I can still remember the guy screaming that he was trapped in his car, he was pinned and he was begging for help, and I kind of like said, ah, well I don't know, something bad has happened here now, you know. I don't remember whether I blocked it out or not, hearing anybody say the towers came down, or they collapsed, ah, don't know for sure. At one point there was a very clear spot of the city, it's a beautiful spot on the Jackie Robinson, you're up a little high, no trees, beautiful view, to cross a cemetery as it turns out, and you can see the Lower Manhattan, especially, skyline. As I am approaching it traffic started slowing up a bit because there was, there were just, just gobs of cars, parked along the entrance and up on the grass and the bridge, the overpass, just-were just loads of people, looking at Manhattan you know. I'm trying to drive so I am going to be a little cautious going through there, you know, but I tried to take a quick peek and all you could see was this, horrendous cloud in the distance. I guess I realized that it wasn't good. P.S. got to the firehouse, Brendan's firehouse, dropped Brendan off, parked his car, dropped him off. Kind of like thinking to myself, ok how am I going to get to Manhattan, what am I going to do now-bah, bah, bah, bah bah, I didn't bring my gear with me, I just kind of like, just hopped in the car. I was more concerned about just getting into the city, you know, concerned about Jonathan.