NYC: There was soot everywhere and sirens blaring: First hand experience from former Basin resident Robin Zorn.

I was working in the city and commuting from Goshen. I was on the bus with a lot of people married to cops and firemen so their phones were going crazy.

We saw the first building collapse. Then the driver turned around since the city was closed.

My daughter Blair’s class has to draw a picture that day about what was going on. She drew some tall buildings with fire all over. Then she wrote, “My mom is here.” I’ll never forget that drawing because she was so little! The kids didn’t know I never made it into the city and they were obviously scared. Rich (her then husband) was on call as a trauma surgeon and was told the state police was taking him to the city. A couple of hours later he was told they didn’t need any surgeons.

It was unbelievable to see that building go down. Everyone was yelling at the driver to turn around. Seriously. I was the only one who wanted to keep going. My mom was in Manhattan and I had the need to get in there.

NYC will always be my home and I needed to get there. I went back to work as soon as we were allowed in. I worked downtown and the place smelled so badly. Soot everywhere and the sirens were blaring so it was a bit disconcerting.