Immediately after two hijacked jets struck the twin towers of the World Trade Center on the morning of September 11, 2001, Dennis Smith, a retired firefighter who had served eighteen years with the New York City Fire Department, reported to Manhattan's Ladder Co. 16 to volunteer in the rescue effort. Among those missing were 343 firefighters, many of whom were his friends and longtime colleagues. & Smith uses his unique background as both respected writer and experienced firefighter to tell the story of the disaster and its aftermath as only an insider could do. This account opens with astonishing first-person testimonies from dozens of the rescuers who were present as the towers were attacked, evacuated and then fell. We hear harrowing stories of death and heroism, and miraculous stories of survival. We share the grief of the families of firefighters awaiting word of their loved ones' fate. & Report From Ground Zero is the most detailed and immediate record we will have of this unforgettable event that has permanently altered the character of America.