On the morning of 9/11, firefighter Adrienne Walsh was off duty and out for a run in Brooklyn when she saw smoke and flames coming from the World Trade Center. She quickly got a ride into lower Manhattan and ran straight to her firehouse, Ladder 20. After grabbing her gear, she joined her captain and other firefighters at the scene.
As she looked through the truck for a breathing mask to use inside the North Tower, the building suddenly began to collapse. Walsh described it as feeling like a tornado rushing toward her before she was swallowed by a huge cloud of dust and debris. For the rest of that day, and in the months that followed, she worked at Ground Zero, searching for both survivors and victims.