Filmmakers were at Ground Zero on 9/11
A still image from footage recorded by French filmmakers Jules and Gedeon Gaudet on September 11, 2001. Credit: Jules and Gedeon Gaudet
French-born filmmakers Jules and Gedeon Naudet and the firefighters from Engine 7 Ladder 1 they were with on Sept. 11, 2001, consider themselves to have been among the lucky ones.
Not only did Jules happen to capture on film the stark, iconic image of American Airlines Flight 11 as it screamed into the north tower, but he and all of the firefighters from the firehouse amazingly survived.
Lighting the way with the lamp on his camera, Jules Naudet helped the men from Engine 7 and other survivors get out of the lobby of the north tower, which was shrouded in darkness and debris when the south tower collapsed.
"The sound of death was chasing me," Jules Naudet, 38, said Wednesday in an interview.
"The Miracle House" was the moniker given to the Duane Street firehouse after everyone survived, including probationary firefighter Tony Benatatos, whom the filmmakers were following that day. Benatatos was in the firehouse with Gedeon Naudet when the planes struck the towers. Both made their way to the scene only to see the collapsing buildings.
The events of that day were the basis for the Naudet brothers' widely heralded documentary "9/11," which aired on CBS in 2002.
This Sunday, the brothers and retired FDNY firefighter James Nolan have again teamed up for an epilogue for CBS, "9/11 Ten Years Later," to show that time has not been good for the firefighters.
Two of the survivors -- Randy Wiebacke, 56, and John O'Neil, 59 -- died earlier this year of illnesses believed by friends and family to have been caused by exposure to toxins from Ground Zero.
While the new film includes much footage from the 2002 documentary, including the crash of the hijacked plane, it also documents the deaths and funerals of Wiebacke, of upstate New York, and O'Neil, who witnessed the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center and retired to South Carolina.
Nolan, who retired in 2007 and lives in California, said he and the Naudets followed firefighters for 10 years to record the mounting physical and psychological issues they faced.
"I don't think the American public really realizes it," said Nolan, 46, of the heavy toll the attack took on firefighters.
Jules Naudet said the attack refocused his life and priorities.
"It made me realize more than ever the frailties of life -- we should never take for granted every moment that we have."
The night of Sept. 11, Jules Naudet proposed to his girlfriend Jacqueline, and the couple married a few months later at the Duane Street firehouse.
