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CLOVIS, Calif. (KGPE) - Thursday marks 24 years since the Sept. 11 panic attacks that killed astir 3,000 people.
Over the years, countless stories of loss, survival, resilience, and anticipation person been heard. But fewer person heard the communicative of Erik Ronningen, who is believed to beryllium the past idiosyncratic to flight the South Tower alive, seconds earlier it collapsed.
Ronningen was connected the 71st level of the North Tower the greeting of Sept. 11, 2001. It was expected to beryllium a peculiar time arsenic helium was awaiting a promotion.
"I'd been a advisor for 5 years, and this greeting astatine 9 a.m. I was gathering with the enforcement director, who is the equivalent of a president of a corporation, and the manager of security, to go an worker with each the benefits that entails, and that was today!" helium said. "It was a bully time for me, and the clip is 8:46, and the operation conscionable exploded supra my head."
Ronningen was astir 20 floors beneath the interaction zone, wherever American Airlines formation 11 crashed into the North Tower.
"My contiguous thought was that an airliner had somehow, inexplicably, flown into the apical of the tower," helium said.
When helium was asked if helium thought that, Ronningen confirmed that it was. He said that helium conscionable finished a cupful of java erstwhile helium heard yelling.
"I thought that, I did, and from each astir the floor, which was astir 1 ace of floors, determination was yelling for everybody to evacuate the towers. Now I had conscionable finished a 20-ounce cupful of coffee," Ronningen said. "I knew it was going to beryllium a agelong day, truthful I took attraction of business, came backmost to my desk, and determination was lone 1 idiosyncratic left, a consultant, Whitney, and Whitney suggested: Let's bash a locomotion astir earlier we spell down the stairs."
Before leaving, they made definite everyone connected their level was safe, past joined a assemblage making a slow, hour-long descent down 71 flights of stairs.
They had struggled done fumes from pitchy substance and stepped speech for firefighters who were making their mode up.
Once they were outside, Ronningen was headed to the South Tower, which was struck conscionable 16 minutes later.
He was trying to assistance a person astatine the information bid center, but debris, flooded floors, and harm made it impossible.
9/11 subsister Erik Ronningen, adjacent to the memorial successful Clovis CA"As I'm walking done that lobby, I could perceive a low, throated, groaning, grinding, moaning dependable determination wrong the bowels of the tower. I was excessively exhausted to see what it was," helium said. "I near the South Tower, walked to the mall, we up the escalator, which wasn't moving of course, walked up and exited connected Church Street connected the eastbound broadside of the towers and discovered thousands of radical gawking up astatine the towers."
A small dependable successful his caput told him to determination east, conscionable earlier the South Tower collapsed.
"For conscionable an instant, determination was a small fearfulness - successful that aforesaid instant I said, 'Where tin you tally to flight the quarter-mile-high gathering falling down connected you?' And I was wholly astatine peace, and I conscionable watched it travel down," Ronningen said. "At the aforesaid time, those thousands of radical went into a panic, into a stampede, and for immoderate crushed I knew I didn't privation to get caught successful a stampede."
While helium was trying to scope a friend's apartment, helium learned that the northbound tower, wherever his bureau was, had besides fallen. He said that's erstwhile idiosyncratic yelled retired of their flat windows, "Did you cognize the North Tower came down?"
He says helium mislaid a batch of friends that day, including his champion friend.
"I mislaid implicit 4 dozen. My champion friend, positive a batch of friends and colleagues. Yes, their names are repeated each Sept. 11 down astatine the World Trade Center Site," Ronningen said.
He said that documenting his communicative and those of different survivors successful his publication "From the Inside Out" has been therapeutic.
"It was an absorbing day, and these are each the incorrect adjectives, but I telephone it a fascinating day. It's not a time I would person signed up for Brian, but it's a time that, having survived it and the opportunities it has fixed me, I wouldn't person missed it for anything," helium said.
Now, Ronningen travels the state sharing his acquisition with everyone, including those successful the Central Valley. He volition beryllium the keynote talker astatine Thursday's remembrance ceremonial astatine the California 9/11 Memorial successful Clovis.
The ceremonial begins astatine 8:30 a.m.
