Home / Disasters and Accidents / Unsung Hero: Woman's Slow Pace Saved Six Firefighters on 9/11
Unsung Hero: Woman's Slow Pace Saved Six Firefighters on 9/11
2 Sep
Summary
- A 9/11 survivor, Josephine Harris, inadvertently saved six firefighters.
- Harris's slow descent on Stairwell B allowed firefighters to survive collapse.
- A FDNY jacket gifted to Harris was returned for public display.
Six firefighters owe their lives to Josephine Harris, a survivor they met on Stairwell B of the North Tower on September 11, 2001. Harris, who had a leg injury, moved slowly down the stairs, inadvertently slowing the firefighters with her. When the tower collapsed, the stairwell remarkably held, and the firefighters believe Harris’s slower pace was the reason they survived. They were trapped for over five hours but were ultimately rescued.
Years later, on September 11, 2011, Harris passed away at age 69. Her "six saviors" served as pallbearers at her funeral. In a recent event, Harris’s family returned a jacket that Ladder Company 6 had given her in appreciation. This jacket, now framed, will be displayed to commemorate the extraordinary connection formed that fateful day. The History Channel documented this 'Miracle of Stairway B' in a 2006 film, and Harris even appeared with the firefighters on The Oprah Winfrey Show.
