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The September 11, 2001 attacks (often referred to as 9/11 pronounced "nine eleven") consisted of a series of coordinated ter­rorist suicide attacks by Islamic extremists on that date upon the United States of America.

That morning, 19 terrorists affiliated with al-Qaeda hijacked four commercial passenger jet airliners. Each team of hijackers included a trained pilot. The hijackers intentionally crashed two of the airlin­ers (United Airlines Flight 175 and American Airlines Flight 11) into the World Trade Center in New York City, one plane into each tower (WTC1 and WTC2), resulting in the collapse of both build­ings soon afterward and irreparable damage to nearby buildings. The hijackers crashed a third airliner (American Airlines Flight 77) into the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia, near Washing­ton, D.C. Passengers and members of the flight crew on the fourth aircraft (United Airlines Flight 93) attempted to retake control of their plane from the hijackers; that plane crashed into a field near the town of Shanksville in rural Somerset County, Pennsylvania. In addition to the 19 hijackers, 2,974 people died as an immediate re­sult of the attacks, and the death of at least one person from lung disease was ruled by a medical examiner to be a result of exposure to WTC dust. Another 24 people are missing and presumed dead. The victims were predominantly civilians.

The area surrounding the World Trade Center became the site of the greatest number of casualties and missing, and physical de­struction. This region became known in the ensuing days as "ground zero".

When American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the North Tower (WTC1) of the World Trade Center, a standard announcement was given to tenants in the South Tower (WTC2) to stay put and that the building was secure. However, many defied those instructions and proceeded to evacuate the South Tower.

Standard evacuation procedures for fires in the World Trade Center called for evacuating only the floors immediately above and below the fire, as simultaneous evacuation of up to 50,000 workers would be chaotic.

Firefighters from the New York City Fire Department rushed to the World Trade Center minutes after the first plane struck the North Tower. Chief Joseph Pfiefer and his crew with Battalion 1 were among the first on the scene. At 8:50 a.m., an incident com­mand post was established in the lobby of the North Tower. By 9:00 a.m., the FDNY chief had arrived and took over command of the response operations. Due to falling debris and safety concerns, he moved the incident command center to a spot located across West Street, but numerous fire chiefs remained in the lobby which contin­ued to serve as an operations post where alarms, elevators, commu­nications systems, and other equipment were operated. The initial response by the FDNY was on rescue and evacuation of building occupants, which involved sending firefighters up to assist people that were trapped in elevators and elsewhere. Firefighters also were required to ensure all floors were completely evacuated.

Numerous staging areas were setup near the World Trade Center, where responding fire units could report and get deployment instruc­tions. However, many firefighters arrived at the World Trade Center without stopping at the staging areas. As a result, many chiefs could not keep track of the whereabouts of their units. Numerous firefight­ers reported directly to the building lobbies, and were ordered by those commanding the operating post to proceed into the building.

Problems with radio communication caused commanders to lose contact with many of the firefighters who went into the buildings. The repeater system in the World Trade Center, which was required for portable radio signals to transmit reliably, was malfunctioning after the impact of the planes. As a result, firefighters were unable to report to commanders on their progress, and were unable to hear evacuation orders. Also, many off-duty firefighters arrived to help, without their radios. FDNY commanders lacked communication with the NYPD (New York City Police Department), who had heli­copters at the scene, or with EMS dispatchers. The firefighters on the scene also did not have access to television reports or other outside information, which could help in assessing the situation. When the South Tower collapsed at 9:59 a.m., firefighters in the North Tower were not aware of exactly what had happened. The battalion chief in the North Tower lobby immediately issued an order over the radio for firefighters in the tower to evacuate, but many did not hear the order, due to the faulty radios. 343 firefighters died in the collapse of the towers.

The command post located across West Street was taken out when the South Tower collapsed, making command and control even more difficult and disorganized. When the North Tower collapsed, falling debris killed Peter Ganci, the FDNY chief. Following the collapse of the World Trade Center, a command post was setup at a firehouse in Greenwich Village.

The FDNY deployed 200 units (half of all units) to the site, with more than 400 firefighters on the scene when the buildings collapsed. This included 121 engine companies, 62 ladder companies, and other special units. The FDNY also received assistance from fire depart­ments in Nassau, Westchester County, and other neighboring juris­dictions, but with limited ability to manage and coordinate efforts.

The FDNY deployed 200 units (half of the department) to the site, whose efforts were supplemented by numerous off-duty fire­fighters. NYPD Emergency Service Units (ESU) and other police personnel, along with numerous EMTs (Emergency Medical Tech­nicians) rushed to the scene. NYPD helicopters were soon at the scene, reporting on the status of the burning buildings. Though, FDNY commanders lacked communication with the NYPD, as well as with 911 dispatchers to provide good situational awareness. FDNY commanders also had difficulties communicating evacua­tion orders to firefighters inside the towers due to malfunctioning repeater systems in the World Trade Center.

Within hours of the attack, a massive search and rescue (SAR) operation was launched. Initially, only a handful of wounded people were found at the site, and in the weeks that followed it became evi­dent that there were no survivors to be found. Rescue and recovery efforts took months to complete. It took several weeks to simply put out the fires burning in the rubble of the buildings, although there was smoldering and smoke for 99 days, before the fire was complete­ly out. The clean-up was not completed until May 2002. Temporary wooden "viewing platforms" were set up for tourists to view con­struction crews clearing out the gaping holes where the towers once stood. All of these platforms were closed on May 30, 2002.

Many relief funds were immediately set up to assist victims of the attacks, with the task of providing financial assistance to the survivors and the families of victims. By the deadline for victim's com­pensation, September 11,2003,2,833 applications had been received from the families of those killed.

For the first time in history, all nonemergency civilian aircraft in the United States and several other countries including Canada were immediately grounded, stranding tens of thousands of passen­gers across the world.

Contingency plans for the continuity of government and the evacuation of leaders were also implemented almost immediately after the attacks. Congress, however, was not told that the US was under a continuity of government status until February 2002.