Frank De Martini

Frank De Martini was an architect employed by the Port Authority of New York, the agency that managed the World Trade Center.[1][2][3][4] De Martini, and his colleagues Pablo Ortiz, Pete Negron, Carlos da Costa, had their offices on the 88th floor of the first tower to be struck, on September 11, 2001. They had all arrived early and were sharing a coffee with De Martini's wife when an airline hijacked by terrorists struck their building just a few floors above them at 8:46 A.M.

Frank De Martini
Born(1952-03-31)March 31, 1952
DiedSeptember 11, 2001(2001-09-11) (aged 49)
North Tower, World Trade Center, New York City
NationalityUSA
Occupationarchitect
Known forheroically rescued occupants of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001

The men helped clear the entrance to one of the buildings three stairwells, and directed their fellow occupants to descend to safety.[1] De Martini assured his wife he would follow her. But the four men then proceeded find and rescue dozen of people. They ascended to the 89th floor, and bashed through the drywall, next to the blocked door, allowing the occupants of that floor to escape.

When the building was hit all the elevators stopped.[1] Passengers in those elevators had to be rescued by workers from the outside, and the four men proceeded to execute those rescues.

It has been estimated that at least 50 people survived the attack due to the rescue efforts of De Martini and his colleagues.[1] When they arrived on the 89th floor De Martini directed Mak Hanna to carry an elderly man, who could not descend 89 floors, down to safety.[5] De Martini, Ortiz, Negron and da Costa all perished when the North Tower collapsed at 10:28 A.M. Hanna was the only one of their crew to survive.[6]

De Martini's story has been featured in multiple documentaries, including 9/11: The Twin Towers and 102 Minutes That Changed America.[7][8]

References
  1. Jim Dwyer (2003-08-29). "THE PORT AUTHORITY TAPES: OVERVIEW; Fresh Glimpse in 9/11 Files Of the Struggles for Survival". The New York Times. p. A1. Retrieved 2019-09-23. As for Mr. De Martini and Mr. Ortiz, the transmissions disclose only fragments of their efforts, but taken with the accounts of the people they saved, add to a powerful narrative of heroism and loss.
  2. Jena McGregor (2013-09-11). "Remembering some of 9/11's great leaders". Washington Post. Retrieved 2019-09-23. Frank De Martini and Pablo Ortiz: The "Heroes of the 88th Floor," as they've been memorialized, these employees of the Port Authority, an architect and a construction inspector, respectively, "pushed back the boundary line between life and death in favor of the living," wrote Jim Dwyer in the New York Times, helping to rescue at least 50 people.
  3. Jim Higgins (2011-09-02). "'102 Minutes' captures tragedy, humanity of Sept. 11". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Retrieved 2019-09-23. Sometimes the rescuers were fellow civilians. Port Authority employees Frank De Martini, Pete Negron and Pablo Ortiz roamed through the north tower helping to free trapped people. They did not make it out alive.
  4. "Remembering Pablo Ortiz: A Hero of the 88th Floor". 911 museum. Retrieved 2019-09-23. Altogether, Ortiz, De Martini, Pete Negron, and Carlos da Costa helped at least 50 trapped people by acting as citizen first-responders, New York Times reporters Jim Dwyer and Kevin Flynn estimated in their 2011 book 102 Minutes.
  5. Jim Dwyer (2011-09-08). "In Love With Death". The New York Times. Retrieved 2019-09-23. That morning, Raffaele Cava, age 80, was working on the 90th floor of the north tower. After the plane hit, no one could open the exits, so he went to another office and sat with Dianne DeFontes and Tirsa Moya. The hall floors were melting. Suddenly, two men in the stairwell pried open the door, walked in and ordered everyone to go. They were Frank De Martini and Pablo Ortiz, Port Authority employees who worked one flight down, and who took it on themselves to climb up and down 14 floors, getting scores of people out. They never left.
  6. Nick Westoll (2016-09-11). "9//11 survivor recalls carrying elderly man down 89 floors before losing 2 best friends". Global News. Retrieved 2019-09-23. As they were getting ready to leave, Hanna said De Martini insisted Hanna and Ortiz go to the 89th floor after he heard someone banging on the door. Despite the smoke from the upper floors, they managed to open the door, allowing those trapped to escape—including the 89-year-old man. The men made their way down to the 78th floor. De Martini and Ortiz stayed behind while Hanna made the 46-minute journey to the ground floor with Mo
  7. The Twin Towers on IMDb
  8. 102 Minutes That Changed America on IMDb
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