Report from ground zero

"Immediately after two hijacked jets struck the twin towers of the World Trade Center on the morning of September 11, 2001, Dennis Smith, a retired firefighter who had served eighteen years with the New York City Fire Department, reported to Manhattan's Ladder Co. 16 to volunteer in the rescue effort. Among those missing in the tragedy were 343 firefighters, many of whom were his friends and longtime colleagues. Having spent his career as both a respected writer and a member of one of the city's busiest firehouses, Smith became determined to use his unique background to tell the story of the…