As the result of a lawsuit brought by the New York Times and several families of 911 victims, the New York Court of Appeals ordered the city to release hundreds of oral histories of 911 witnesses. These witness testimonies were originally gathered shortly after September 11th on the order of Thomas Von Essen, the City Fire Commissioner, who said he wanted to preserve these accounts before they became reshaped by a collective memory. In these oral histories, Firefighters and Emergency Medical Workers recount their experiences of that day, including riveting descriptions of explosions seen, felt and heard in the WTC towers on 911. Descriptions are consistent with pre-positioned explosives and controlled demolition, not with progressive collapse due to melted steel and “pancaking” floors.