Vincent Forras said he wasn’t “that religious” the moment he got buried in rubble at Ground Zero, but all of a sudden, he decided it was time to be.
“I prayed to God. I asked Him to ‘please God, take me quickly. Do not let me suffocate down here. Don’t let me suffer, but let my children know that I was doing the right thing. I was doing something good.’”
Forras served as a volunteer firefighter at the South Salem Fire Department about 45 minutes north of Ground Zero in New York. On Sept. 11, 2001, he was nowhere near the site of the deadly terror attacks — he was fishing on his lake. It was a “beautiful, gorgeous blue sky day, one of the nicest days you can imagine.”
But of course, that all changed quickly, and the next day, he was with his fellow firefighters working through the rubble of the fallen Twin Towers, looking for people.
“In my whole time down here, I never found a full body, only pieces of people, and that still haunts me today, every day of my life,” Forras said. “Some three days in, I was working here, South Tower, probably about another 100 yards off in the rubble, and we would mark things with fluorescent paint where we looked and searched, and there was one spot that I saw that was not marked.”
He figured it was worth trying.
“It kind of lures you in because you start going in and you go deeper, and finally I was in quite a ways head first, and all of a sudden everything started to shake,” Forras said. “The building settled again, so everything came in behind me, and I’m in the pitch black. We’re doing this at night, screaming my head off.”
No one heard him. He panicked.
“When you’re in that (confined space), it’s hot. You’re like roasting under there, and I really felt as though I was going to die,” he said.
That’s when he started to pray, and he sensed a calm. He saw visions of his kids and felt like he might actually be in his last moments. He thanked God for that experience, then he said, “If you let me stay, I’ll dedicate the rest of my life to serving you.”
Seconds later, Forras said he felt conscious again, and God showed him how to get himself out.
Now he and his wife, Monica, spend their time running Gear Up Foundation, which donates firetrucks and other gear to Latin America in honor of those who lost their lives in the 9/11 attacks. It wouldn’t be possible without God, he said.
“Love God with all your heart, because He loves you much more than you can imagine. Whatever you do with your family, love them dearly. Love your friends dearly, and support your fire departments and the first responders … especially the volunteers,” Forras said.
