Seventy-Eight Minutes, Floor by Floor
Tap any stop to jump to his chapter of it; as you read, the bar below the title tracks the floor. Schematic — floors not to scale; times approximate where his telling gives them. The dashed red segment is the three flights that were on fire. floor events record-verified
Hamilton to Hoboken
▶ Hear him · 0:47"I was born in Hamilton, Ontario… I moved down in 2000, the year 2000, and brought my wife and kids as well." [0:47]
Context. A Canadian money-market broker at Euro Brokers (later merged into BGC Partners) trading US dollars against European currencies — the 24-hour market that put him at his desk by 6:40 AM, hours before Tokyo closed and London hit midday. firm verified
8:46 AM — The Explosion to the Right
▶ Hear him · 0:08"We were settled into the day and back to the right there was a loud explosion… a huge fireball sucking in on itself and thousands of pieces of paper just billowing outside the Trade Center… some people were doing the unthinkable." [0:08–0:45]
Context. AA Flight 11 struck the North Tower at 8:46 AM. From the 84th floor of the South Tower, the impact was a sight through the windows to the right — and the building's PA announcement soon followed: "Building 2 is secure, please go back to your desk." [4:03] He went back to work. A trader friend in Canada phoned and yelled at him to leave — moments before the second impact. timeline verified
9:03 AM — Flight 175, Floors 78–85
▶ Hear him · 4:41"I grabbed a colleague of mine and we were leaving the trading room when the second plane hit… the right wing sliced right through our trading room. So if you had stayed there a few more minutes—" "Yeah, I probably wouldn't… would have been the end." [4:41–5:15]
Context. UA Flight 175 struck the South Tower between floors 77 and 85 at 9:03 AM — his floor, the 84th, inside the impact zone. He was one of only 18 people to escape from within or above it. verified
The Stairwell Choice
▶ Hear him · 5:56"About two flights down we met this heavy-set lady being carried by two men… they said you can't go down there, there's too much smoke and fire… we tried every floor and I guess we got to about the 91st floor… all the floors are locked from the inside for security reasons… true panic started to set in." [5:56–7:00]
Context. The record adds what he couldn't have known: the group he was with split — some debated, some climbed toward the roof. The Clark account records that those who went up all lost their lives. verified And in the smoke on 81, a man was trapped and calling — that man was Stanley Praimnath of Fuji Bank, pinned behind a wall. [6:10]
The Cry for Help on 81
▶ Hear him · 6:10"We heard this cry for help and I went with one of my colleagues to try to help this man who was trapped a floor below… but I was overcome with the smoke." [6:10–6:43]
Context — the record completes the story. The colleague was Brian Clark, Euro Brokers' fire marshal for the 84th floor. Clark followed the voice with his flashlight, found Praimnath, and pulled him free; both men survived. DiFrancesco, driven back by smoke, turned around — and resumed the descent alone. Clark's account of that moment names him: "His Euro Brokers colleague, Ron DiFrancesco, who had initially turned around because of the smoke, mustered the strength to resume the descent and was the last person to escape the South Tower before it collapsed." verified — the record names him
The Voice
▶ Hear him · 7:18"The smoke was really thick and heavy, so people were lying down trying to get beneath the hot, choking smoke. And we were drifting off — we were starting to go to sleep. And at that point I heard a voice, someone calling me and telling me to come this way. For those who are God-believing, [they'll] understand who that is. Others may say it was just my adrenaline-fueled synapses working overtime. But you know, if I heard a voice like that again, I'd go towards it — because it made me get up, and I went towards the flame and the fire and the thick smoke, and [walked] forward for a while… I pushed against the wall, and it revealed the staircase down below." [7:18–8:23]
Context. Presented in full, as testimony — a survivor's account of his own experience, in his own framing: he offers both readings himself, the divine and the physiological, and refuses to choose ("if I heard a voice like that again, I'd go towards it"). The physical circumstances the passage describes are fully real: on the upper floors, the gathering smoke killed those who lay down in it — the drowsiness he describes drifting toward was carbon-monoxide and oxygen deprivation, not rest. The wall that "revealed the staircase" was the moment the descent resumed; the next three flights were on fire. [8:25]
Three Flights of Fire
▶ Hear him · 8:20"I pushed against the wall and it revealed the staircase down below… I ran through three flights of stairs that were on fire… I didn't even realize that I was burnt." [8:20–8:58]
Context. Burns over 60% of his body; contact lenses melted to his eyes. Halfway down he met three firefighters climbing up — toward what he was escaping. [8:58]
The Courtyard and the Wave
▶ Hear him · 9:27"There was a security guard there and she wouldn't let me out… we heard the loud explosion — I saw a huge fireball coming at us and I just yelled at John to run… I ran as fast as I could… got knocked on the head and woke up three days later in the hospital." [9:27–10:55]
Context. The South Tower collapsed at 9:59 AM — 56 minutes after impact. He was still in the PATH concourse, heading for the Church Street exit, when it came down. He woke at St. Vincent's Hospital Manhattan — the closest trauma hospital, which received hundreds that morning — three days later, not knowing the towers had fallen. His wife waited more than a week to tell him. collapse time verified
Sixty-One Colleagues
▶ Hear him · 15:53"I lost 61 colleagues… I have survivors' guilt. Should I— could I have gone back and got those people? If I did, I know I wouldn't be here today. I'll carry that with me." [15:53–16:30]
Context — the number is exact. Euro Brokers lost 61 employees that day — nearly one-fifth of its New York branch. verified Four people escaped from above the impact zone; he was the last. [16:40]
The Long Way Back
▶ Hear him · 12:05"I was kind of a blank for a couple of years… My wife took the brunt of it all… we realized that this was no way for us to live." [12:05–14:20]
Context. Back to work part-time by March, full-time by April — with four children (10, 8, 6, and 3) who "would sit by the window wondering every night if I was coming home." The family returned to Canada at the end of the school year, 2002. The anthrax scares were still in the news; he carried his passport into the city and told his wife to be ready to take the children home.
September 11, Every Year
▶ Hear him · 17:30"I never work that day again. I take that day for myself, reflect, and give gratitude… I still talk to some of my colleagues' spouses every September 11th." [17:30–18:20]
"My Wife Had It Harder"
▶ Hear him · 19:16"People say, look at what Ron's gone through. I think my wife had it harder than I did… I was blank. My wife was there watching, and going to funerals of my colleagues… I get all the accolades, but I think it was harder on her than it was on me." [19:16–19:45]