Eye In The Sky

The Legend of Orio Palmer On September 11, NYFD Battalion Chief Orio Palmer did the impossible. An electronics genius, he hotwired a malfunctioning elevator and reached the 40th floor of the World Trade Center. A marathon runner in excellent shape, he then charged up a stairwell wearing 70 pounds of bunker gear. He tersely broadcast his run on the radio informing rescuers that a route up did indeed exist. He reached the 78th floor where survivors had gathered. Minutes later, the tower collapsed. But Orio Palmer had done the impossible. He alone reached the survivors. They died- but they died knowing they had been reached and seen- that a lone New York City firefighter had answered their prayers and reached them high in that fiery hell. Orio Palmer was 45 years old when he died, leaving a wife and three children.