The Local Connection to the "World Trade Center" Movie

(Spoiler Alert! You may want to skip this entire post if you plan to see the movie and don't already know the details of the storyline.)

Today's Tribune-Review has an interesting article on Pittsburgh's connection to the movie "World Trade Center," directed by Oliver Stone. While the movie itself makes only a passing reference to a "sister in Pittsburgh," she and Allegheny County 911 played an important role in the rescue of the two officers trapped beneath the rubble.

Short Story Version:
David Karnes who lived in Connecticut went to Ground Zero on his own to search for survivors. He found two trapped men: Sgts. John McLoughlin and Will Jimeno of the Port Authority of NY and NJ. However, local cell phone signals were jammed and his attempts to reach local rescuers were thwarted and he ended up calling his sister, Joy Karnes, in Munhall. She, in turn, made a frantic call to Allegheny County 911.

Dispatcher Randy Tedesco expertly handled the call and passed the info to Michael Lupinacci, assistant communications manager for Allegheny County's emergency operations center. Lupinacci was unsuccessful in reaching the NYPD, Port Authority, and other rescuers by phone. He ended up faxing the message to the NYPD and dispatch technician Greg Bolar sent the same message over the National Crime Information Center. Lupinacci then left a message on David Karnes' cell phone letting him know that help was on the way. Here's what happened next:

At 8:37 p.m., an NYPD sergeant called Lupinacci saying they had received the fax and had dispatched rescuers to the scene. Deluged with prank calls and false leads, the NYPD asked Allegheny County to check out Joy Karnes' call "even to the point of investigating Joy -- to get somebody out there to see if she seemed to be legit," Lupinacci said.

Years of experience told Lupinacci, now 44, "This was a good call."

Still, county police were sent to Joy Karnes' home. "A half-hour later, NYPD called me and questioned me," Joy Karnes said at the time. "They weren't sure whether to believe it. They asked me if (my brother) had a psychiatric history. I told them he was a police officer and he walked out on an excellent job to do this."

New York firefighters called her on their way to the scene to verify the information once again. Rescuers in New York quickly found the site, erasing any doubt.

About 11 p.m., Jimeno was freed from the rubble and taken to the hospital.

"New York called us back and said they did make the rescue, and we couldn't have been more ecstatic here," said Bob Full, chief of Allegheny County emergency services.

Tedesco was home when he heard the news.

He said he was happy and relieved.

"Basically, it's a thankless job and you don't see the results much of what you do," Tedesco said.

McLoughlin, the 19th of 20 people rescued, was freed at 8 a.m. the next day. Genelle Guzman-McMillan, a Port Authority secretary, was pulled from the rubble 4 1/2 hours later.

And the rest, as they say, is . . . a major motion picture.

If you're thinking that this is not the kind of blog post that I normally do -- you're right. But, I remember hearing about the above event at the time it happened because, as some of you may have guessed by now, Mike Lupinacci is a relative of mine. He's my brother.

I will now officially and publicly forgive him for making us all watch every episode of the awful show "Emergency!" as kids. (I will, however, never forgive him for completely and savagely destroying my Barbie dollhouse.)

Oh yeah, and if you think about it, every person mentioned in this article did more to help on 9/11 than George W. Bush did.


Allegheny County 911 dispatcher Randy Tedesco

The Department of Emergency ServicesMichael Lupinacci, Assistant Communications Manager of 911,and Diane DePalma, Assistant Chief