terrorism

The Mexican firefighter who ran into the Twin Towers on 9/11

As throngs ran from the World Trade Center on September 11, the man who planned a care-free day with friends visiting from Mexico ran toward the towers.

Rafael Hernández felt his instincts kick into gear - the instincts of a first responder, of a firefighter, which he had been for many years in Mexico.

“I smelled the smoke, and the smell, the smell of a fire, sent me running toward it,” says Hernández, 51, on a recent day, standing on the corner across from Ground Zero, the same corner where he stood when two planes - piloted by evil . . .