NY Daily News - March 09, 2010

Jose Jerez, 28, was working on a doorway 100 feet above street level when he plummeted about 14 feet, landing on a plywood floor inside the skyscraper-to-be, Port Authority officials said.

The Port Authority, which owns and has sole jurisdiction over the former World Trade Center site, dispatched its own police and emergency responders, who reached Jerez "within a minute or two" of his fall, said spokesman Steve Coleman.

The first FDNY unit to reach Ground Zero, Engine 10, arrived at the site's northern end, along Vesey St., but was not permitted entry by the Port Authority, FDNY sources said.

A short time later, six members of the FDNY's Squad 18 unit arrived at the western edge of Ground Zero and were allowed to assist in removing Jerez from the site, the FDNY sources said.

Port Authority rescuers lifted Jerez out from inside the building in a wire basket and used a hoist to lower him to the ground. An FDNY ambulance took him to Bellevue Hospital, where he was initially listed in serious condition, FDNY sources said.

While the rescue was unfolding, several additional FDNY units joined Engine 10 outside the Vesey St. entrance but also were kept at bay.

Officials said an FDNY battalion chief fumed when told the Freedom Tower could not handle the 50 or 60 additional firefighters who showed up.

When asked about the decision to restrict FDNY access, Coleman would say only that the firefighters "were properly admitted as needed."

FDNY spokesman Jim Long downplayed the spat, saying both the FDNY and Port Authority "had the best intentions" of providing care to Jerez as quickly as possible.

But a firefighter at the scene seethed when a reporter asked where to find a Port Authority representative for comment.

"They're hard to find - that is, when they're not trying to keep the FDNY out," he said.

With Douglas Feiden