Official reports say a number of terrorists hijacked several commerical airplanes.
The immediate results were two planes crashing into New York City's twin World Trade Center Towers, another plane cutting into the Pentagon building in the Washington, D.C. area, and a fourth crashing down in rural Pennsylvania just east of Pittsburgh. Rescue and recovery efforts began immediately by firefighters, police officers, and others - helping the survivors and searching for more among the remains of the buildings and aircrafts. Although this surprise attack that may have killed and injured thousands of people is a tremendous tragedy, it certainly isn't the first disaster that American rescue and emergency workers have had to face. In this week's lesson, you'll learn about some of the agencies that respond to these kinds of situations and how they work. The first responders to the various plane crash sites were, of course, local fire and police departments.