Mrs. Jefferson was a 26-year-old reporter working for the Ventura County Star when she got word that a Simi Valley man, Dan White, had escaped the second tower on September 11, 2001. This is that story.

Simi man back home after his ordeal, escape from WTC hell

Posted: Sept. 17, 2001

By Staci Haight, Staff Writer

After a plane rammed into the World Trade Center's north tower, Daniel White heard a message on the public-address system in his tower assuring people that everything was safe and asking them to stay inside.

The 31-year-old Simi Valley man decided to leave the south tower anyway. And this weekend, he reunited with wife, Corinna, and sons Brian, 5, and Stephen, 2, to celebrate that decision.

While 16 of his co-workers are still missing, White returned to "Welcome home" banners. Sunday, relatives converged on the family's Wood Ranch home before heading off to Brian's ballgame at a nearby baseball field.

White, a stockbroker, said he's not eager to return to New York. He now has a fear of flying he didn't have a week ago. In fact, the flight home Saturday night was a horrifying ride for someone used to commuting to New York 10 days a month.

"It's inconceivable that I will ever fly again," White said Sunday. "The No. 1 priority is to take account of the loss and say I'm still here."

White was waiting for a client to arrive at his office on the south tower's 84th floor when tragedy struck at 8:45 a.m. Tuesday. He had left his Simi Valley home only 12 hours earlier. The business trip for his employer, Tradesoft, had two legs -- first New York, then London.

When a commercial jet hijacked by terrorists crashed into the north tower, the floor beneath White rumbled with a violent jolt. He looked through his window blinds and saw two floors of the north tower engulfed in flames.

He thought maybe a bomb had gone off. Someone standing next to him suggested they leave immediately.

White and many others hurried to the stairway to make their way down. They had reached the 60th floor when the building's public-address system came on to assure people that they were safe and to remain inside the building.

Meanwhile, in Simi Valley Corinna White awoke to the ringing of a telephone. It was her husband's brother. He wanted to know where Dan was. He told Corinna to turn on the television and to call him when she heard from her husband.

She called another office her husband has, in New Jersey, and spoke with a cousin, who confirmed he was inside the World Trade Center.

"I became hysterical," Corinna said.

She called his two cell phones and business number, to no avail. She tried sending him an e-mail but got no response. She called her sister who lives next door in Simi, Linda Bodnar, to tell her that Dan was trapped inside the World Trade Center. Bodnar immediately went to the Whites' home and stayed with Corinna as worried friends called to ask about her husband.

Back in New York, White ignored the public address announcement and continued down. Somewhere around the 35th floor, he heard the same rumbling he felt before, but this time his building rocked. He braced himself until the rocking subsided, then hurried his steps.

In Simi Valley, Brian White watched the television and asked his mommy, "Why is Daddy's building on fire?"

Once White reached the ground, he ran into a courtyard but was told by a port authority officer to leave the area because falling glass made it unsafe.

He went back inside, to a mall underneath the building. He walked to Broadway and Church streets, two blocks from the World Trade Center.

A flock of people who had escaped waited in long lines to call relatives on pay phones to let them know they were safe. Many, like White, tried to use their cell phones but they wouldn't work.

He finally made it to a store with a phone to call home. But his home phone was tied up with calls from people worried about him. So he called his brother-in-law, Michael Bodnar.

"Michael came running down the sidewalk yelling that Dan was on the phone," Corinna said. "We were screaming. I don't know what we even said, just that he was alive."