Upper Nazareth Resident Remembers Sight, Smell of Ground Zero

Many watched the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks unfold on television, which was horrific enough. But it was quite another thing to be in the middle of it -- caught up in live-action reality.

Upper Nazareth Township resident Lisa Jaawani was at her desk on an upper floor of 1 Police Plaza in New York City on Sept. 11, 2001. The horror unfolded before her eyes as she watched through the window.

"I was in the heart of it all," Jaawani said.

Jaawani was a police detective -- she's retired from that job now -- attached to the domestic violence unit. But on that fateful day, domestic violence took a back seat to what was happening. It changed her life.

All law enforcement personnel were quickly reassigned to become part of the first responders. They fanned out in lower Manhattan to maintain order, and they helped comb through the wreckage of the World Trade Center buildings.

"You had to be part of the emergency personnel to get down there," she said. "It smoldered for weeks."

Jaawani described the knee-deep, gray-white ash and the thick, acrid air that hovered throughout the area long after the events of that fateful morning.

"9/11 contributed to my decision to retire," Jaawani said.

After 21 years with the New York City Police Department, she left. But she will be part of the World Trade Center National Responders Health Program for the rest of her life. The program monitors symptoms and illnesses that may be related to working at Ground Zero. Blood work and tests are regularly called for.

Today she lives in Upper Nazareth with her two sons. In 2008, she started her own business, AmiTar Consulting, providing a range of consulting services to organizations and businesses in the area.

Jaawani plans to attend at on the 10th anniversary of 9/11.