Some cars fell. Others stopped between floors. Doors failed to open. Smoke and fire entered shafts and lobbies. People trapped inside used emergency phones, tried to force doors apart or waited for assistance that might never arrive.
Elevators are generally avoided during a building fire because electrical failure, smoke migration and damaged controls can make them unsafe. But many people were already riding when the aircraft hit. Others, unaware of the full situation, may have entered cars during the first moments of confusion.
Technicians familiar with the system possessed knowledge that even experienced emergency responders might not have: where machinery rooms were located, how to release particular doors, how individual banks were arranged and how to approach a disabled car.
That was the expertise Costello carried toward the towers.
A Run Against the Human Tide
The image of Costello running south is powerful because almost everyone else had a compelling reason to go north.
Office workers emerged covered in dust. Police closed roads. Fire engines and ambulances struggled through traffic. People stared upward, called family members and tried to understand whether the first impact had been an accident.
Costello did not have a legal obligation to enter the towers simply because he knew how elevators worked. He could have remained at the hotel, evacuated or returned to his family.
Instead, he apparently concluded that his skills were needed.
Unlike a firefighter, he did not carry breathing equipment, turnout gear or the institutional support of an emergency company. His protection consisted largely of his experience and whatever tools he could bring.
Descriptions of the exact route and timing vary slightly. Later profiles say he ran approximately 2.1 miles from SoHo. The popular graphic rounds that figure to two miles, which is a reasonable simplification.
What matters is the direction of travel. As smoke filled the skyline and thousands escaped the area, Costello deliberately moved toward it.
What Happened Inside
The surviving record of Costello’s movements inside the World Trade Center is incomplete.
This is not unusual. The attacks disrupted communications, destroyed physical records and killed many of the people who might otherwise have described what occurred. Rescue workers moved between lobbies, stairwells and damaged floors without time to document their actions.
Memorial accounts say Costello entered the North Tower and helped address elevator emergencies. Some credit him with saving hundreds of lives. His remains were ultimately recovered months later beneath debris associated with the South Tower, illustrating how the collapse displaced and mixed enormous quantities of material.
That discovery does not necessarily establish every step he took. The World Trade Center plaza and adjoining structures became a vast, violently shifting debris field when the South Tower collapsed at 9:59 a.m. and the North Tower at 10:28 a.m.
Costello may have moved between areas as the emergency developed. He may have been helping people directly, giving technical instructions or assisting first responders. The available public sources do not offer a minute-by-minute reconstruction.
This is where responsible storytelling must resist the temptation to fill silence with invention.
We know why he went. We know he possessed relevant expertise. We know he entered the rescue effort, and we know he died at the site. Those facts alone establish extraordinary courage.
Did He Personally Save Hundreds?
The claim is repeated by the Archdiocese of Hartford and organizations associated with Costello’s memorial. It is therefore not simply an anonymous internet fabrication.