FDNY Deputy Chief Jay Jones is one of only 22 survivors who were in the North Tower of the World Trade Center when it collapsed following the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

"One of the firemen from rescue one looked up and said, ‘We may not live through today,’ and we stopped and we took the time to shake each other’s hands and wish each other good luck,” Jonas said. “Out of all those guys I was surrounded by when the second plane hit the south tower, I'm the only one that's alive.”

Jonas was captain of Ladder Company 6 and, at the time of the attack, had 22 years in the FDNY under his belt. On September 11, he attempted a search and rescue, making it to the 27th floor before having to retreat back down. 

"We continued down the stairs and we got the 20th floor and we saw a woman standing in the doorway crying. She was one week shy of her 60th birthday, she had been involved in a motor vehicle accident a couple of weeks prior to September 11, she had made it down from the 72nd floor and now she couldn't walk anymore; she was done, so I said bring her with us," Jonas said. 

He got caught on the fourth floor when the North Tower collapsed, but made it out alive. But, many of his friends who he heard cry out for help did not.

Jonas said the death toll could have been much worse. 

"Fifty thousand people worked in those buildings, an additional 70,000 people visited it daily, and the number of people who were killed on that day was 2,749, which is staggering," said Jonas.