Short answer: Mike Kehoe was an FDNY firefighter with Engine 28/Ladder 11 in the East Village, photographed climbing the stairwell of the North Tower on September 11, 2001, as civilians streamed past him in the opposite direction. The photo, taken by Port Authority employee John Labriola and published on front pages worldwide, became one of the defining images of the attacks. Kehoe escaped the tower with roughly a minute to spare before it collapsed — but six members of his own firehouse crew did not survive.
While thousands fled down the stairwells of the World Trade Center on September 11, one photograph captured the opposite: a single firefighter climbing steadily upward, into the one place almost everyone else was trying to escape.
The Photograph
As Mike Kehoe, a firefighter with Engine 28/Ladder 11, climbed the North Tower stairwell carrying his gear, Port Authority employee John Labriola — who was evacuating down the same stairwell — photographed him mid-step. The image shows Kehoe moving upward, unhurried and focused, as a line of civilians descends past him. One eyewitness account of the moment described watching him: "So many people were terrified and fleeing for their lives. I saw this fireman and he was just going up. And he didn't miss one damn step! To me, this was just simply magnificent."
The photograph was published on front pages around the world within days, including a prominent placement in the UK's Daily Mirror. For a time, colleagues and the public assumed Kehoe had died in the collapse, since the image captured him heading directly into what became a death trap for so many first responders.
He Survived — But His Firehouse Paid a Heavy Price
Kehoe, in fact, made it out of the North Tower with an estimated one minute to spare before it collapsed. He survived — but six members of his own firehouse, Engine 28/Ladder 11 on East 2nd Street, did not. When he returned to the firehouse days later, on September 14, he found his own photograph already circulating on front pages worldwide, alongside a makeshift memorial for the crew members who hadn't made it back.
"In some ways, Mike Kehoe came to symbolize the firefighters" of September 11 — a single image standing in for the roughly 343 members of the FDNY who, like him, moved toward the towers rather than away from them, even as the building's true condition remained unknown to everyone inside it.
A Symbol, and a Survivor's Weight
Becoming the visual symbol of a day defined by mass loss carries its own complicated weight for a survivor — Kehoe has described his life afterward as forever changed not only by the events of 9/11 itself, but by unexpectedly appearing in one of its most reproduced images. Unlike Daniel Suhr or Orio Palmer, Kehoe's story is ultimately one of survival rather than sacrifice — but the photograph endures precisely because it captures, in a single frame, the same instinct that defined the men who didn't make it out: moving up, toward danger, without missing a step.
Not every firefighter climbing those stairs came home. For the full breakdown of the 343 FDNY members who didn't, see how many firefighters died on 9/11.
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