New York Fire Chief Richard Picciotto will speak at 8 tonight in Eisenhower Auditorium as part of the university's Distinguished Speakers Series.

Picciotto, the highest-ranking firefighter to survive the World Trade Center attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, is the third of five speakers the series will host this year.

Picciotto and a crew of firefighters were between the sixth and seventh floors of the north tower helping a group of disabled civilians escape from the smoky stairwell when they felt the south tower collapse.

Fearing the worst, Picciotto called for all rescue personnel to evacuate the tower, but he and his crew stayed behind to continue the rescue effort.

Soon after, the rescue team and a 59-year-old woman were trapped in the debris of the north tower when it also collapsed.

Picciotto and the other firefighters tried to make radio contact with rescue teams outside who were digging through the rubble hoping to find survivors. After they established contact, it was more than four hours before rescue teams found the group.

In an attempt to free himself, Picciotto began to climb toward a small opening above where the group was trapped. He described the sight he encountered when he reached the opening as "unfathomable, mind-boggling destruction."

Picciotto remained in the rubble until everyone trapped with him was freed.

He was also part of the rescue team in the north tower after the World Trade Center was attacked in 1993.

Picciotto's recent book, Last Man Down: A New York City Fire Chief and the Collapse of the World Trade Center, will likely be the focus of his speech, said Erin Grenoble, spokeswoman for the Office of Student Affairs.

Grenoble said she hopes students will walk away from the talk with a sense of the heroism of after the attack rather than sadness. "I think his speech will be an emotional one," she said, "but more than that, I think it will be a motivational and heroic talk."

Picciotto was a New York City police officer prior to joining the fire department 28 years ago. He has been in charge of Battalion 11 in Manhattan's Upper West Side for the past nine years and he has received numerous awards for bravery.