<P> As stated in the 9 / 11 Commission Report: </P> <P> "The Port Authority's on - site commanding police officer was standing in the concourse when a fireball exploded out of the North Tower lobby, causing him to dive for cover ." </P> <P> Survivor Allison Summers described the conditions in the mall right after the terrorist attack: </P> <P> "I had almost reached the (Cortlandt Street) Uptown 1 and 9 station when there was an enormous explosion . The building shook . I heard people say,' Oh, no .' Some, not many, were screaming...I looked ahead past Banana Republic, past Citibank to the plaza outside . At that moment, there was a terrifying tidal wave of smoke filling the doorway . It began to shoot forward . The smoke had this enormous momentum that started to come towards us, as if it had a will of its own . We ran . We ran together past the Coach store . We ran to get out of the path of this enormous wave of smoke . It was like we were being chased . All the people on the concourse ran . We turned right, heading toward the PATH trains . As we ran, shop assistants were calling in doorways,' What happened? What happened?' But we were running so fast we couldn't answer them and they ran with us . Some people were crying; some people were screaming . We moved as one body . No one pushed and no one shoved . We all had the same intention: to get out of the building ." </P>

Westfield world trade center shopping mall in new york