Rob Riggle recalls 'apocalyptic' scene at Ground Zero while searching for survivors after 9/11

Actor Rob Riggle Reflects on 9/11 Experience at Ground Zero

New York, NY – During a recent interview with Fox News Digital, actor and former U.S. Marine officer Rob Riggle recalled the surreal scene he witnessed at Ground Zero after the September 11, 2001 attacks. Riggle, who was serving in the Marine Corps Reserve in Manhattan at the time, described the devastation in graphic terms and offered his perspective on the unity and vigilance he observed in the wake of the tragedy.

Riggle said he was on the ground immediately following the collapse of the World Trade Center towers, where “the skyscrapers had the front of the building clawed out from the falling of the towers.” He described how the debris “gouged out other buildings,” “knocked other buildings over,” and left many “weakened…to such a state that they would collapse.” He also recalled seeing the Brooks Brothers store across the street, noting that “it looked like Godzilla had scratched out the front” of the building, “all gutted out from where falling debris had smashed into it.”

He added that the scene was “so unreal that it was surreal.” “Then you had burned‑out fire trucks and police cars and there were pictures and paper debris, and it was just, it was surreal,” Riggle said. “It was shocking, and it was hard to process for sure.” The actor emphasized the apocalyptic ruin of Manhattan: “I was looking at…skyscrapers that had the front…The scene was just, it was surreal.”

Riggle was part of a volunteer effort at Ground Zero. He recalled working alongside firefighters, police officers, military personnel, construction workers and volunteers who cleared debris “by hand in buckets.” “They avoided using machinery to remove the rubble, in order to avoid hurting potential survivors trapped underneath,” he said. The group was spread out over a large area, and Riggle remembered the uncertainty of each stop. “You didn’t always know necessarily what was going on,” he recalled. “Were we dropping a listening device into the rubble? Did they find someone? Did they find someone alive or did they find remains? You just never really knew what it was.”

When work was halted, Riggle said that “you would pray, you would just put your head down, and you would hope that it was somebody who was still alive.” If remains were found, he and the others would pray for those individuals and their families, as well as for their own strength. “We would say a prayer for them and that their family would get closure,” Riggle said. “And also praying for ourselves, so that we would have strength to keep going, and hopefully find someone soon.”

One theme that stood out to Riggle, according to the interview, was the unity among Americans in the face of tragedy. “One thing that stood out to me about the days following the terror attacks was the unity among all Americans,” he said. “It was a unification that I hadn't seen maybe in my entire life.” He emphasized that political differences did not matter on the day. “It didn’t feel like there was anything separating us,” he said.

Riggle recalled hearing the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives gather on the steps of the Capitol to sing “God Bless America.” “I remember, nobody asked any questions, no one looked at each other and judged down at Ground Zero. Everybody worked,” he said. “And we were unified in trying to figure out what happened and then figuring out a way to help.”

The actor reflected on what 9/11 has meant to him personally. “Twenty-five years after the attacks, the first thing that comes to my mind when I think about being at Ground Zero are the firemen that went in that came from all over the city,” Riggle said. He called them “heroes” and said he chooses to focus on them rather than the terrorists. “That’s the thing I like to focus on,” he said, “rather than the terrorists.”

Riggle said that for many people, 9/11 was “very sobering,” because it confronted the reality that evil acts can occur. He explained that he prefers to remember that for every terrorist there were “literally thousands of people out there trying to do the right thing.” “When people say ‘never forget,’ it means remembering the innocent lives that were lost,” Riggle said. “It means don’t forget that there are people in this world that are committed to hurting us. It means we have to be vigilant always. We can never just take a break.”

He concluded that the day of September 11 reminds him of the many men and women in uniform who work to keep America safe. “We have police, firefighters, EMTs, Marines, soldiers, sailors, airmen, Coast Guard men and women,” he said. “They do it so that we can not have more 9/11s. So that just reminds me that we have to be vigilant. We can’t be naive. And it also reminds me, don’t ever forget that there are more good people than bad people.”

Riggle’s recollections paint a vivid picture of the chaos, the human effort to save lives, and the sense of solidarity that emerged in the aftermath of the attacks. His emphasis on unity and vigilance offers a perspective that resonates with the broader narrative of how the nation has responded to and learned from the tragedy of 9/11.