Harry Jernigan Quotes in The Towering Inferno (1974)

Chief O'Hallorhan: How long before you can give me a complete list of your tenants?

Harry Jernigan: Oh, you don't have to worry about that, we're moving them out right now.

Chief O'Hallorhan: Not live-in. *Business* tenants.

Harry Jernigan: Well, we kind of looked up there, too. The majority of them haven't moved in yet, and those that have aren't working tonight.

Chief O'Hallorhan: I want to know *who* they are, not *where* they are.

Harry Jernigan: [perplexed] But what does that got to do with anything, who they are?

Chief O'Hallorhan: [patiently] Do you have any wool or silk manufacturers? You see, in a fire, wool and silk give off cyanide gas. Do you have any sporting goods manufacturers, like table tennis balls? They give off toxic gases. Now, do you want me to keep going down the line?

Harry Jernigan: [now understanding] No. One list of tenants coming right up.

Chief O'Hallorhan: Thank you.

[Doug Roberts gets a call for Harry Jernigan from the Security station in the Tower basement]

Doug Roberts: Harry? It's for you.

Harry Jernigan: [Picks up the phone] Jernigan.

[There is a pause as Jernigan learns from a security officer on the other line that Lisolette Mueller is trapped on the 87th floor, trying to rescue the Albright family in their apartment]

Harry Jernigan: What? Damnit man, you should have sent a man up there!

[pause as the officer tells Jernigan that he called the Albright apartment earlier but there was no answer]

Harry Jernigan: How do you expect Mrs. Albright to hear a phone call? She's deaf!

[pause as the officer asks about the two Albright children]

Harry Jernigan: Sure the kids can hear!

[pause as the officer asks why didn't the Albright children answer their phone]

Harry Jernigan: I don't know. Maybe they were in the shower or something when you called.

[Another pause as the officer asks Jernigan something]

Harry Jernigan: No, you stay where you are. I'll get them down.

[Jernigan hangs up the phone as Doug Roberts listens while Kappy angrily demands reinforcements over his radio]

Harry Jernigan: There's still some people on 87. I'll get 'em down.

Doug Roberts: I'll give you a hand.