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Demolition
Teams Relate Ground Zero
Clean-up Experiences
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Project
Managers from all five primary demolition contractors that worked
to clear the World Trade Center site in New York appeared together
for the first time recently to answer questions and relate their
experiences in a compelling seminar at the National Association
of Demolition Contractor's (NADC) 30th Annual Convention in Orlando,
Florida USA.
 Several
hundred delegates attended the highly anticipated "no-question-is-off-limits"
Q&A session. Speakers included David Griffin Jr., Vice President
of D.H. Griffin, Inc. and Demolition Consultant for the Ground
Zero site, Mike Richman of Gateway Demolition, Ed King of Mazzocchi
Wrecking, Jon Manafort of Manafort Brothers and Dennis Dannenfelser
of Yannuzzi Demolition & Disposal. Each firm was responsible
for one quadrant of the site's cleanup during the six months after
9/11.
The panel fielded questions for more than ninety minutes, ranging
from logistical and mobilization issues to payment for various
services, to the emotional toll on their employees and personal
lives. They also recounted dramatic anecdotes that seemed to reveal
as much about their divergent personalities as the challenges
they faced.
 Griffin
told of how he gathered up his family and drove through the night
to the site from North Carolina upon hearing the first news reports.
He also recalled with both pride and amazement how workers logged
over 3 million man-hours, in 24-hour shifts, without a single
fatality. King related the extreme difficulties in keeping his
entire fleet of excavators, high-reaches, cranes and other equipment
operating 24 hours a day for weeks on end. Richman described his
team's anxiety in pulling down large unstable sections of the
South Tower, some as tall as 26 stories. Manafort recounted his
crew's desperate attempts to complete the job by any means possible,
including cutting loose a piece of the North Tower, attaching
it to a crane and swinging it for days to demolish other heavily
damaged buildings.
 Although
every speaker captivated the standing-room only crowd with various
stories, it was Dannenfelser who provided some of the most compelling
observations. Having spent months coordinating retrieval efforts
at the Fresh Kills Landfill in Staten Island, he spoke of working
closely with the FBI and other agencies in developing various
types of debris filtering machines, including one that could recognize
small amounts of "human material" for DNA identification.
He also spoke of retrieving, "about 10,000 pieces of the
airplanes, which I kept in a pile by my truck for safekeeping."
Each of the speakers commented on the dangers involved. Toxic
smoke, unstable mountains of debris, conflicting crane "swing
zones", and navigating through hundreds of police and firemen
searching for co-workers - including some who had literally fallen
asleep on the rubble piles - were just a few of the perils the
demolition teams faced on a continuous basis. Several recounted
losing personal friends in the initial collapse of the structures,
while others spoke candidly of teetering on the brink of losing
their wives and families due to the all-consuming task of seeing
the project through to completion.
 Another
point of interest was the fact that up to $15 million remains
to be reimbursed to various contractors for the cleanup effort.
Several speakers described the extensive damage sustained by their
heavy equipment after running it so long and hard in such an unforgiving
environment. As one explained, "When we went there, nobody
was talking about money…it just wasn't brought up. The only
questions were, 'How much equipment can you get here and how fast?'
Now it's eighteen months later, and the auditing and adjustments
never seem to end. Auditors are asking why a given man or piece
of equipment was needed on a given day, or if I went out and got
three prices, etc."
While the speakers stopped short of criticizing the process, they
said they looked forward to the day when everything would be resolved.
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