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NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

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and DDC, with the owner of some buildings adjacent to Ground Zero. He spotted Eschenasy, who is DDC’s chief structural engi­ neer. A light bulb went off. “I started peddling engineers,” says Gilsanz. It was clear the 24/7 operation was too big for one engineering firm—or even four or five—to handle. Eschenasy

■ i(b says he decided Gilsanz’s idea was worth trying. T knew he would deliver,” says Eschenasy. And he did. Eschenasy calls the SEAoNY presence “extraordinary,” practically like having an academy at his disposal. The consensus created a standard, a feeling of confidence that was reassuring. SEAoNY members, as principals of their own firms, were eventually required to sign contracts because DDC had insur­ ance and liability issues associated with volunteerism. But many of the engineers who have been part of the vigil that continues at Ground Zero plan to pass along their compensation. For them, says DePaola, it was all about volunteering—being able SCOPING Gaplock and Andrew Pontecorvo peer onto site. to help. Gilsanz says his most frustrating moment at Ground Zero time for Peter Rinaldi, engineering program manager for the was on Day Two. He was in the street, having just determined Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the for his client that One Liberty Plaza was structurally stable, land and developed the complex. “One morning at 7:30, we when the emergency alarm sounded. “Everybody starts run- were walking the perimeter” and noticed a 1.5-in. x 35-ft fissure ning,” he says, “so I started running. Then I asked, ‘Why are along Liberty Street, just outside the site. “The wall had start- we running?’ ” After some investigation, Gilsanz tracked down ed to move,” says Rinaldi, though the lean-in was not visible. a National Guardsman with a machine gun mounted on a The wall continued to move for two days, for a total of about jeep, who identified himself as the originator of the bulging 9 in. before it stabilized. “We caught it m time,” says Rinaldi, building cry. He had decided the building had moved between by bringing in 50,000 cu yd of fill on an emergency basis. The morning and afternoon sightings of his gun, using a laser ever-changing stability of the bathtub and its contents keep all beam. He was wrong, but no one knew that until later. the engineers on edge. On a given day, one can find engineers Throughout the grueling hours, the uncertainty, the shock pressed up against the window of DDC’s temporary offices on and the grieving, how do the engineers keep on going? They the 30th floor of the American Express Building, peering are fueled by adrenaline, faith, a unified spirit and the com- through binoculars at the site, looking for trouble spots. mon though devastating experience. They use humor to let off For Richard B. Garlock, an associate with Leslie E. Robert- steam. And sometimes, they just lose it for a moment or two. son Associates, a successor firm to the original structural engi- But they never want to give up. neer for the World Trade Center and structural consultant to Engineer Richard Zottola, a LERA partner who was involved the port authority since its completion, the most chilling with the reconstruction of the basement after the 1993 terror­ moment since he first arrived at Ground Zero was when he and ist bombing, says, “Ninety-three was incredibly horrible. But firefighter-sidekick Sam Melisi returned to the basement spirits were high” because although the terrorists had caused chiller plant a week after their initial entry. It had been intact, major damage, they had failed to bring down the towers. but they discovered it had since collapsed. Many Ground Zero engineers use the word “dispiriting” to Garlock and Melisi have grown close since September. “He describe the work. “It’s tough for us to work,” says Zottola soft- looks where no man has gone before,” says Melisi, who calls the ly, “but we’re down there helping as best as we can.” □ 33-year-old engineer the Wanderer. Responds Garlock: “Dur- By Nadine M. Post ing the rescue operation, our number one :p' prioritywas to give the firemen everything they needed.” That attitude is common among struc- tural engineers at Ground Zero. And there SY* are hundreds, evidenced by the efforts of the 300-member Structural Engineers g-- p r Association of New York. On Day One, SEAoNY’s three musketeers—then-presi­ dent W. Richard Mahoney, Edward DePao­ la, current president, and Ramon Gilsanz, former president—began marshalling the association’s forces to volunteer for the Ws cause. How? Gilsanz says about 10 days ns ft.* s before the attack, he bumped into Dan K « -• ; 0 I' "

§ Is Eschenasy, a structural engineer he M worked with in the 1980s, while riding his U FT ‘t ' bike on Manhattan’s upper west side. On ra I Sept. 12, Gilsanz, a principal of Gil- M sanz.Murray,Steficek, New York City, was at Pg the makeshift command center of the ■ I city’s Office of Emergency Management IN THE ACTION Engineers have had to make “snap” Judgements about safety.

28 ENR/DECEMBER 17, 2001

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