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NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document ■I

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YDUN6 GUN Casale, 29, manages fleet of Mazzochl equipment digging at WTC. S'.i pretty large crack in the terazzo floor. I climbed in there a little bit farther. The whole time I was screaming, ‘Can anyone see this light? Can anyone hear me? Does 8? j''/*

anyone need help?’” He and other res- cuers eventually encountered about 40 or 50 people, “very disoriented, choked by smoke, who needed proud to be here,” says Quinn, despite the cut in pay and 12- hurrying in the right direction,” he says. hour days. After exiting, Fraunfelter began to brief rescue crews. “I ran Also relishing the professional and personal opportunity is I' to our office and brought drawings of the areas that had been David GrifSn Jr., vice president of D.H. Griffin Wrecking Co., a i hit and explained how the Pentagon is laid out, what was occu- Greensboro, N.C., firm making its debut in New York. 'The con- pied and unoccupied space, and where I had searched,” he says, tractor, founded by Griffin’s fether, started in September as a “Being a construction worker was really helpful.” sub to Bovis but was hired by the city in October as its sitewide In lower Manhattan, the unique cleanup demands have demolition consultant The 33-year-old Griffin started working attracted a collection of skilled niche contractors. Mazzochi for his father at 16 but thisjob is different firom anything he ever Wrecking, based in East Hanover, N.J., was already on New York encountered. Challenges ' y City’s emergency contractor list but joined a host of other Jer- included bringing down ' - .J* '■' sey firms in donating equipment. Now the firm is a sub to prime unstable tower facades, ' contractor AMEC and its bright orange excavators pepper the one that was 26 stories i f site. Manning the fleet fells to Michael Casale, a 29-year-old for- high. “Cutting structures ' mer laborer. “Work is hard because there’s no plan here,” he down was tough because says. “You don’t know what’s underneath each beam.” they were already dam- । Casale notes the prog- aged,” he says. “This is the ; I I Bl ress since Sept. 11 but also the politics. “They’re pushing us for more pro- h ductivity, which I under- stand,” he says, but con- ! cerns about the site’s slurry wall and removal largest demolition job ; that’s ever been done.” Just north of Ground ^10 Zero, along the Hudson River, Joe Ruff serves as an assistant project manager of the cleanup’s offsite Bl offreon in underground debris disposal operation EfiBi_____ £ 1 chillers still delay work run by Weeks Marine, a PRIME Bovls’ VltchBPS directs work. I s U day to day. “We do large jobs, but this is bigger,” Cranford, N.J., marine contractor. Thousands of tons of heavy steel girders and other I I' I la! Casale says. Steven Quinn, a real estate agent in New Jer- sey, was awed when he wreckage have been processed by four huge cranes at that site and its sister operation near Battery Park. Most of the time, the 24-hour-a-day work is routine. But sometimes, the disaster hits home. “Guys have found scrapbooks, awards, and photos,” he 11 . 5^ saw Mazzochi President Nick Mazzochi, a busi- says. “It reaffirms our resolve and makes you feel you’re doing something good.” And just last month, remains were found on I ness friend, on television soon after Sept 11. He a delivery truck that had to be sorted at the disposal site. Tt put a hush over our site for awhile,” says Ruff. “But maybe it will help called the firm immedi- some family find closure." ” ; ately to volunteer on site. Peter Tully, president of WTC prime contractor Tully Con- Three weeks later, Maz- struction Co. Inc., sees other benefits in the work. At least 80% ■ zochi hired him to han- of his 700 employees have participated at Ground Zero. “It’s e J die the mountain of actually brought the company together,” he says. “Everyone is ■MfaJa paperwork WTC firms touching the job, and we’ve never had a job like this.” □ I LOADING Weeks’ Ruff hauls out steel, must process. “I’m very By Debra K. Rubin and Thomas Sawyer

30 ENR/DECEMBER 1'7, 2001

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