WTC security and emergency response newspaper article

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

H++nG... “The buildings came down and spread out to West Street and in every direction,” he said. “To get to the towers you now have to work your way in. That’s what everybody has been trying to do, to work their way in.” His crews are still 100 feet away from the tower, but can now use a new wave of heavy equipment, in­ cluding cranes that can reach across the debris and try to pick out the gnarled masses of steel. Clearing away the debris to get to the physical foundations of the south­ ern tower could take up to two months, Mr. Marchetto said. At the northwest corner, three con­ struction companies are working to clear the damaged or destroyed buildings standing in the way of ac­ cess to parts of 1 World Trade Cen­ ter, the northern tower. Two buildings, 5 and G World Trade Center, have essentially been gutted by fire, said Peter J. Davoren, a senior vice president of Turner Construction Company. The rubble that once was 7 World Trade Center, a building believed to have been evacuated before it was hit by debris from the collapse, is still burning. By late yesterday, crews working from baskets suspended by cranes over 7 World Trade Center were cutting lengths of twisted steel to be re­ moved. “You’re going to see a lot of the smaller machines, the ones that we were using for search and rescue to pick through areas, leave,” said An­ thony Novello, an owner of Nacirema Industries, a company working in the northwest quadrant. “Now you're going to see the big ones, the 220,000-pound machines, that are not made for the gingerly removal.” Complicating the work at the scene are potential health hazards. The magnitude of work still to be done is staggering. Mayor Giuliani said yesterday that 49,553 tons of debris had been transported to the Fresh Kills landfill from the site. Ted Monette, the federal coordina­ tor of the cleanup, said experts esti­ mate that 1.2 million tons of debris would have to be removed. The job could take six months.

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