Public Employee Press

Tech Squads at Ground Zero

Engineers oversee $1 billion cleanup, protect workers at site

Behind the scenes, a veritable army of dedicated professional and technical workers is making sure the cleanup at Ground Zero proceeds smoothly, safely and ahead of schedule.

“We are ensuring that the contractors are doing the job properly,” said Project Director Winston Sealey, “and we prevent workers from putting themselves into dangerous situations.”

Mr. Sealey is among 60 members of Civil Service Technical Employees Guild Local 375 from the Dept. of Design and Construction who oversee the construction contractors the city hired to remove the tons of debris at the 16-acre site.

In over three months of highly dangerous demolition operations, the DDC team has kept injuries to a minimum, and not one employee has died in a work-related accident.

The union members were excited to learn in December that Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani had backed off his plan to turn over their supervisory role to the Bechtel Group, a giant in the construction and engineering industry. Mr. Giuliani dropped his contracting-out plan after the union fought back and reports from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers praised the work of the municipal employees.

Since the Sept. 11 disaster, dozens of other Local 375 members have also contributed to the city’s recovery effort.

Structural Engineers, Inspectors and Surveyors assessed the damage to scores of buildings in the area. Fire Prevention Inspectors staffed the Fire Department’s missing persons hotline. Environmental experts monitor the air quality and ensure that demolition workers follow health and safety standards. Members at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner are helping identify victims through DNA testing. Criminalists at the police laboratory are assisting in detective work.

John A. Luke, chief engineer at the Office of Public Health Engineering at the Health Dept., headed a group of members who conducted tests to determine whether the destruction of the World Trade Center had caused water sources to become contaminated.

They checked fire hydrants, area schools and several buildings, but didn’t find any problems.

The Health Dept. professionals also made sure that trucks carrying debris away from the site were wetted down and covered to prevent contaminants from spreading to other areas in the city.

Putting in six-day workweeks, the 60-member DDC team keeps track of the deployment of workers throughout the area and supervises debris removal, making sure the crews use excavation and other equipment properly.

A major task of the DDC group involves overseeing the effort to sustain a mammoth underground wall that surrounds the entire Twin Towers area. The concrete wall, about two-feet thick and 70 feet deep, had to be reinforced to prevent the Hudson River from flooding the site.

“With so much going on, it’s amazing that that there have been no work-related fatalities,” said Herve Carrie, a Construction Project Manager. Mr. Carrie credits city workers with the superb safety record at the site.

“This is our house,” said Ron Vega, a Design Construction Manager, reflecting the special reverence and pride that the workers at Ground Zero bring to their job.

“I came from the private sector,” said Mr. Vega. “But I can tell you that no one but public sector workers can do this. There is nobody like us who is going to work as hard to bring this city back from the brink.”

Scientists escape death as towers collapse, return to their jobs

Carol Gestring feared her husband might never again be the gentle giant she married.

Brian Gestring, a 6-foot-4-inch, 260 pound Criminalist at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, was knocked unconscious and seriously injured Sept. 11 as he bolted from the base of the collapsing South Tower of the World Trade Center.

Three of his co-workers — Amy Mundorff, Brian Desire and Ralph Ristenbatt — were also hurt and nearly killed that day. The group responded to the attack with the OCME’s crime reconstruction unit. The horror of their experiences at Ground Zero and Mr. Gestring’s ongoing recovery have created a special bond among the four members of Local 375.

After escaping with their lives, Ms. Mundorff, Mr. Desire and Mr. Ristenbatt made their way to the water’s edge, and a police boat took them across the river to Jersey City.

They feared Mr. Gestring had died, but they met him when they got off the boat. The police had found him — dazed and wandering the waterfront in Battery Park City. All four were treated at Jersey City Medical Center.

The professional workers were among dozens of DC 37 members injured as they worked at Ground Zero. Three members died helping victims of the World Trade Center attack.

Struck by falling debris, Mr. Gestring required 45 stitches to close his head wound. He went through three rounds of surgery on his eyes, which were damaged by glass from the collapsing building.

But even more heart-wrenching for Carol Gestring was the emotional and psychological damage to her husband. The encounter with death changed him.

“It was scary,” said Ms. Gestring, who is a nurse and acted as her husband’s advocate during his week at the hospital. “I was seeing things in Brian — the man I’d fallen in love with and married — that I was having trouble explaining. Brian is a very calm guy, but he was becoming hostile. He was screaming. He was getting upset. One time we were going to a doctor and he panicked. He didn’t know where he was. I didn’t know if I would have my husband again. Being a nurse, I understood that some of this stuff happens when you have a head injury. But it’s different when it’s your husband.”

The Gestrings learned that he was suffering from post concussive syndrome. Common among hockey players and boxers with serious head injuries, the disorder results in memory lapses and problems connecting words and images. Fortunately, most people recover.

But his recovery has been a tough battle. Early on, music made his head throb rather than relaxing him. He would inexplicably lose his temper. He forgot telephone conversations. “There is a lot of emptiness,” Mr. Gestring said, “a lot of survivor guilt because you got out alive. It’s horrible beyond belief.”

After several weeks out, Mr. Gestring is now back on the job with the others. They find solace in their work, but vivid memories of Sept. 11 linger.

“I definitely would not be as sane as I am now if I weren’t working 12 hours a day, six days a week,” said Amy Mundorff, a Forensic Anthropologist who is analyzing bones to help identify victims. “I had to go back. I knew there was work to be done.”

Fortunate survivors of WTC

When the tower collapsed, the shock wave blew Ms. Mundorff 15 feet and slammed her into a building. She suffered a cracked rib, two black eyes, a bump on her forehead the size of a peach and leg lacerations that needed stitches.

“I remember seeing big steel beams coming down and thinking I was dead,” said Mr. Desire, who broke his left foot Sept. 11. “I was running for a building across the street. A warm rush of air pushed me through a window.”

A Criminalist and DNA researcher, Mr. Desire, like Ms. Mundorff, immerses himself in the Medical Examiner’s effort to identify victims. He doesn’t dwell on his experience.

A Criminalist, Mr. Ristenbatt is busy preparing orders for supplies for the forensic unit’s new truck. The team’s 2000 Ford Excursion — a mobile criminal lab — was crushed in the building collapse.

“Every time I see a plane or helicopter I start to think about that day,” said Mr. Ristenbatt. He feels fortunate to have survived Sept. 11 with a sore elbow, scrapes on his hands and a bump on his head.

“You walk into a building and you think about how you can get out. But I feel I am doing quite good. Maybe it’s my belief in God.”