9/11 Clean-up Memories Linger

They responded to a rescue effort and remained on the job until one of the largest demolition clean-up projects in the world’s history was completed.

On Sept. 11 2001 and the days immediately following, demolition and construction contractors, equipment dealers and others bearing heavy equipment were among those first on the scene to take part in what all hoped would be a rescue effort for those trapped in the ruins of the World Trade Center and one wing of the Pentagon.

Within a few days it became tragically clear that the recovery of remains and the removal of debris—not the rescue of survivors—would be the focus of the job facing heavy equipment operators who rushed to the scene.

Contractors from the Northeast were naturally the first on the scene in New York, and many of them stayed on through the months of clean-up that followed. Demolition companies such as Yannuzzi & Sons, South Orange, N.J., and Mazzocchi Wrecking, East Hanover, N.J., contributed equipment and operators to the rescue effort.

Many such contractors remained on the job after the rescue became a recovery and clean-up effort, working as sub-contractors to lead contractors Turner Construction, New York; Bovis Lend Lease, London; and AMEC, London.

The mood at the site was somber and the work was difficult, the contractors noted at the time. The unsorted tangle of twisted metal, pulverized concrete and unidentifiable objects was difficult to move and sort. “We have already broken the boom off of one excavator, and that has never happened before. Usually you can see the crack coming and fix it,” John Yannuzzi reported from the scene in September. “And we broke two grapples so far. Not just the tip, but the whole grapple, and those were good ones.”

As the clean-up process moved on, contractors from other parts of the country were brought in, including D.H. Griffin Wrecking of Greensboro, N.C.

Vice president David Griffin Jr. was interviewed by the Winston-Salem (N.C.) Journal for that newspaper’s September 11 edition. The company eventually played a lead consulting role in the ongoing demolition of buildings surrounding the former site of the World Trade Center towers.

“It was a tough job, emotionally, physically and mentally,” Griffin told his hometown newspaper. The task required long hours at a somber work site and long stretches away from his North Carolina home.

“In a lot of ways my wife had a tougher job than I did,” Griffin told the Winston-Salem Journal. “But you’d feel guilty for leaving (the site). You took two days off and you’d feel like you missed a week on a normal job. It was always changing.”

C&D recycling firm Taylor Recycling Facility LLC, Montgomery, N.Y., was also involved in the clean up for months afterward, processing loads of mixed debris at a site established at New York’s Fresh Kills landfill. Some of the debris was retained as evidence by federal and state law enforcement officers, while other fragments were recovered as remains to be sent to forensic technicians.

“When we saw what was needed at Fresh Kills, we knew we could help,” Hans Taylor told C&D Recycler. “There are only a handful of companies in the state or nation with the equipment, expertise and wherewithal to handle this kind of service.”

Griffin traveled to Manhattan from North Carolina to help with the rescue effort. While on site, his knowledge and suggestions regarding carefully moving large debris caught the attention of contractor Bovis Lend Lease. He was eventually retained as a consultant by Bovis and helped clear the south tower site and the former Marriott Vista Hotel.