“I had Just Visited Hell”
Ground Zero Workers Discuss Experiences,
One Year After September 11

OAKLAND --- The Oakland Museum of California commemorated the first anniversary of September 11 last night with “Report from Ground Zero,” a remarkable panel discussion that brought together an Oakland firefighter, a structural engineer, and two journalists to recall their lifechanging experiences amid the ruins of the terror attacks in New York City.

The 62 member Oakland Urban Search and Rescue team, four rescue dogs and 64,000 pounds of equipment traveled to New York to join the search for survivors in the twisted ruins of the World Trade Center. William Whittmer, Oakland Fire Department battalion chief, led his team into ‘The Pile’ – the towering mountain of smoldering rubble at Ground Zero. “I was overwhelmed with the feeling that I had just visited hell,” he said of his first visit.

The team joined their New York fire-fighting brothers and others who toiled around the clock at the site. The only time the work stopped, he said, was when the men in the brown coveralls retrieved a body.

Still clearly troubled by the fact that they never found anyone alive, Chief Whittmer said, “We went to New York to show that America doesn’t give up on anyone.”

Dr. Abolhassan Astaneh-Asl, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at U.C. Berkeley, examines the impact of earthquakes and terrorist actions on structures. He arrived in New York a week after the attack to conduct a structural investigation of the towers’ collapse.

Unable to bring himself to enter Ground Zero, he examined the truckloads of molten, blackened steel as they emerged. Of the nearly 300,000 tons of steel in the two buildings, he sought the 10,000 tons of “critical” steel that had either sustained a direct hit by the planes or buckled in the intense heat. He broke down the day he found an eyeglass lens embedded in the steel.

Dr. Astaneh-Asl explained that inadequate fireproofing, an open floor plan, and lightweight gypsum walls around the stairwells allowed the fire to spread rapidly. Using computer models he demonstrated how the intense heat of the burning jet fuel melted the external beams that supported the floors, collapsing the floors and eventually, the entire building.

As a result of his investigation, Dr. Astaneh-Asl encourages developers to include better fire protection and clearer escape routes in buildings. He also recommends that engineers, architects and developers work with fire safety engineers to ensure that buildings are built with safety in mind.

Photojournalist Susan Pollard and her colleagues at the Contra Costa Times drove a red Chevy Blazer cross-country on a 19 day journey to document the nation’s response to the attacks. Along the way they visited tiny Cook, NE where the church bell beckoned the residents to pray for the victims. In Wichita, KS a woman in a house newly painted like the U.S. flag served them lunch. They learned that even a war can’t stop the party in New Orleans. And at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC Pollard photographed a Polish tourist who brought her baby to America, undaunted by the attacks.

KPIX anchor Dana King was the only local TV journalist sent to Ground Zero – and she almost didn’t make it there. Caught in limbo as the government repeatedly closed and reopened the nation’s airspace, King’s chartered plane arrived in New York two days after the attack. There King was struck by the kindness of strangers. She watched as a few hundred people brought food, clothing and supplies for the firefighters and rescue workers at Ground Zero.

As she covered disasters around the world, King said she always wondered how Americans would react to a catastrophe at home. The caring and giving she witnessed in New York made her feel gratified to know that we do the right thing, she said.

“Report from Ground Zero” was a part of the American Association of Museum’s nationwide day of remembrance.