Tarentum squad assists New York rescue efforts

Before they called it a day Thursday, seven firefighters from Tarentum had assisted with rescue efforts for 24 consecutive hours in the collapse zone of the World Trade Center towers in New York City.

'You can't even begin to imagine how severe this is, how widespread this is,' Eureka Fire Rescue EMS Chief Rich Heuser said by cell phone. 'How devastating, how much carnage there is.'

The towers were destroyed Tuesday when terrorists flew two jetliners into them, causing them to explode, catch fire and collapse.

'I've been talking to guys who fought in Vietnam and none of them has seen anything to come close to this,' Heuser said.

The Eureka crew is the only out-of-state emergency squad working at the World Trade Center area. Crew members were cleared by FBI agents, who control access to the site.

'It's not just your fight,' Heuser said he told New York firefighters. 'It's all of us.'

Eureka members in New York in addition to Heuser are Chief Engineer Tim James, Deputy Chief Brad James, firefighter/EMT Chad Carter, paramedic Lt. Shannon McKruit, Lt. Leonard Wolfe and firefighter Chris Wojcik.

Heuser said rescue crews at the scene usually work three-hour shifts.

But because Eureka's heavy rescue truck - specially designed to handle structural collapses - is one of only a handful not destroyed when the towers fell, his crew was being asked to work longer shifts.

'We're pulling out right now to get a little rehab,' Heuser said about 4:30 p.m. He said the Eureka crew would get six to eight hours of rest in a hotel before heading back into the rubble.

The crew's first night at ground zero was less than comfortable. A couple of them catnapped on the floor of the rescue truck and others pulled tables together inside a burned out furniture store and slept there briefly.

'Today, we ended up actually substituting for one of New York Fire Department's engine companies for a while,' he said.

Eureka's crew operated NYFD Engine 235 as well as Tarentum's rescue truck in the collapse zone.

The Eureka members are assigned to the Greenwich Road side of what had been the No. 7 tower at the World Trade Center. The building was across the street from the Twin Towers and collapsed hours after the towers fell.

'While we were attempting to control fire in the toppled section of the No. 7 tower, part of the rescue squad crew was doing rescue activities,' Heuser said.

Eureka firefighters worked in the zone with one of New York's tower ladder crews, he said.

'The fire is obviously burning in that area, and they're attempting to tear down one of the buildings that is falling,' Heuser said.

'We can't actually go in and do any searching other than electronic searching until they tear down this 15-story building,' he said.

Heuser estimated the cleanup work might continue through Christmas and beyond.

'There is months, months of (rescue and recovery) work here,' he said.

Heuser said his crew was given reports from New York rescue crews that the subway system below the trade center complex collapsed late Tuesday or Wednesday, possibly killing many more people who had been trapped in the tunnels.

'Those are unconfirmed but we're hearing it from some pretty reliable sources,' Heuser said.

City Editor Matt Provenzo can be reached at mprovenzo@tribweb.com and Assistant City Editor Jim Ware can be reached at jware@tribweb.com .