Tales from ground zero: an engineer shares his experiences after 9/11

Real Estate Weekly, Nov 6, 2002 by Kathleen O'Hara

The harrowing professional and personal experiences of an engineer directly involved in the post-9/11 recovery effort is the subject of a new book entitled "After 9/11: An Engineer's Work at the World Trade Center."

Donald Friedman, director of preservation at LZA Technology, a division of The Thornton-Tomasetti Group Inc., has written the book detailing the time he spent at the site beginning on Sept. 12, 2001 and continuing intermittently until November.

During those months, working in 12-hour shifts, Friedman, 37, and his co-workers labored tirelessly investigating surrounding buildings for damage, evaluating the stability of mass accumulations of debris and doing everything possible to assist rescue workers in their Herculean efforts. Although his daily trips to the site slowed down after November, many fellow engineers continued working on the site, keeping the project always at the forefront of Friedman's thoughts.

"Certainly through January and February I felt like it was a daily part of my life," said Friedman.

As a distinguished leader in the field of conservation engineering, Friedman was able to lend a specific expertise within the myriad of engineers who converged upon the site in the immediate aftermath of the disaster. But his original experience, as a structural engineer, was in the construction and design of high-rise buildings, a knowledge that served him well in the situation.

"You learn that steel buildings don't pancake," Friedman said. "Engineering would not have prevented this."

Although his team focused mostly on inspecting buildings located east of Broadway, Friedman includes in his book vivid descriptions and chilling photos of major structural damage to many Lower Manhattan buildings, including 90 West St. and the Bankers Trust Annex on 130 Liberty St.

Additionally, Friedman's book gives the reader some insight into the emotional toll that such an immense project can take on someone unaccustomed to seeing such devastation up close. Often Friedman and his colleagues would pass by crowds of New Yorkers waving flags and cheering for the rescue workers he was accompanying down the street. Many times he found himself feeling guilty for being the recipient of the gratitude of the people.

According to Friedman, "We weren't doing anything even remotely heroic. All the real heroes are dead."

Friedman, a Manhattan resident, also teaches engineering of historic buildings at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and has written another book, "Historical Building Construction and the Investigation of Buildings." He also co-authored "Building the Empire State" and "The Design of Renovations." "After 9/11: An Engineer's Work at the World Trade Center, is published by Xlibris Corporation, and can be ordered at Barnes & Noble or Borders stores, or purchased via the web at Amazon.com or xlibris.com.