.........
...The federal presence was much larger in New York, as well. A dizzying blur of acronym soup arrived to help: CDC, FAA, FBI, HHS and dozens more. At the height of the federal response, there were a total of 6,547 federal employees, including 1,544 from FEMA and its US&R task forces, supporting operations in New York and Virginia. Of the 27 available FEMA US&R teams, more than 20 eventually rotated through New York, representing a total of 1,240 firefighters and 80 search dogs. As many as eight teams at a time operated in New York.
http://firechief.com/mag/firefighting_first_respondersfeds_join/
*****
And although this is a fire scene, it is also a crime scene, which means a large unit of crime scene investigators is present, working from a tent at the corner of West St. and Liberty. (
Report from Ground Zero by Dennis Smith, p.194)
There are two dump sites. One is in Fort Hamilton, Brooklyn, and the other is in Great Kills, Staten Island. At each location police investigations unit detectives and FBI agents are spotting and sifting through every truckload, searching for the flight recorders of the planes and for any remains of the victims. (ibid, p.201)
*****
In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, the FBI's response was immediate. In a matter of hours we had deployed to each of the crash sites, ordered dozens of seasoned management personnel back to Washington, and fully staffed a 24/7 operation at our Command Center with up to 500 persons representing approximately 30 federal agencies. At the height of the 9/11 investigation, known as PENTTBOM, the FBI assigned 7,000 agents to assist full-time. The majority were reassigned from other national security and criminal investigative work. The lack of prior counterterroism training and experience, although not recognized by the OIG, needs to be factored into this discussion. ...Meanwhile, PENTTBOM became the largest and most complex investigation in the history of the FBI. In spite of operating under severe handicaps, the New York Office - relocated to a garage on 26th street, and lacking a proficient infrastructure - began a 24/7 operation utilizing 300 investigators from 37 agencies. The 1-800 toll-free line set up in our Atlanta office received 180,000 calls from a shocked public eager to assist. 225,000 e-mails were received on the FBI's internet site. Evidence response teams from throughout the country were dispatched to New York, Washington and Pittsburgh. Nationwide we covered over 500,000 investigative leads and conducted over 167,000 interviews. We collected over 7,500 pieces of evidence which were submitted for analysis. Working in conjunction with New York City agencies and authorities, we helped process over 1.8 million tons of debris for investigative leads and victim identification and took more than 45,000 crime scene photographs.
http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2003_hr/062503rolince.html
*****
Approximately 7,000 FBI Employees Were Redirected in Early Weeks. At its peak, approximately 6,000 Special Agents were working on the investigation with assistance from support staff. Additional resources were dedicated to the related threats and tragedies such as the anthrax investigation, Olympics security, the Richard Reid investigation, and the Daniel Pearl kidnapping. New FBI Investigative Groups Were Created. The Financial Review Group, Document Exploitation Group, and E-Mail Exploitation Group were all created since September 11th. In addition, the Telephone Applications Group as well as the Threat, Warning, Analysis and Dissemination Groups were both expanded.
http://www.fas.org/irp/news/2002/05/fbireorganizationfactsheet.pdf
*****
At least 449 responding organizations in New York City. Over 8,000 people given security clearance to work at Pentagon crash site Good look at Arlington County, Virginia (Pentagon) first responder organizational structure
http://dels.nas.edu/dr/docs/harrald.pdf
*****
Flight 93: Shanksville At Shanksville, which was by far the smallest of the three 9/11 crash scenes, over 1,100 people from 74 agencies and organizations worked at the scene. On 9/11 alone, these included: • 8 Police Departments • 7 EMS Services • 8 Fire Departments • 10 Emergency Management Agencies • NTSB • ATF • FBI • CISM • Red Cross • United AirlinesSource: PowerPoint presentation by Rick Lohr, Director of Somerset County Emergency Management Agency. Download it here as a PDF
http://wtc7lies.googlepages.com/SomersetCountyEmergencyManagementAge.pdf
*****
In addition to the estimated 10,000 Fire Department of New York (FDNY) personnel, an estimated 30,000 other workers and volunteers potentially were exposed to numerous psychological stressors, environmental toxins, and other physical hazards.
http://www.cdc.gov/MMWR/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5335a1.htm
*****
Because of ongoing fire activity and the large numbers of civilians and rescue workers who were killed during the attacks, approximately 11,000 FDNY firefighters and many emergency medical service (EMS) personnel worked on or directly adjacent to the rubble and incurred substantial exposures.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/...ve&db=PubMed&list_uids=12238534&dopt=Abstract
*****
OSHA calculates that in over 3.7 million work hours, only 57 non-life threatening injuries were recorded at the WTC site.
http://www.pdhealth.mil/library/downloads/The Occupational Safety and Health Admin istration%20Response.pdf
*****
You’re dealing with a work scene that, in the first week or two, had probably two to three thousand, if not more, emergency responders on the scene. Pretty much 24 hours a day. All of them with various backgrounds and training. You had construction workers, you had heavy-equipment operators, you had medical workers, firefighters, police officers, hygienists, military personnel. All of them with different levels of training, different types of equipment. So you had to try and logistically bring in all of the equipment for these people. You’re bringing in multiple manufacturers and vendors. —Firefighter-special operations panel member
http://www.rand.org/pubs/conf_proceedings/CF176/CF176.ch2.pdf
*****
Fresh Kills Crime Scene Info * The site covered 175 acres. * 24 local, state, and federal agencies participated, with as many as 1,000 workers a day * 17,000 tons of material were processed daily. * 55 FBI Evidence Response Teams worked the site -- over 1,000 agents -- plus FBI medics, safety officers, and other specialists. * New York Evidence Response Team members worked over 8,000 hours at the site, at the morgue, and at Ground Zero -- and one, Special Agent Gerry Fornino, personally worked over 1,818 hours at the vehicle recovery operation with the Port Authority and NYPD. Source:
http://www.fbi.gov/page2/nov03/nyhs112703.htm
*****
Number of U.S. Customs Agency Volunteers working search and inspection at Fresh Kills Landfill: at least 193
http://www.cbp.gov/xp/CustomsToday/2002/March/custoday_location.xml
*****
from RECOVERY: THE WORLD TRADE CENTER RECOVERY OPERATION AT FRESH KILLS (PDF of Traveling Exhibit) The exhibition chronicles the quiet history after September 11. The days at Fresh Kills ended as discreetly as they began. Debris removal at Ground Zero ended on June 28, 2002. The sorting at Fresh Kills officially ended on July 2 at 1:02 p.m. Recovered from the 1.8 million tons of material inspected: 4,257 human remains helped bring closure to hundreds of families; 54,000 personal items and 4,000 photographs, many returned to their owners; 1,358 personal and departmental vehicles; and thousands of tons of steel. The numbers are difficult to process, but these images begin to tell the story. The Police, FBI, City Sanitation workers, and the thousands who worked there made history “on the hill.” The hill that overlooks downtown Manhattan where the towers once stood is now changed forever – Mark Schaming Director of Exhibitions and Programs New York State Museum Above exhibit thanks to these organizations working at Fresh Kills: The New York Police Department The New York Fire Department The Federal Bureau of Investigation New York City Department of Sanitation Phillips and Jordan, Inc. The Fresh Kills Incident Commander, NYPD Inspector James Luongo, Lt. Bruce Bovino, FBI Special Agents Richard Marx and Gerry Fornino, the FBI Evidence Response Team, the NYPD Recovery Team, the Port Authority Police Department, NYC Department of Sanitation, and all the people from the World Trade Center Recovery Operation
*****
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers receives Fresh Kills debris management contract
http://sept11.wasteage.com/ar/waste_fema_assigns_fresh/index.htm
*****
400 FBI Agents working at Fresh Kills (and some taking souvenirs?)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4373627/
*****
As you know, on September 11, 2001, Special Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and New York Police Department (NYPD) detectives were dispatched to the Fresh Kills Landfill on Staten Island, New York to process the debris of the World Trade Center (WTC) for physical evidence and human remains. This recovery effort, the largest and longest in the FBI's history, resulted in 1.8 million tons of debris being collected and examined by twenty-four federal, state, and local agencies. On September 12, 2001, I was designated to lead and coordinate this effort as an Evidence Response Team (ERT) Leader. This operation ceased in August 2002. –Richard B. Marx, Special Agent
http://www.ussartf.org/news.htm Engineer salvage yard visits for steel inspection As of March 15, 2002, a total of 131 engineer visits had been made to these yards on 57 separate days. An engineer visit typically ranged from a few hours to an entire day at a salvage yard. The duration of the visits, number of visits per yard, and the dates the yards were visited varied, depending on the volume of steel being processed, the potential significance of the steel pieces being found, salvage yard activities, weather, and other factors. Sixty-two engineer trips were made to Jersey City, 38 to Keasbey, 15 to Fresh Kills, and 16 to Newark. Three trips made in October included several ASCE engineers. Eleven engineer trips were made in November, 41 in December, 43 in January, 28 in February, and 5 through March 15, 2002. Source: FEMA WTC report, Appendix D
....
rganic vehicle ratio of about 30%:70% - which is pretty much the typical ratio for a ready-mixd paint, not a pigment.