For months after the terrorist attack, some 400 engineers made sure the area was safe for rescue and recovery crews. Now a documentary tells our story.
“Working at Ground Zero in the aftermath of 9/11 was so terrible, but at the same time, we were very grateful for everyone’s work,” says Vicki Arbitrio, shown at center, who coordinated the response by structural engineers. “For months, New Yorkers took better care of each other.” Photo illustration: Momo Shinzawa
The morning of September 11, 2001, I was on the phone in my Manhattan office when some of my colleagues rushed by, saying a plane had hit the World Trade Center. We were a safe distance from there and we gathered around a television as the horrible events unfolded.
The terrorist attack and the subsequent collapse of the twin towers killed more than 2,700 people and caused extensive damage to nearby buildings. Given the nature of what had happened and my knowledge as a structural engineer, I had a feeling that Structural Engineers Association of New York (SEAoNY) members would work at the site, known as Ground Zero, and in the surrounding neighborhoods.
Vicki Arbitrio is featured in a documentary about engineers who worked at Ground Zero. Photo: Deborah Donenfeld
I went to the office the next day and, as then-secretary of SEAoNY, I started to coordinate our response: While first responders, government workers, and contractors conducted rescue and recovery work, structural engineers would figure out how to make Ground Zero and the surrounding areas as safe as possible.
That first week, everything else went on hold. I began emailing people on September 12. The next day, we sent the first teams of four to five engineers to Ground Zero. I made sure that as engineers arrived from around the country, they had whatever they needed (such as safety gear, maps, and site plans) and were briefed to follow protocols.
I was initially apprehensive about going to Ground Zero. The people who were there those first days compared it to a war zone, because of the dust and fires. And the footage on the news was so frightening. Being in the office was much safer. I was still helping; it was important to have somebody with an engineering background coordinating and talking with the media.
I went to the area for the first time on September 18 or 19. At first, I assessed buildings in the surrounding neighborhood. I knew only one person on my team, and not well, but we had all worked in the industry for 20 years. The rule was: Don’t go anywhere by yourself. Go with a buddy. Some of the buildings were in bad shape, but it could be hard to tell from the outside. Many still didn’t have electricity.
“Our task at Ground Zero itself was almost the reverse of what structural engineers normally do. We usually think about how to put the pieces together to create a safe building; here, we were figuring out how a contractor would take buildings apart safely.”
Our task at Ground Zero itself was almost the reverse of what structural engineers normally do. We usually think about how to put the pieces together to create a safe building; here, we were figuring out how a contractor would take buildings apart safely. We assessed how quickly gravity might tear down damaged buildings, and figured out if walking under them was safe. We looked for broken windows, which could fall out, and cordoned off the areas around them.
A lot of paper had been blown around and was lying on roofs. We knew that if it rained, the paper would get wet and clog the drains. It could also get heavy enough to endanger roofs. SEAoNY members made recommendations to the New York City Department of Buildings about how to handle those situations. We also had to make sure the Hudson River didn’t flood the New York subway system. Some engineers studied the collapse to learn how to build safer buildings, while others worked to salvage steel to investigate just how the twin towers fell.
We worked in 12-hour shifts and fell into a rhythm of working 12 hours, handing the work off to the next person, then doing a bit of work for our day jobs before going home and falling asleep. Each day, we returned. The goal was to not burn anybody out—especially the people who were driving to Manhattan each day. At the same time, there was a lot to get done.
Ultimately, some 400 structural engineers helped out between September 12, 2001, and May 2002, when the cleanup was completed. We were volunteers, but the city had us track our hours. Later, we were paid, but many engineers donated their earnings to charity.
I think the first responders and contractors didn’t expect us to be there, and it was a little complicated. But once they understood that the engineers weren't trying to slow anybody down, that we were just trying to keep people safe, they appreciated that. I’ve read stories about contractors who would stop their work and ask, “Well, what do the engineers think?”
In all the months that the contractors, firefighters, and police were at Ground Zero to rescue and recover, no one died on the site, which is incredible. I can’t say that we were the only reason, but we helped make that possible. The National Council of Structural Engineers Associations later used our learnings to create a national standard for structural engineers responding to disasters.
If you go to the 9/11 Memorial Museum, the structural engineering story isn’t there. But SEAoNY has an archive and we published a book about our assessments and the history of what happened. Structural engineers also were the primary authors of a FEMA study of the World Trade Center Building Performance.
We recently realized that some of the older engineers are retiring and some are sick, so we decided to make a film to get their interviews on record. The documentary came out in November 2024, and the Time Magazine website featured 10 minutes from the 45-minute film for the 23rd anniversary of 9/11. We're not quite sure what to do next with the documentary, but we hope that engineers and engineering students, at least, will watch it.
There are so many stories of people who helped others that day and in the weeks that followed. I was with so many different people, navigating so many different situations. I learned to make fewer assumptions, that trusting other people is really important, and that we can't know everything about the other person. I’m still reading about other people’s 9/11 stories today. They’re heart-wrenching stories, and they’re all valuable.
Working at Ground Zero in the aftermath of 9/11 was so terrible, but at the same time, we were very grateful for everyone’s work. For months, New Yorkers took better care of each other. We were all a little kinder.
It’s sad to me that we can’t be like that all the time. I think it’s worth remembering that while so many people died on 9/11, we’re still here. We’re the lucky ones, so we should take care of each other.
—As told to Heather Beasley Doyle
