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LOCAL NEWS
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
They have been training for years for a catastrophe. But yesterday, on a moment's notice and with few details of the horror that awaited them, they headed into ground zero of the worst terrorist attack in American history.
Sixty-two men and women from across New England - doctors, firefighters, paramedics and structural engineers - boarded a convoy of trucks and buses in Beverly, bound for New York City and the massive, grim task of search-and-rescue.
``We've been training for years, polishing our skills and hoping something like this would never happen,'' said Gerry Giunta, captain of the Salem Fire Department and a member of the the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Massachusetts Task Force-1 Urban Search and Rescue Team.
``This is the ultimate worst-case scenario. I don't think anyone could fathom the depths of this situation,'' he added.
The team, which was certified two weeks after the 1995 bombing of a federal building in Oklahoma, helped out in the grisly search-and-rescue for six firefighters in the Worcester warehouse fire in 1999.
Yesterday's 14-vehicle convoy, made up of school buses, vans and even a 22-foot motor home, was loaded with 15 tons of equipment - including an American flag.
The convoy, which included four search-and-rescue dogs, pulled out of Beverly Airport around 4 p.m., after rescue team members received a short briefing and gathered for an impromptu prayer service and blessing from clergy.
Giunta said he received the call on his pager at 9:39 a.m., and the message simply said: ``Two planes crashed into World Trade Center Towers in New York. No joke.''
``I couldn't believe it,'' Giunta said, as he readied to board the convoy.
He said team members were trying to emotionally prepare themselves, knowing they would be pulling fellow police officers and firefighters out of the rubble in New York.
Giunta also said the direct route of the convoy was to be kept secret.
``With terrorists, their second attacks are the rescuers,'' he said. ``If they go down, who takes care of everyone?''
The Massachusetts convoy planned to link up en route with other urban search-and-rescue teams from Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana.
``When we get to the scene, our primary mission will be search-and-rescue and structural collapse,'' said Lt. Richard Parker, a Boston firefighter.
``I've been on the Boston Fire Department for 18 years, and I've experienced many incidents, but this . . . '' Parker said, his voice trailing off. ``I am hoping we'll get there and effect some rescues.''
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