25 Years Later: NARI Members Reflect on 9/11 Recovery Efforts

By Anne Marie Gehardt, NARI Communications Manager

Twenty-five years later, many of us remember exactly where we were when we learned of the September 11 terrorist attacks. For NARI members Doug Dervin and John Quaregna, CR, that day marked the beginning of a call to serve—one that has stayed with them for more than two decades.

 

Dervin, the owner of a Long Island remodeling business, can still hear the wail of sirens as emergency vehicles raced toward New York City.

“That day was very surreal. We shut down the office and didn’t reopen for days,” said Dervin, who lost several friends in the New York fire and police departments.

“I want to remember that day, and I don’t want to remember it.”

Quaregna, the owner of a New Jersey remodeling business, was on his way to a job that morning when he witnessed the unimaginable. “I watched the buildings come down from across the Hudson River,” Quaregna said. “There was so much smoke and dust. It was horrible.”

Knowing he needed to do something to help, Dervin contacted a friend who served as a New York City first deputy police commissioner. With Quaregna's assistance, they began developing a plan.

“The first deputy police commissioner took us to Ground Zero and the Staten Island (Fresh Kills) landfill, where trailers for the FBI, FEMA and NYPD had been set up for crews collecting and sifting through debris for remains and personal items from the World Trade Center,” Dervin said.

Building Shelter

With winter approaching, Dervin and Quaregna got to work on their plan to build a protective covering to shield workers at the 175-acre Fresh Kills landfill from toxic dust, wind and other harsh conditions. The project included scaffolding, roofing, sheds and elevated walkways around the trailers.

They rallied NARI members and suppliers and completed the job in just one week.

“Many came to the rescue, including NARI volunteers from Massachusetts, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and New Jersey,” Quaregna said. “All the materials were donated. They arrived with tractor-trailers loaded with roofing and decking materials, and DeWalt donated saws, drills, generators and compressors.”

Members of the former Massachusetts chapter also traveled to the Bronx, where they built a storage area at the old 44th Precinct station house. “So many countries sent protective items like gloves, boots and safety products to New York City that they needed a place to store them all,” said Quaregna. “We also provided food and water to crews at the landfill.”

NARI members across the country raised funds to support the effort, and then-NARI President Tony LaPelusa played an instrumental role in leading the response. 

Dervin estimated that the donated labor and materials would have cost approximately $250,000.

The grim recovery work at Fresh Kills was initially expected to take two years. Dervin said the facilities NARI members constructed helped crews complete the work in less than a year.

Service Recognized by the NYPD
 

The New York Police Department later thanked NARI for supporting its rescue and recovery mission at a local gathering. In an article published by The Record, a New Jersey newspaper, Lt. Greg Magini of the NYPD’s building maintenance section expressed his appreciation for the protection the volunteers provided at the landfill.

“The Northeast NARI group did a phenomenal job in helping the police recovery effort by making a terrible situation bearable,” Magini said. “They gave us two 12-by-20-foot sheds at Fresh Kills and gave us floating walkways that made our walk stable and helped prevent us from tracking dirt into the various trailers. They added a roof to protect us from the elements and wood barriers that stopped the horrific winds and dust from the backhoes and trucks that were dumping debris at the site.”

Today, several reminders of that service are displayed at NARI headquarters in Wheeling, Illinois: a blue hard hat bearing a 9/11 emblem and signed by then-New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, along with two certificates from the New York Police Department recognizing NARI members’ skill and professionalism in supporting the rescue and recovery efforts following the World Trade Center disaster.

 A Lasting Emotional and Physical Toll

Twenty-five years later, Dervin and Quaregna continue to deal with the emotional and physical toll of those days. Like many who assisted in the rescue and recovery effort, they undergo annual cancer screenings due to potential exposure to toxic materials in the rubble. Dervin was recently diagnosed with skin cancer, which, according to the World Trade Center Health Program, is among the most common 9/11-related cancers.

“We lost one NARI member to pancreatic cancer,” Dervin said. “It’s tough, but I will be alright.”

Despite the lasting toll, neither regrets volunteering.

“I’m proud of it, and it was one of the biggest accomplishments of my life,” Dervin said. “It made me feel good. It was the right thing to do, and I would jump at the chance to do it again.”

“It felt really good to know we were helping,” Quaregna said. “I even brought my son and employees to help, and I paid them for the day. How could we not help?”

Quaregna remembers every detail from the days following the attacks. For him and Dervin, those tragic memories will remain with them forever.

“What happened must never happen again,” Quaregna said. “We must never forget.”