“I’ve never seen anything like this in my life--a ‘war zone’ of immense destruction with seven World Trade Center buildings completely destroyed and four other buildings damaged covering four blocks square,” said Richard Tomasetti, president of Thornton-Tomasetti Engineers of New York.

Tomasetti led an engineering team to the WTC site on the afternoon of the attack to support FBI, police, and fire rescue, an effort that involved 40 engineers 24 hours a day, leading dozens of engi-neering firms in support of the city’s rescue and recovery efforts.

“Many of our firms have been working at the disaster site since shortly after the tragedy,” said NYACE executive director Jay Simson. “They are working on everything from the safe placement of cranes for debris pick up and rescue operations to building inspection.”