Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Fire Temporarily Closes Newark Airport, 9/10/01

September 11, 2001, Bergen Record [ NJ], "Fire Closes Runway at Newark Airport," by Daniel Sforza, Staff Writer, Tuesday, Section: NEWS, Edition: All Editions -- Two Star B, Two Star P, One Star B,

NEWARK -- A fire at a construction site forced officials to close the runways at Newark International Airport for 34 minutes Monday.

Planes were diverted to other airports or circled until the runways reopened, said officials from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the airport.

The fire started around 1:20 p.m. in the roof of Building 1, a new administration building under construction in the north area of the airport. The Newark Fire Department and airport fire service responded to the blaze. One injury was reported, officials said.

Flights were delayed up to 30 minutes, but the disruptions were relatively insignificant. "During the midday period, the traffic at Newark is generally light," explained authority spokesman Steve Coleman.

Flights were delayed from 1:26 p.m. to 2 p.m., when the fire was extinguished, because airport firefighting equipment was needed to fight the construction fire, Coleman said. Federal Aviation Administration

regulations require airports to close when firefighting equipment is in use and not available to handle runway emergencies.

The fire occurred as roofers were using hot tar to seal the roof of Building 1 and is believed to have been accidental, said Bob Swales, spokesman for the Newark Fire Department. Officials are still investigating what caused the roofing material to ignite, Swales and Coleman said.

More than 50 Newark firefighters responded to the scene, with one sustaining an injury to his knee. The firefighter was treated at a local hospital and released, Swales said.

The fire occurred in construction near Building 51 on Brewster Road, one of the oldest structures at the airport. Because the fire was contained, the building was not threatened.

Staff Writer Daniel Sforza's e-mail address is sforza(at)northjersey.com

Illustrations/Photos: ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO - Firefighters pouring water on a building under construction at Newark International Airport on Monday, near a taxiway for private jets in the airport's north area. All runways were closed because of smoke from the fire.



September 10, 2001, Associated Press, Fire Temporarily Closes Newark Airport,
Monday,

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) -- Officials shut down flights at Newark International Airport for 35 minutes Monday because of a fire at a construction site.

The fire was at the new administration building, which is several miles from the main terminals. No injuries were immediately reported.

Steve Coleman, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, said flights were halted because airport firefighting equipment was used to put out the blaze.

Major delays were not expected because the fire happened at about 1 p.m. and midday schedules are generally light, Coleman said.

The cause of the fire was under investigation.



Cell Phone Call Reveals Last Moments of SF-Bound Plane
Tuesday September 11 11:27 PM EDT

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/kpix/20010911/lo/1221_1.html

A passenger on United Airlines Flight 93 called on his cell phone from a locked bathroom and delivered a chilling message. "We are being hijacked, we are being hijacked!"

Minutes later the jetliner crashed in western Pennsylvania with 45 people aboard, the last of four closely timed terror attacks across the country.

Radar showed the San Francisco-bound Boeing 757 from Newark, N.J., had nearly reached Cleveland when it made a sharp left turn and headed back toward Pennsylvania, crashing in a grassy field edged by woods about 80 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. There was no sign of any survivors.

"There's a crater gouged in the earth, the plane is pretty much disintegrated. There's nothing left but scorched trees," said Mark Stahl, of Somerset, who went to the scene.

The Boeing 757 crash was one of four reported Tuesday by United and American Airlines. Two jetliners crashed into the World Trade Center in New York City and one hit the Pentagon (news - web sites) in Washington.

United said Flight 93 left Newark at 8:01 a.m. with 38 passengers, two pilots and five flight attendants.

Minutes before the 10 a.m. crash, an emergency dispatcher in Pennsylvania received a cell phone call from a man who said he was a passenger locked in a bathroom aboard United Flight 93. The man repeatedly said the call was not a hoax, said dispatch supervisor Glenn Cramer in neighboring Westmoreland County.

"We are being hijacked, we are being hijacked!" Cramer quoted the man from a transcript of the call.

The man told dispatchers the plane "was going down. He heard some sort of explosion and saw white smoke coming from the plane and we lost contact with him," Cramer said.

FBI agent Wells Morrison wouldn't confirm that the plane was hijacked, but said the FBI was reviewing the tape of the 911 call.

"At this point, we're not prepared to say it was an act of terrorism, though it appears to be that," Morrison said.

Reporters were taken to the top of a hill overlooking the scene. The crash left a V-shaped gouge in a grassy field surrounded by thick woods, just below a hilltop strip mine. The gouge is 8- to 10-feet deep and 15- to 20-feet long, said Capt. Frank Monaco of the Pennsylvania State Police.

Investigators believe the plane crashed there and disintegrated, sending debris into thick trees nearby, Monaco said.

"There's nothing in the ground you can see," Monaco said of the crash site. "It just looks like tiny pieces of debris.

Without citing a death toll, United said Tuesday afternoon that it had identified all passengers and crew members on board the two planes and was notifying family members. No names were released immediately.

At San Francisco International Airport, where the plane was headed, an evacuation was ordered. Bomb-sniffing dogs patrolled the hallways and a counseling center was set up for relatives of the people aboard Flight 93.

"This is a time for compassion. It's not a time for long sermons," said the Rev. John Delariva, a Catholic priest who is part of the airport's counseling team.

Flight 93 also operated as a code-share flight with Air Canada as Flight AC4085.



International terror touches Somerset County [Wednesday, Sept. 12, repeat of Sept. 11th]
By SANDRA LEPLEY,
Daily American Staff Writer,

Somerset County was drawn into a international catastrophe when a Boeing 757 airplane crashed into a former strip mine site outside of Lambertsville in Stonycreek Township on Tuesday morning. All people aboard the plane, 38 passengers and 7 crew members, were believed to be dead.

The Boeing 757 crash was one of four reported Tuesday by United and American airlines. Two jetliners crashed into the World Trade Center in New York City and one hit the Pentagon in Washington. Police officials believe this crash in Somerset County is related to the other terrorist attacks.
The United Airline plane, flying from Newark, N.J., to San Francisco, Calif., crashed into a field alongside a wooded area at about 10 a.m. in what appears to be a hijacking incident.

The hijacking panic in the air was recorded just before the crash at 9:58 a.m. when a a man who said he was a passenger locked in a bathroom aboard United Flight 93 called the 911 on his cell phone and repeatedly told officials the call was not a hoax.

"We are being hijacked, we are being hijacked!" dispatch supervisor Glenn Cramer from Westmoreland County quoted the man from a transcript of the call.

The man told dispatchers the plane "was going down. He heard some sort of explosion and saw white smoke coming from the plane and we lost contact with him," Cramer said.

FBI agent Wells Morrison, the special agent on scene who is handling media questions, wouldn’t confirm that the plane was hijacked, but said the FBI was reviewing the tape of the 911 call.

"At this point, we’re not prepared to say it was an act of terrorism, though it appears to be that," Morrison said.

Rep. James Moran, D-Va., said after a Marine Corps briefing in Washington that Flight 93 was apparently intended for Camp David, the presidential retreat in the mountains of Maryland. The crash site was 85 miles northwest of Camp David.

For Lee Purbaugh, 31, of Listie, the thought of seeing a plane crash right before his eyes still seemed unbelievable to him when interviewed a half-hour later.

"I never in my life thought I would see a plane crash right before my very eyes," said Purbaugh, who was at the wreckage within minutes after the crash.

Purbaugh’s second day on the job at Rollock Inc., a scrap metal company who owns the Diamond T mine, a former PBS mining site directly above the crash site, came with a shocking surprise. The crash happened within 200 yards of Purbaugh’s view.

"I happened to hear this noise and looked up," said Purbaugh, who indicated the plane was about 40 to 50 feet above him. "I didn’t know if I should duck or what because this plane was so low but then in a split second it hit."

Purbaugh describes the crash as "just like a big mushroom cloud." He says when it hit, it "shook the ground, rolled over in some way and then collapsed." The crash site itself didn’t look like an airplane had crashed. From a distance, it seemed like a crater in the ground with smoke coming from it.

Purbaugh thought at first it was just a cargo plane carrying some mail because when he ran up to the actual scene, he didn’t notice any carnage, just some mail around. He also noticed a bookbag. He said the pine trees right next to the sight were on fire from the explosion and the fire was also spreading through the woods.

"I knew about the world trade center at that time but I never expected something like this," said Purbaugh. "There was scattered debris everywhere, some in large chunks, but nothing you could identify. I’m just shocked it happened here."

Mark Stahl of Somerset, who went to the scene immediately afterwards, says, "there's a crater gorged in the earth, the plane is pretty much disintegrated. There's nothing left but scorched trees."

Michael R. Merringer was out on a mountain bike ride with his wife, Amy, about two miles away from the crash site.

"I heard the engine gun two different times and then I heard a loud bang and the windows of the houses all around rattled," Merringer said. "I looked up and I saw the smoke coming up."

The couple rushed home and drove near the scene.

"Everything was on fire and there was trees knocked down and there was a big hole in the ground," he said.

Purbaugh, Stahl and the Merringers were at the site before state police crews and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrived to secure the entire area as a crime site. All media representatives at the site were directed to leave the scene immediately or be arrested. Police helicopter crews circled overhead every few minutes. Within a few hours, a blitz of media crews were camped out by a cornfield off Little Prarie Lane in Stonycreek Township. More than 100 local, national and international print, television and radio media waited for hourly updates from state police and FBI.

"We are preserving this as a crime scene until we determine whether or not it is an act of terrorism in relationship to what happened in the United States today," said Morrison, the FBI agent in charge of the investigation. Morrison indicated that "scores" of other FBI agents will be coming to Somerset from Pennsylvania and other parts of the country to continue the investigation that may end up taking several days or weeks. He said that the agents will be taking some time to get there because air travel is not allowed.

Morrison said everything must be thoroughly documented if recovered from the crash site. He says that is why the FBI and State Police, in addition to firefighters and other crews, are working together in a "methodical way."

According to Dave Fox, the local liaison for emergency management, fire crews from Shanksville, Stoystown, Friedens, Listie, Somerset, Central City, Berlin and Hooversville, as well as Somerset Ambulance, were on scene helping with the clean-up.

State Police Trooper Lyle Szupinka, Area 3 commander, who gave hourly updates to media people, described the whole incident as a "great tragedy." Szupinka says all agencies are well working together to corral the site and preserve the evidence.

He says that eyewitnesses to the crash are being questioned and if anyone happened to be an eyewitness to the crash or otherwise, please call state police in Somerset at 445-4104.

American Red Cross director of Special Events, Chestnut Ridge Chapter, Kristina Dulashaw, explained that an incident like this takes everyone's "collaboration." She worked as a Red Cross representative during the plane crash incident at Aliquippa, Hopewell Township, on Sept. 8, 1994.

"One of our main concerns is the family members and providing any needed mental health services to them when and if they arrive," says Dulashaw. "Our volunteers are trained professionals with experience at handling these kind of traumatic situations."

Betsy Mallison, a Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) who is representing the Pennsylvania Emergency Management at the scene, remembers the horrific plane crash in Hopewell Township in September of 1994.

"I never thought I’d see another one (crash) in my lifetime," says Mallison. "I never wanted to ever see another crash in my lifetime."

(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)



Ridge promises forceful response [posted Wednesday, Sept. 12]
By MIKE O'BRIEN
Daily American Staff Writer

SHANKSVILLE--Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge promised "a forceful and appropriate response" to those responsible for the "irrational, cowardly, despicable, unconscionable, and immoral" actions that caused United Airlines Flight 93 to crash near Shanksville Tuesday morning. The crash killed all 45 passengers and crew members that were aboard the San Francisco-bound Boeing 757, which had originated from Newark at 8:01 a.m. Tuesday morning.

The downed plane is believed to be related to two terrorist attacks on U.S. soil Tuesday, including the destruction of the World Trade Center Towers in New York City and an attack on the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.

The Associated Press has reported that one man aboard Flight 93 used his cell phone to call 911 and tell a dispatcher that the plane was being hijacked. FBI agent Wills Morrison would not confirm Tuesday evening that the plane was hijacked, but did acknowledge that the FBI was reviewing a tape of the 911 call. The crash site is considered a crime scene, although officials have been hesitant to link it to the other terroristic acts of Tuesday morning.

"It's difficult to describe the range of emotions everyone feels when they not only learn about these incidents today, but they’ve actually seen them," Gov. Ridge said. "The dictionary is inadequate, and there just aren't enough words. But I guess the range of emotions goes from rage and anger to sorrow to horror to, I guess, a sense of nausea that we all feel."

By mid-morning state police had cordoned off a three-to-five mile area of land where the plane had crashed. A tour bus was used to shuttle members of the media to a viewing point a few hundred yards from the actual crash site. A state police official told a group of reporters that two people had already been arrested for trespassing in an attempt to take pictures of the wreckage.

After touring the crash site from the air, Ridge commented that "the most telling sign of this horrific tragedy is a large gaping hole."

Officials from the Federal Bureau of Investigations and the National Transportation Safety Board said they will begin the "painstaking work" of recovering evidence and any human remains from the site on Wednesday morning.

Ridge said he spoke with the governors of New York and Virginia, where the other attacks occurred, and offered the support of any emergency crews or equipment that may be needed. Ridge said he had not spoken to President Bush at the time of the 6 p.m. press conference.

Ridge also made a plea to his fellow Pennsylvanians for their prayers, their blood donations and their talents to aid in recovering from the terrorist attacks. He said a registry was being set up for people who want to volunteer their talents. Area blood banks are setting up donation centers throughout the week.

"One of the questions I've tried to deal with all day is how to explain to my two children, and to America's children how something like this could happen. There is no rational explanation, because we don't resolve our differences in this country that way. We have to tell them that there are people in this world who don't share the same value system or the same belief system that we do," the governor said.

After the press conference, Ridge said he was headed back to Harrisburg to sign an emergency disaster declaration which will free up additional state money to assist in the relief efforts currently underway.



Witnesses recall plane crash 
[posted Wednesday, Sept. 12]
By BOBBIE BLACK
Daily American Lifestyles Editor

Bob Blair was completing a routine drive to Shade Creek just after 10 a.m. Tuesday, when he saw a huge silver plane fly past him just above the treetops and crash into the woods along Lambertsville Road.

Blair, of Stoystown, a driver with Jim Barron Trucking of Somerset, was traveling in a coal truck along with Doug Miller of Somerset, when they saw the plane spiraling to the ground and then explode on the outskirts of Lambertsville.

"I saw the plane flying upside down overhead and crash into the nearby trees. My buddy, Doug, and I grabbed our fire extinguishers and ran to the scene," said Blair.

"I saw the mushroom cloud and we called 911 right away," added Blair. "I knew with that crash that it wasn't likely there were survivors, but we had to go anyways. The plane was coming in on a slant and really hit the treeline at an angle."

Lambertsville resident George Beckett was going to visit his mother-in-law Lucy Menear, when the accident occurred. "I had been planning to go in those woods (where the plane crashed) and start looking for some hunting sites. I was going to start right where the plane came down."

Men ear, who lives across from the Lambertsville Road at the intersection where a graveled road leads to the crash site near the strip mine, said, "I felt the ground shake with the impact. I didn’t know the plane had crashed. It was just a big jolt."

Laura Temyer of Hooversville RD1 was hanging her clothes outside to dry before she went to work Tuesday morning when she heard what she thought was an airplane.

"Normally I wouldn't look up, but I just heard on the news that all the planes were grounded and thought this was probably the last one I would see for a while, so I looked up," she said. "I didn't see the plane but I heard the plane's engine. Then I heard a loud thump that echoed off the hills and then I heard the plane's engine. I heard two more loud thumps and didn't hear the plane's engine anymore after that."

She thinks it might have been the plane that went down near Indian Lake in Somerset County.

A plane going over Shanksville wasn’t anything unusual because it is a military flight corridor, said Kelly Leverknight, who lives in Shanksville, just a couple miles from the crash scene.

"I was sitting in my living room when I heard a plane. I ran out to the front porch and watched it go down," she said. "There was no smoke, it just went straight down. I saw the belly of the plane."

She said she heard the explosion, felt the blast, then saw smoke and fire coming out.

"I thought it hit the school," she said.

She didn’t have a car, so she ran to the neighbor's house and the two drove to where the plane had crashed and went into the trees.

"The grass was burned. We saw a bunch of paper and pieces no bigger than a foot around scattered all over the place," she said. "We didn't think there were people on the plane because we didn't see anybody."

Kim Custer, 15, a tenth grader at Shanksville Stonycreek High School, said she was on the second floor of the school, located only a few miles from the crash site, when the plane went down.

"I looked up and saw the ceiling tiles jump up and down, then I felt the whole building shake," she said. "Then we heard a big boom, and a few minutes later the fire alarm system went off, so we all got out of there," she said.

Custer and other classmates had been following the events unfolding in New York City and Washington, DC when the plane went down.

"I was very scared," she said.

(Several other Daily American reporters contributed to this report)





Murtha speaks on tragedy and terrorism  [posted Wednesday, Sept. 12]
By BRIAN SCHROCK
Daily American Staff Writer

JOHNSTOWN --U.S. Rep. John P. Murtha said the federal government was on a heightened state of alert for a month and a half prior to Tuesday's terrorist attacks over reports that a military installation in Washington, D.C., was scheduled to be "hit."

The congressman also speculated that the terrorists who purportedly took over the Boeing 757 jetliner that crashed near Shanksville Tuesday were aiming for another target, perhaps "a second shot at the Pentagon, the Capitol or the White House itself."

"Their destination was sure not an open field in a rural part of Pennsylvania," Rep. Murtha said.
"I thought we were fortunate that plane didn't hit a populated area. It was fortunate it didn't come down somewhere in Johnstown," he added.

The congressman made his remarks via telephone during a brief press conference at the Cambria County Airport. Murtha is scheduled to arrive at the airport this morning and then travel to the crash scene.

Airport air traffic manager Dennis Fritz said the large airplane was never visible from the airport's control tower, despite reports that it passed within 15 miles of the airport, descending at 6,000 feet.<

"It had to be very low on the ridge line for us not to be able to see it," he said. "You should be able to see, from 15 to 20 miles away, an aircraft that size."

Moments earlier, the tower received a call from the FAA Control Center in Cleveland, Ohio, indicating the plane was not under center control and was "doing unusual maneuvers at a low level," he said.

The airport was unable to establish radio contact with the plane before it crashed about 14 miles south in a field in Lambertsville.

Radar showed the San Francisco-bound United Airlines Flight 93 from Newark, N.J., had nearly reached Cleveland when it made a sharp left turn and headed back toward Pennsylvania, according to the Associated Press.

Airport Director Joe McKelvey said the airport was placed under a full security alert and closed following the accident. Twelve other aircraft landed on the tarmac during the day.

The airport was accepting only certain aircraft Tuesday afternoon, among them a state police aircraft and United Airlines jetliner. The airline officials were transporting equipment from the plane to the crash scene in rental trucks, according to McKelvey.

Murtha called the Tuesday's acts "a barbaric attack by fanatic people.

"We are committed to locating them and retaliating as quickly as we can," he said.

The congressman called from outside the Capitol, where he said he could still see the smoke billowing from the Pentagon. Murtha said the pungent smell from the charred remains was reminiscent of Vietnam during the war.

"This was certainly a tragic day," he said.

The attack "took a slice" out of the Pentagon and caused five floors to cave, Murtha said. Preliminary estimates put the damage at as much as $350 million, he added.

Murtha speculated the planes were taken because they were on cross-country trips and were swelled with fuel, which could cause the same damage as smuggled explosives.

The congressman said he hoped Tuesday’s events would not push the country closer to a police state. "It's almost distasteful (already) that you can't get into the Capitol without going through metal detectors," he said.




posted 8 p.m.
International terror touches Somerset County
By SANDRA LEPLEY
Daily American Staff Writer

Somerset County was drawn into a international catastrophe when a Boeing 757 airplane crashed into a former strip mine site outside of Lambertsville in Stonycreek Township on Tuesday morning. All people aboard the plane, 38 passengers and 7 crew members, were believed to be dead.

The Boeing 757 crash was one of four reported Tuesday by United and American airlines. Two jetliners crashed into the World Trade Center in New York City and one hit the Pentagon in Washington. Police officials believe this crash in Somerset County is related to the other terrorist attacks.

The United Airline plane, flying from Newark, N.J., to San Francisco, Calif.,crashed into a field alongside a wooded area at about 10 a.m. in what appears to be a hijacking incident.

The hijacking panic in the air was recorded just before the crash at 9:58 a.m. when a a man who said he was a passenger locked in a bathroom aboard United Flight 93 called the 911 on his cell phone and repeatedly told officials the call was not a hoax.

"We are being hijacked, we are being hijacked!" dispatch supervisor Glenn Cramer from Westmoreland County quoted the man from a transcript of the call.

The man told dispatchers the plane "was going down. He heard some sort of explosion and saw white smoke coming from the plane and we lost contact with him," Cramer said.

FBI agent Wells Morrison, the special agent on scene who is handling media questions, wouldn’t confirm that the plane was hijacked, but said the FBI was reviewing the tape of the 911 call.

"At this point, we’re not prepared to say it was an act of terrorism, though it appears to be that," Morrison said.

Rep. James Moran, D-Va., said after a Marine Corps briefing in Washington that Flight 93 was apparently intended for Camp David, the presidential retreat in the mountains of Maryland. The crash site was 85 miles northwest of Camp David.

For Lee Purbaugh, 31, of Listie, the thought of seeing a plane crash right before his eyes still seemed unbelievable to him when interviewed a half-hour later.

"I never in my life thought I would see a plane crash right before my very eyes," said Purbaugh, who was at the wreckage within minutes after the crash.

Purbaugh's second day on the job at Rollock Inc., a scrap metal company who owns the Diamond T mine, a former PBS mining site directly above the crash site, came with a shocking surprise. The crash happened within 200 yards of Purbaugh’s view.

"I happened to hear this noise and looked up," said Purbaugh, who indicated the plane was about 40 to 50 feet above him. "I didn't know if I should duck or what because this plane was so low but then in a split second it hit."

Purbaugh describes the crash as "just like a big mushroom cloud." He says when it hit, it "shook the ground, rolled over in some way and then collapsed." The crash site itself didn’t look like an airplane had crashed. From a distance, it seemed like a crater in the ground with smoke coming from it.


Purbaugh thought at first it was just a cargo plane carrying some mail because when he ran up to the actual scene, he didn’t notice any carnage, just some mail around. He also noticed a bookbag. He said the pine trees right next to the sight were on fire from the explosion and the fire was also spreading through the woods.

"I knew about the world trade center at that time but I never expected something like this," said Purbaugh. "There was scattered debris everywhere, some in large chunks, but nothing you could identify. I’m just shocked it happened here."

Mark Stahl of Somerset, who went to the scene immediately afterwards, says, "there's a crater gorged in the earth, the plane is pretty much disintegrated. There's nothing left but scorched trees."

Michael R. Merringer was out on a mountain bike ride with his wife, Amy, about two miles away from the crash site.

"I heard the engine gun two different times and then I heard a loud bang and the windows of the houses all around rattled," Merringer said. "I looked up and I saw the smoke coming up."
The couple rushed home and drove near the scene.

"Everything was on fire and there was trees knocked down and there was a big hole in the ground," he said.

Purbaugh, Stahl and the Merringers were at the site before state police crews and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrived to secure the entire area as a crime site. All media representatives at the site were directed to leave the scene immediately or be arrested. Police helicopter crews circled overhead every few minutes. Within a few hours, a blitz of media crews were camped out by a cornfield off Little Prarie Lane in Stonycreek Township. More than 100 local, national and international print, television and radio media waited for hourly updates from state police and FBI.

"We are preserving this as a crime scene until we determine whether or not it is an act of terrorism in relationship to what happened in the United States today," said Morrison, the FBI agent in charge of the investigation. Morrison indicated that "scores" of other FBI agents will be coming to Somerset from Pennsylvania and other parts of the country to continue the investigation that may end up taking several days or weeks. He said that the agents will be taking some time to get there because air travel is not allowed.

Morrison said everything must be thoroughly documented if recovered from the crash site. He says that is why the FBI and State Police, in addition to firefighters and other crews are working together in a "methodical way."

According to Dave Fox, the local liaison for emergency management, fire crews from Shanksville, Stoystown, Friedens, Listie, Somerset, Central City, Berlin and Hooversville, as well as Somerset Ambulance, were on scene helping with the clean-up.

State Police Trooper Lyle Szupinka, Area 3 commander, who gave hourly updates to media people, described the whole incident as a "great tragedy." Szupinka says all agencies are well working together to corral the site and preserve the evidence.

He says that eyewitnesses to the crash are being questioned and if anyone happened to be an eyewitness to the crash or otherwise, please call state police in Somerset at 445-4104.

American Red Cross director of Special Events, Chestnut Ridge Chapter, Kristina Dulashaw, explained that an incident like this takes everyone's "collaboration." She worked as a Red Cross representative during the plane crash incident at Aliquippa, Hopewell Township, on Sept. 8, 1994.

"One of our main concerns is the family members and providing any needed mental health services to them when and if they arrive," says Dulashaw. "Our volunteers are trained professionals with experience at handling these kind of traumatic situations."

Betsy Mallison, a Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) who is representing the Pennsylvania Emergency Management at the scene, remembers the horrific plane crash in Hopewell Township in September of 1994.

"I never thought I'd see another one (crash) in my lifetime," says Mallison. "I never wanted to ever see another crash in my lifetime."

(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)



Emergency crews coordinate crash responseposted 4:25
By VICKI ROCK
Daily American Staff Writer

A former state police trooper saw United Airlines Flight 93 shortly before it crashed near Shanksville.

Larry Williams, who is now a private investigator in Boswell, was golfing on the 17th green at Oakbrook Golf Course about eight miles away when he heard the engines “roar real loud and shut off."

The plane banked, then gained altitude, turned left and then went straight down, he said. It landed in a coal strip mine field.

"There was no fire or smoke, it was just like the engines shut off," Williams said. "I told the guys I was golfing with that plane's a commercial flight. It sounds like it's in trouble. I thought it was trying to head to the Johnstown Airport. I didn't see anything after that."


Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency said the Boeing 757 was en route from Newark, N.J. to San Francisco. There were 45 people on board and no survivors. The plane was being monitored by the FAA Control Center in Cleveland, Ohio, which lost contact at 35,000 feet.

Allegheny County sent an air search crew to verify that a crash occurred, according to Somerset County Commissioner Pamela Tokar-Ickes, who was serving as media coordinator. State police and all emergency services crews from Somerset and Fayette counties responded to the scene with assistance from Westmoreland and Cambria counties. The FBI, National Transportation Safety Board, and FAA went to the scene. Dave Fox, from the emergency management office, was at the scene serving as media coordinator there.

Richard Lohr, director of Somerset County Emergency Management, said Cambria and Fayette county 911 centers sent people to the Somerset center to assist in handling calls. The City of Pittsburgh sent paramedics here. The top floor of the parking garage was closed to be used as a staging area.

Artis Kitchens and Barry Shaffer, members of the Somerset County Amateur Radio Club, were in the emergency management conference room to establish communications between emergency management agency, the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army.

"We'll also send amateur radio operators to the scene to help with communications there," Kitchens said. "We want to make sure there's plenty of communications in the fields. We did the same for the tornadoes and floods."

District Attorney Jerry Spangler said because of problems with telephones, state Attorney General Mike Fisher e-mailed him and asked him to call with information.

Don Barclay, Bedford-Somerset Mental Health/Mental Retardation Agency, went to the 911 center to say mental health teams were available to meet with emergency crews.

State Rep. Bob Bastian (R-69th District) issued the following statement: "Our thoughts and prayers are with those who lost their lives in the tragic events of Tuesday in New York City, Washington, D.C. and right here in our own backyard."

"Because we have become the world's policeman we are hated by many in the world, but I would hope that before we start pointing fingers of blame, all of us need to stand behind our President, pray for him and for those who lost their lives and their families’ terrible loss."

He asked people to donate blood for the New York City and Washington, D.C. areas are in need of large amounts of blood.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with those affected," Bastian said.

News of the airplane crashes in New York prompted officials at SCI-Laurel Highlands, one of the county’s two state prisons, to order a full-scale lockdown of the facility.

Prisoners were locked in their cells and inmates who were outside the facility on work details were brought back inside, according to public information officer Betsy Nightingale.

Nightingale said the lockdown was lifted around 2 p.m.

The prison continued to operate as it would on a holiday with minimal staffing, she added, meaning there was limited movement of the prison’s 412 inmates.

The county's other state prison, SCI-Somerset, could not be reached by telephone. SCI-Somerset has just under 2,000 inmates



45 die in jet crash   posted 2:00 p.m.
By VICKI ROCK, Daily American Staff Writer,

A jet crashed near Shanksville, Somerset County, about 10 a.m. Tuesday killing its 45 passengers.
Larry Williams, a former state police trooper who is now a private investigator, was golfing on the 17th green at Oakbrook Golf Course about eight miles away when he heard the engines "roar real loud and shut off."

The plane banked, then gained altitude, turned left and then went straight down, he said. It landed in a coal strip mine field.

"There was no fire or smoke, it was just like the engines shut off," Williams said. "I told the guys I was golfing with that plane's a commercial flight. It sounds like it's in trouble. I thought it was trying to head to the Johnstown Airport. I didn't see anything after that."

Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency said the United Airlines Flight 93, a Boeing 757, was en route from Newark, N.J. to San Francisco. There were 45 people on board and no survivors. The plane was being monitored by the FAA Control Center in Cleveland, Ohio, which lost contact at 35,000 feet.

Allegheny County sent an air search crew to verify the crash, according to Somerset County Commissioner Pamela Tokar-Ickes, who was serving as media coordinator. All emergency services crews from Somerset and Fayette counties responded to the scene with assistance from Westmoreland and Cambria counties.

Emergency crews respond to the scene of an airplane crash Tuesday morning near Shanksville, Somerset County, Pa. A United Airlines Boeing 757 traveling from Newark N.J. to San Francisco, Calif. crashed into a coal strip mine.

It was reported that a total of 45 persons were on board. There were no survivors. (Photo by Dave Escherch/ Daily American)Dave Fox, from the emergency management office, was at the scene serving as media coordinator there.

Richard Lohr, director of Somerset County Emergency Management, said Cambria and Fayette county 911 centers sent people to the Somerset center to assist in handling calls. The top floor of the parking garage was closed to be used as a staging area.

Dr. Michael Dillon, executive of the Appalachia Intermediate Unit 8, which serves Somerset County and Blair, Bedford, Cambria counties, called the emergency management agency and recommended that schools not be released early so children would not be going home to empty houses. But the decision was being made at each individual school.

District Attorney Jerry Spangler said because of problems with telephones, state Attorney General Mike Fisher e-mailed him and asked him to call with information. The FBI went to the scene.

Don Barclay, Bedford-Somerset Mental Health/Mental Retardation Agency, went to the 911 center to say mental health teams were available to meet with emergency crews.

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