We Will Not Forget

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A Day of Terror

September 11th, 2001 dawned in New York as a crystal clear day - a perfect day. Throughout the city, Stationary Engineers were readying their buildings for the Tuesday morning influx of tenants. Everything and everyone was at the city's normal hastened pace. None knew that within just a few hours, their city and the lives of everyone within would never again be the same.

Mike Pecoraro helped hundreds to escape only to find himself trapped and staring death in the face.

Mike Pecoraro had gotten up from bed at 4 a.m. to make his normal 2 hour commute from his Long Island home to the World Trade Center, where he worked as a Stationary Engineer on a roving crew that serviced all of the buildings at the com plex. The 36 year-old father of two stopped and bought breakfast on the way into One World Trade Center and changed into his work clothes. At about 6:45 he went to the mechanical shop in the second subbasement, ate his breakfast and chatted with his co-workers who were also arriving for the normal 8:00 a.m. beginning of their shift. Mike's assignment that day would be to continue constructing a gantry that would be used to pull the heads from the 2,500 ton chillers, located in the 6th sub- basement level of the tower. 49,000 tons of refrigeration equipment were located in the lower level of the tower. The 2,500 ton units were the smallest in use.

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