Local Company Aids Ground Zero

10/27/2001 - The Daily Press

ADELANTO - Employees at a welding company here are working around the clock to build five large water trucks that will be used to control dust and cool molten steel in the still-smoldering wreckage the world now knows as Ground Zero.

"When something happens in New York, it touches a lot of people, but you don't expect that a welding shop in Adelanto would be touched by something like this," said Roger Hayes, chief controlling officer for Valew Welding and Fabrication. Hayes received the order Thursday.

Normally, it would take about two months to build five of the water trucks, which cost between $50,000 and $60,000 each. The trucks hold 4,000 gallons of water and can pump up to 2,000 gallons a minute. Usually they are used by special effects companies to make rain for movie productions.

Angel Aerial, a motion picture special effects company, needed five water trucks to hold down the dust still billowing out of the ruins where the World Trade Center towers stood. 

"We dropped everything we were doing and built two in 24 to 30 hours," Hayes said. 

The first two trucks were scheduled to be shipped late Friday night by truckers driving tandem to New York. The trucks should arrive in about three days. Two more should leave Tuesday, and the fifth is set to head out Wednesday.

Hayes said he didn't have any problem finding employees who wanted to put in the extra hours. "We feel like this is our chance to contribute," he said. 

Jim Miller, who co-owns Angel Aerial with Mike Finnerty, said fires are still burning hot in the floors below ground level at the World Trade Center towers, so the cleanup and recovery effort has to include massive amounts of water.

"You're pulling out steel that is actually red on the end and melting," he said. "The fires are an issue now because we are picking things up underground." 

Dust pouring out of the wreckage has also raised concerns about the health of cleanup workers and residents. 

"In the beginning, it was acceptable because it was an emergency," Miller said. Miller's company normally uses the water trucks to create the appearance of rain for movies, but the cleanup effort really isn't much different.

"We are basically making rainfall to keep the dust down." he said.

Valew Welding and Fabrication, a family-owned business since 1954, located at 12522 Violet Rd.