‘It was total chaos the most devastating sight I’ll ever see.’
By: Gwen Runkle
PLAINSBORO Township Committeeman Ed Yates and his two sons, Jonathan, 18, and Christopher, 21, were among the many tradesmen lending a helping hand at the World Trade Center last week.
All electricians, the three went to Manhattan on Thursday and returned Friday morning.
"We were right at ground zero," Mr. Yates said.
"Some guys helped dig," he added. "A lot of us helped unload boats of medical and other supplies. Then we got the call around 5 or 6 p.m. The mayor wanted to set up the Regent Wall Street Hotel as an emergency relief center for rescue workers to have a place to shower, eat and rest, but the building was without power. We had to get it running and hey, we’re electricians that’s what we do best."
Mr. Yates and his sons, along with other electricians from the Local 3 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, worked throughout the night hooking up temporary electrical lines and generators for the building.
Neither Mr. Yates nor his sons said they had adequate words to describe what it was like at "ground zero."
"It was a pretty sobering experience. TV and the newspapers just haven’t been able to grasp the magnitude and scope of how devastating it is down there. It really is overwhelming," Mr. Yates said.
"It is a terrible thing," said Jonathan Yates. "Why someone would do this, I just don’t know. I mean it’s not just the twin towers, everything around there is gone. It was total chaos the most devastating sight I’ll ever see."
But they also pointed out that, amid the devastation, the mood was not entirely negative.
"There were people on the street cheering for all the workers going by," Christopher Yates said. "People say some really bad things about New Yorkers but man, all the patriotism, they were really amazing. People were giving out free food, drinks, clothes, flashlights, whatever you needed."
Mr. Yates added, "It was amazing to see all the people there doing whatever they could to help. I saw people from Missouri there and a fire truck from Chicago."
The family threesome said they’d like to go back and help some more.
"I definitely want to go back," Christopher Yates said. "It’s almost addicting. When you come home, nothing else seems real. You feel like you have to go back, that it’s where you have to be."

