Page 2 THE SAUGUS ADVOCATE – Friday, September 13, 2019 ASKS | from page 1 Editor’s Note: For this week’s interview, we sat down with Saugus Fire Department Lt. Damian Drella to talk about how his life was affected by the events of Sept. 11, 2001. Drella, a 28year veteran of his hometown fire service, was among the local firefighters who traveled to New York City to help in the early days after two commercial airliners hijacked by terrorists flew into the World Trade Center towers, destroying the landmark of the city’s financial district and causing the deaths of 2,763 people. He also had a friend who was one of 343 New York City firefighters who died that day. Lt. Drella grew up in town and is a 1985 Saugus High School graduate – one of three members of that year’s class who are top officials in the Saugus Fire Department; his classmates included Lt. William Cross III and Capt. Thomas Nolan. Drella worked as a dispatcher for three years before he was hired as a Saugus firefighter in December 1991. He and his wife, Andrea, have two sons: Alex, 30, a paramedic in Lowell, and Christian, 25, who graduated recently from EMT school. $3.39 $2.40 GALLON GALLON We accept: MasterCard * Visa * & Discover Price Subject to Change without notice 100 Gal. Min. 24 Hr. Service 781-286-2602 * Corporate Litigation * Criminal/Civil * MCAD * Zoning/Land Court * Wetlands Litigation * Workmen’s Compensation * Landlord/Tenant Litigation “We’re an emergency services family,” said Lt. Drella, noting that his wife worked as an EMT. Drella has worked as a photographer for the Fire Department for many years while working closely on fire investigations with the State Police and the Massachusetts Fire Marshal’s Office. Many of Drella’s photographs of fires and accidents have been published in The Saugus Advocate and other local newspapers. He is a life member of the Charlesgate Yacht Club in Cambridge. Highlights of this week’s interview follow. Q: Damian, what did you think about when you got up this morning, on the 18th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks? Do you have a lot of reflection on the events that happened? A: Yes, I do remember it. One of the sayings that we have – “You always remember – you never forget.” A lot of people, Lawrence A. Simeone Jr. Attorney-at-Law ~ Since 1989 ~ * Real Estate Law * Construction Litigation * Tax Lein * Personal Injury * Bankruptcy * Wrongful Death * Zoning/Permitting Litigation 300 Broadway, Suite 1, Revere * 781-286-1560 Lsimeonejr@simeonelaw.net as time goes on, they kind of forget the seriousness and the magnitude of the things that occurred that day. And, I think, like the ceremony that we had this morning, we try to carry it on. A lot of the firefighters that are working today … they are in their 20s and some of them were little kids at the time. At coffee this morning, one of the firefighters asked, “Where were you on September 11, 2001?” And one kid says, “I was in junior high school – I was in eighth grade.” I’m saying to myself, “My Goodness … in 2001, I was a firefighter for 10 years at that point in my life.” I had two young children that were in school that day. I wasn’t on duty that day as a firefighter. I was working my part-time job, but I was on the road, locally, and the story broke on the news. And I was near a television and they started showing live footage of what was going on. And being a firefighter, I saw what was happening and I said, “This is bad.” I have a lot of friends in FDNY. I got to New York City on a regular basis. I have friends in New Jersey and New York City. I spend a lot of time there, before I was a firefighter and still to this day. I was down there this past Labor Day weekend. So, I knew the magnitude of it. I saw what was happening and I said, “This isn’t good.” Nowadays, you can actually listen to the radio traffic for New York City live on the internet now. Back then, I don’t think you could at the time, so it was tough to get real-time information on what was happening. Watching it unfold on TV, I knew the seriousness of it. And the company that I was working for at the time (and I still do as a parttime job) – I was doing deliveries at the time, and they called us back to the shop, and they said, “Why don’t you get out of the shop? They’re evacuating the high-rise buildings in Boston. They don’t know if anything is going to happen. They don’t know what’s going to happen next.” And I said, “What about my children?” Everybody was going home early from school. And they said, “Alright, don’t work anymore – go home.” Luckily, the elementary school where our kids attended was right next to our house, so I came home early. Everybody came home. I remember having everybody at home that day and watching it unfold on TV. I knew the scope of it, once the buildings collapsed; I said there are hundreds of firefighters in and around that building, and I knew it was not going to be good. Q: So, what was your role at the time? And at what point did you decide you were going to go down there to New York City? A: As far as my role … we didn’t know what was going to transpire, so my part-time job that I was working on September 11, 2001 … we work with radios, communication equipment. Because they lost so much communications equipment in New York City, things were in disarray and they needed extra equipment, so at the company where I worked my part-time job, we arranged through the Boston Fire Department union to bring down radio equipment – spare radios, spare batteries, equipment and just said, “Here … if you guys can use this stuff, take it.” EMISSION CONTROL PLAN | from page 1 ment is currently reviewing the draft decision that was released Wednesday by MassDEP. Peter Manoogian, a Saugus resident and longtime critic of the Wheelabrator facility, called the DEP “an oxymoron.” “It’s supposed to be Department of Environmental Protection, but they are allowing this incinerator that’s been operating for 50 years to continue to operate at standards that would not be allowed for plants operating anywhere else,” Manoogian said. “Whatever they want, they can get from the Baker Administration or DEP. This plant is beyond its useful life. But the DEP is lowering the operating standards,” he said. Back in December, selectmen submitted a letter to MassDEP, objecting to the new ECP filed by Wheelabrator. Board of Selectmen Chair Debra Panetta protested at the time that Wheelabrator “does not want to adhere to the required emission standards that the DEP has imposed.” She noted that So that is how I ended up going down to New York. I think it was late September 12 or 13th. I couldn’t remember, but I went down for a couple of days with a number of employees from the shop. Q: And what was the name of the company? A: ALL-COMM Technologies in Revere, Mass., where I have worked part-time now for over 25 years. Q: Okay, so you volunteered to go down there. A: Yep. I said, “I know the layout.” I’ve been in the World Trade Center. I’ve been on the plaza. I know where it is and the fire station. They call it Ten House. In New York City, it’s Engine Company 10 and Ladder Company 10, right across the street from the World Trade Center site. Q: Did you know any of the guys that worked there? A: I did not know any of the guys who worked in Station 10, but I did know some of the guys that passed away on September 11. Some of them were from up here [Massachusetts]. We took the FDNY entrance exam back in the day, and they got hired and I didn’t. And I’m alive and they’re not, so September 11 has a deep meaning for me. As far as what I did post that day … I did a little support, but I wasn’t on the pile, digging at Ground Zero. I didn’t get involved with that. I was there for support and logistics and stuff like that. I got to see some pretty bad stuff, as far as upside down cars. I can’t speak from being in a military war zone, but that’s the only way to express it, because it looked like ASKS | SEE PAGE 5 Wheelabrator was seeking less restrictive standards because its trash-to-energy incinerator is one of the oldest plants in the country and meeting today’s standards is too costly. But James Connolly, Wheelabrator’s Vice President of Environmental, Health and Safety, defended the plan submitted by Wheelabrator. “The wasteto-energy industry is among the most stringently regulated in the world. Wheelabrator Saugus complies, and will continue to comply with the current emissions standards the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) deems safe,” Connolly said last year. “Our facility operates in compliance with all regulations established by MassDEP as well as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). These limits are not a choice, they are mandatory and a base requirement, and Wheelabrator continues to be in compliance,” he said.
3 Publizr Home