RECOVERY

by Glenn Bischoff
Telephone Online
http://telephonyonline.com/mag/telecom_recovery_2/

19 November 2001

 When 7 World trade Center collapsed in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, Verizon’s neighboring 140 West St. central office suffered massive structural damage. Equipment was destroyed, access lines were severed and millions of gallons of water flooded the building’s sublevels. But Verizon’s employees stood firm, and within hours, restoration efforts were under way. A report from Ground Zero on the story of a company and its people put to the ultimate test.

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140 West St. sustained heavy damage. Steel beams from 7 World Trade Center javelined into the building, opening gaping holes on the third and seventh floors ? in the process destroying or severely damaging equipment, cables and wires. The larger of the two holes is on the third floor, which for the most part houses offices and measures about 16 feet high and 130 feet wide. The seventh floor’s new picture window measures about 35 feet high and 40 feet wide. That floor houses switching equipment, much of which was lost or damaged.

Another steel beam crashed into the vault located on the first of five sublevels, destroying cable and cable racks.