Fires still burning in subterranean levels pose test to rescuers

By SHARON L. CRENSON
Associated Press Writer

NEW YORK – Far below the World Trade Center, fires still burn.

The twin towers and their five sister buildings once capped seven levels of below-ground parking, communications and security offices, all shot through with subway tunnels and elevator shafts. Spaces that maybe, just maybe, have people in them – or bodies.

Reaching those spaces is perhaps the toughest challenge of New York's rescue effort.

"There's a lot of fire very, very deep," Fire Commissioner Thomas Von Essen said. "But we know we will not be able to put that fire out until we remove the debris."

To complicate matters, the fire smolders near a large stockpile of Freon, nearly 12 tons of gold and 1,000 tons of silver. The precious metals belong to people trading futures contracts on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Burning Freon produces a nerve gas that was used to kill troops in World War I. EPA spokeswoman Tina Kreisher said Monday that the supply below the twin towers appears to be in no danger of igniting. The gold – 0.3 percent of the world's 2000 supply – was worth about $110 million. The silver was worth $133 million.

Of greater value to New Yorkers, perhaps, is the subway system. At least one office building, 7 World Trade Center, which caved in after last week's plane crash, sent steel I-beams stabbing into the tunnel below.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority said no one was trapped or killed there. Commuters evacuated from seven commuter trains running to and from New Jersey were safe as well.

MTA spokesman Tom Kelly said the one-hour gap between the first plane hitting the Trade Center and the first building collapse allowed time to evacuate.

Most, if not all, the people in the Trade Center's basement probably escaped as well, Mr. Kelly said. But Hursley Lever, a 12-year Trade Center mechanic for ABM engineering who was treated for a broken ankle after the attacks, said he still believes people might be alive in the six basement levels.

Officials also said rescue workers cling to the slim possibility of finding a whole floor or tunnel where people were not crushed.

Rescue crews penetrated the lowest underground level beneath the towers Sunday, reaching the New Jersey commuter train station 80 feet down. They found gaps in the debris but no survivors.

"I saw a car with an interior light on, and I got really hopeful that it was a sign," said James Monsini, a volunteer and demolition expert from Brockton, Mass. "But the person was dead."

Vito Geloso, a general superintendent for MTA, said his crews have been unable to reach the Trade Center from underground because of the tunnel collapse. Instead, his crew is concentrating on keeping backup generators running smoothly so trains can deliver passengers to other areas.

All around Mr. Geloso's tunnels Consolidated Edison crews are battling the city's electric woes. The utility reported 6,910 electric customers still without service Monday, along with 5,880 gas customers.

A spokeswoman said the utility had no estimate for when service might be restored.

Michael Simes, part of the Con Ed army working to stretch a sort of gigantic extension cord through lower Manhattan, is spending as much as eight hours in a single manhole.

Working in knee-high rubber boots with an American flag tacked to the back of his hard hat, Mr. Simes calls his crew the "Blue Dragons."

They are working 12-hour shifts with no days off for the foreseeable future.

"We really need to get this up and running," he said.