Area firm helped shore up buildings around Ground Zero

Sawmill cut wood
to build infrastructure
for recovery effort
Correspondent

PHOTOS BY VERONICA YANKOWSKI A worker at Riephoff Sawmill in Upper Freehold prepares wood for the next stage in the mill process, after it has been cut.

As the first anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center draws near, Americans will recall the valiant efforts put forth to rescue and recover the victims.

Most people are probably not aware of the infrastructure needed to perform such a task, but John Falconio, the owner and president of Riephoff Sawmill, Upper Freehold, knows these requirements all too well. From Sept. 17, 2001, to April 29 of this year, his company supplied crane mats to the workers at Ground Zero.

Crane mats, the largest component of Falconio’s sawmill business, are 30-foot-long wooden beams, bolted together and stacked perpendicular 36 inches high. They are used to provide support during construction projects, and were a key element of the infrastructure which allowed the recovery efforts to take place at the World Trade Center site.

Cranes at the World Trade Center site could lift 1.5 million tons, according to Falconio. After the efforts switched from rescue to recovery, "then they could move things around," said Falconio.

Employee Leanne Sparks, 25, sits on top of a crane mat, similar to ones she helped deliver from Riephoff Sawmill to Ground Zero after Sept. 11.

Amquip, a Pennsylvania crane manufacturer, had called Falconio’s company Sept. 17, 2001, to ask what was available.

"They called at 3:20 p.m. and said they needed 40 crane mats," Falconio said. "That’s six tractor-trailer loads. We could only come up with four tractor-trailer loads and had 36 in stock; we worked late and [put together] four mats."

He said Amquip told him, "We don’t know how you’re getting paid, but you’ve got to do it."

The trucks left Allentown at 6:30 p.m. and returned at 4 a.m. "They traveled [to New York] 55 or 60 times. Whenever we got a load done, we ran them up. It was 24 hours a day up there. The last load was April 29, a total of 106 tractor-trailer loads."

Crane mats and other lumber produced by Riephoff Sawmill in Upper Freehold were delivered to Ground Zero over the past year.

Riephoff Sawmill provided 1.2 million board feet of lumber for the World Trade Center site alone. The entire 16 acres of Ground Zero was matted, he said.

"We weren’t set up for that kind of volume — nobody was. We did what we could. We kept every schedule I told them. It was close a couple of times, but we got it done," said Falconio.

His company also provided shoring after the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center. "You have to shore up what’s left [of the building] before rescue," he said.

Falconio said he did not go to Ground Zero himself. "The truckers and their wives went up; I couldn’t. This is where I had to be," he said.

John Stephan, Pennington, a trucker for J&G Trucking, made 58 trips to Ground Zero.

"It’s indescribable," said Stephan, speaking of his reaction to the people on West Avenue waving flags, and holding pictures and thank-you notes.

He said he delivered the mats to Church Street. "There’s a 52-story building behind you. You turn around and you see 110 stories now in a pile. Not to see anything of human nature there, just piles of steel and dust. ..."

While work on the World Trade Center dominated the business recently, Riephoff Sawmill does a great deal of other millwork. Locally, demand is high for horse fencing, and they cut wood for barns constructed by the Amish.

"A lot of our customers are lumber companies in the tri-state area," said Falconio.

The sawmill is a new sponsor of the Horse Park of New Jersey and provides wood for jumps at the facility.

Falconio took the business over from his grandfather, Frank Riephoff, who started it in the late 1950s and incorporated in 1965.

Riephoff, who had three daughters but no sons, taught his grandson the business, and Falconio praised his grandfather’s work ethic.

Falconio said he worked in the mill after graduating from high school and took it over a few years before his grandfather’s death in 1987. There are 20 employees and learning sawyer skills takes a long time, he said. One employee, Joe Marzocca, designed a machine which enabled the mill to produce up to 40 crane mats a day, as compared to the eight to 10 cut daily by hand. Most of the wood the mill uses comes from New Jersey.

"You get to know what wood does what," said Falconio. He said wood can react differently when the sap is up or down.

"We’re a custom mill. We’re not cutting the same thing every day," he said.