Pentagon Disaster Restoration

"We at ServiceMASTER Clean are among the most fortunate citizens.
We were called to serve at The Pentagon.
We served the extraordinary group of men and women who are the Pentagon.
They changed us, and that change is irreversible."

- Michael Isakon
President
ServiceMaster Clean

Read the Following Article

Amid Pentagon dirt and soot, cleaning crews found pride

By Linda A. Moore
Reprinted with permission: The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, TN, September 12, 2003

Shortly after a jet crashed into the Pentagon two years ago today, the owner of the nearby ServiceMaster Clean franchise in Alexandria, Va., sent his people home for the day.

Later that evening, as Greg Gandee sat at home watching television coverage of the aftermath, his telephone rang.

I thought, Who in the world is calling me? Gandee said Wednesday.

Someone from the Memphis headquarters of ServiceMaster Clean was on the line.

They said, Greg, they want us over at the Pentagon. I said, No problem. If that was what we were being requested to do, we'll figure out a way to get it done.

ServiceMaster was being called upon to clean up the smoke- and water-damaged areas of the massive five-sided structure in a project that constituted the most extensive disaster cleanup in the companys history.

By 5 a.m. Sept. 12, a team from Memphis had driven to Washington, joined that day by 240 ServiceMaster Clean crew members, to begin a project that lasted more than two months but stayed forever with those involved.

Word spread throughout the ServiceMaster Clean network, and franchisees from across the nation began offering their services. Franchise owners sent trucks, crews and supplies. During its peak, more than 300 company employees were at work at the Pentagon.

Emotions ran high. They still do when those involved talk about their contribution two years ago.

We felt like we were actually doing something to help our country, said Jeff Coulter, vice president of disaster restoration.

Corporate executives and franchisees said the project gave them a sense of pride, a feeling of accomplishment and tied them for life to people at the Pentagon, both living and dead.

You couldnt help at the World Trade Center, said Jim Wassell, vice president and chief marketing officer for ServiceMaster Clean. But the Pentagon had to keep working. So to keep that building running, if you wanted to help, the best job in America was cleaning the Pentagon, but we had to keep it secret.

Security concerns kept ServiceMaster Clean from announcing the companys work for the government, and corporate officials wont say how much the company was paid.

And although it was work they were proud of, they dont see it as a promotional tool. We didnt want to commercialize this because it was an honor, Coulter said.

The groundbreaking ceremony for the Pentagon was held Sept. 11, 1941. Exactly 60 years later, a Boeing 757 hijacked by terrorists crashed into the buildings west face at 345 miles per hour. Killed in the crash were 125 people inside the Pentagon and 64 on the airplane.

The damage to the building went beyond the crash site. Smoke and soot from the jet fuel traveled through the corridors covering everything from furniture to walls to floors to equipment.

But with the nation under attack, the Pentagon, the headquarters for the U.S. Department of Defense, could not shut down and regroup.

We basically had to get back in business, said Darryl O. Diggs, Pentagon assistant services program manager. It was Diggss responsibility to oversee the cleaning of the building, which, with civilian and military personnel and visitors, welcomes 30,000 to 40,000 people a day.

About one-fifth of the approximately 4 million-square-foot building was damaged by the airplane.

That was the only section ServiceMaster Clean crews didnt clean.

They cleaned everything.

We took light fixtures out and apart and cleaned them, said Chris Caldwell, the Paris, Tenn., franchisee who supervised cleaning crews.

They cleaned computers with toothpicks, digging at soot and dirt trapped in keyboards.

They cleaned in areas where classified documents and other sensitive information had to be concealed from workers.

And as they cleaned, they got to know the members of the security details and the employees who all knew someone killed.

We worked in offices that had heavy losses, and they talked about those people and their families, Caldwell said. It was as if you knew those people.

One Pentagon worker was in the crash area and survived the attack, only to learn his son was a passenger on the airplane that struck the building, he said.

The plane struck the one area of the Pentagon where renovation to reinforce the building against attack had been completed.

One of the cleaning crews escorts told them of being in the Pentagon courtyard when the airplane hit and how he saw an individual banging first his hands and then a chair on the reinforced windows before succumbing to the fumes and smoke.

Its ironic that the very thing that made the building safer probably prevented some people from getting out, Caldwell said.

It was also a stressful workplace.

Early in the work, fires were still burning, and suspected terrorist threats prompted evacuations.

It was kind of a constant fear for two weeks that the building was still a target, said Jim Wills, director of ServiceMaster commercial disaster restoration.

Overall, Caldwell said, a member of his team summed up the experience with: I feel like I'm in the middle of a big, red X.

Security for the crews was intense, including checkpoints to enter and exit the building and escorts whenever they moved around, including meals and restroom breaks.

ServiceMaster workers also underwent federal security clearances that were tightened because of the terrorism threat and the high-security officials who visited the building.

During one visit, President Bush personally commended Caldwell for his crews' work.

The crews cleaned 24 hours a day in 12-hour shifts.

Despite the hardships, the secrecy and the physically and emotionally demanding work, they look upon the experience with great pride.

Pentagon workers and ServiceMaster crew members left the job with great respect for one another.

The Pentagon workers appreciated the cooperation they received from the ServiceMaster crews, who understood the importance of the work going on in the building.

And ServiceMaster workers say they gained a heightened appreciation for the people who work as part of the nations defense team.

By the time they left here, we were like family, Diggs said. They were very understanding of the pressures and strains we were under.

Company officials said they feel honored to have been able to serve.

There was a patriotic feeling and a love of country, said president Michael M. Isakson. I hadnt had an opportunity to serve in the military, but in our own way, we feel good about what we did. That was a time of tremendous hurt but it was a special time because we all came together.

Copyright, The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, TN. Used with permission.