Pittsburgh Post-Gazette from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania • Page 25

B-14 PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 1 1, 1994 THE CRASH OF FLIGHT 427 1 mi ill i i crash area, finding human remains and marking their location with small red flags before they were removed to a refrigerated truck. "It was the worst thing I ve ever seen. I don't know if it is going to hit me later on. It was gruesome," Gallagher said. Finding refrigeration trailers to keep body parts cool was another least 12 were needed, but the first appeal located only one tractor-trailer and two box refrigeration trucks from Mastro Ice Co.

Martin Ritter, Brentwood's emergency management coordinator, managed to round up several others through a produce company. Eventually, enough had been located to have four at the accident site and others at Pittsburgh International foe a temporary morgue. The order list didn't stop there. Also needed were such items as eight examination tables; three lead-shielded portable X-ray screens; six portable overhead examination lights; 10 folding tables; and an autoclave to sterilize equipment Somehow, they were found. Major Ken Wheeler of the 91 1th came up with some of it, and Brad McGill, Butler Counts deputy director of emergency operations, came up with more.

In the end, close to 1,000 Allegheny county employees and volunteers joined counterparts from Beaver County effort to exhume the victims' remains, said Steve Wilharm, operations officer for Allegheny County's Emergency Management Agency. Access to the scene was eased by Allegheny County construction crews under Maintenance Director Joseph Moses, who punched a new road almost three-quarters of a mile through the rugged terrain to approach the crash scene from the south while widening and extending an existing road to approach the site from the west. All of that sweat and ingenuity was focused on helping as quickly as possible. A. draws blood from rescue worker Daniel Ray JUviy to check for antibodies.

1Y fflMlffi John BealePost-Gazene Win McNameeReuters Elsewhere in Pittsburgh and around the nation, others had their eyes focused on the future, and for some, on their wallets. The smoke hadn't cleared from the crash site before jockeying began. "Families of victims have to be concerned with the unfortunate practice of some lawyers who converge on disaster sites, representing themselves to be experts, in an effort to snare clients," said Downtown lawyer Howard Specter. The descent of lawyers after major disasters is so prevalent and notorious that the Pennsylvania Bar Association issued a warning Friday, urging families of crash victims to be wary oflawyers and representatives of insurance companies contacting them. The bar association said it considers, it unethical for lawyers to solicit clients', in Ierson, and it advised families who want egal advice to make the first contact: But that won't keep some lawyers from coming here.

John Coale of Washington, D.C., who said he was the first American lawyer to arrive in Bhopal, India after the Union Carbide toxic chemical disaster, and the first to sue over the Waco, Texas, Branch Davidian siege, said he would arrive in a few days, and would probably begin by sending brochures and packages of information to relatives of the crash victims. Other firms that may enter the scene specialize in aviation law, like Speiser, Krause, Madole Lear of Washington, D.C. Gerard Lear said the firm has represented people in almost every air disaster over the past 20 years. But just to be sure, iis firm sent a press release Friday to business and transportation editors, describing its experience and offering "to provide some insights on the technical and legal aspects of this disaster." "We pride ourselves on not approaching clients. We wait for somebody to call us, Lear said.

Stanley Chesley, a Cincinnati lawyer who opposed USAir on cases arising from the March 1992 crash at LaGuardia Airport in New York that killed 27, said families: of victims should not make any quick settlements. Instead, he advised, they should get past the funerals of family members, meet with friends and family and support groups, take care of each other, and then make any legal decisions. In contrast to some lawyers, life insurance agents for victims' families will have little need to be assertive. In a tragedy like this one, where there1 is no question of deception by a beneficiary, most life insurance companies will pay off SEE PAGE B-T5 victims' remains. The news of the crash and its loss of life spread quickly.

Once it seemed clear there could be no survivors in the heavily wooded crash area, Elans were developed to identify the victims their their most irreducible parts teeth and bones. other structures in the body are as durable and well-documented as teeth. A crown, a filling even the kind of filling can lead investigators to a positive identification. Dr. Michael N.

Sobel, a Squir rel Hill forensic odontologist, rushed to the scene to offer his expertise. The University of Pittsburgh sent four dental faculty members and 50 to 60 dental students to assist with dental-record identifications. A team of about 10 FBI agents and fingerprinting specialists were also helping. Dr. Cyril H.

Wecht, a forensic pathologist and former Allegheny County coroner, said it might be possible to identify 75 to 95 percent of the bodies by the end of next week, although others thought the task would be more daunting. But before the specialists could comb through the wreckage, the crash scene had to be photographed and staked out so it could be reconstructed later by investigators. At the request of the Allegheny County coroner's office, archaeologists from Mercy-hurst College in Erie suspended their work at the Meadowcroft rock shelter in Washington County, the site of prehistoric hunters, so they could use their instruments to map the location of each body part at the accident site. The maps will be combined with fingerprints and notes on the remains to help identify the victims. If the archaeologists were asked to transfer their skills to a new situation, others were asked to take on tasks they had never peformed, and hoped they never would again.

Dan Gallagher, who normally maintains the wave pooland other attractions at South Park, was drafted to wander through the llnlmh fihw-b Jp' I -r! in Mr 7 i rf 1 i i t'- 4 I 4 I I 8 I Mf 1 i Uz Bistolas, a nurse for Allegheny County, Dramatic alert summons pros volunteers I I 1 alert is now in progress." The teletype terse, seemingly cryptic message was frighten-ingly clear to those in the state police barracks in Findlay. It was their first notification that Flight 427 had gone down near Pitts-' burgh International Airport. The Zulu alert meant there was a disaster requiring an all-out response. From the beginning, that's what hundreds gave. Over the next several hours, wave upon wave of police, firefighters, paramedics, doctors, nurses and volunteers of all kinds came forward.

By 8 p.m., at least two dozen fire depart- ments had dispatched people and equipment to the site, an equal number of ambulances were racing there, and helicopters from the 911th Air Force Reserve unit and several hospitals were hovering above the burning wreckage. jRon McMasters, assistant fire chief for Hopewell, was the first emergency worker "on the scene. He was confronted by a wall of flames and smoke. 1' "It's just a helpless feeling, that's the only way I can say it," McMasters said. After an hour of putting out fires and searching vainly for survivors, McMasters called emergency dispatchers and canceled the order for ambulances.

Mike Hramika, a captain with the Aliquip- E- a Fire Department, returned from the illside where the plane had crashed. Shaken, he was reluctant to describe too much of what he saw. "There's hardly any airplane left," he said. "Body parts everywhere. Just massive destruction.

All the zeal, all the speed, had been futile. By 8:10 p.m., just over an hour after the accident, it was clear that the would-be rescuers' main job would be to reclaim the JANETS.STAM0S,40,wasa PNC Bank client services team leader in treasury management. She was responsible for supporting large corporate and middle-market clients In Dallas, Los Angeles and Chicago. THOMAS of Johnstown, was taking his first airplane trip. The father of two children was a section foreman in the fabrication division at Johnstown America a railroad freight car builder.

RICHARD TALBOT, 61. was a veterinarian and the founding dean of the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine, which is on the Virginia Tech campus in Blacksburg. He flew often to Chicago since the northwest survived daughter, his wife, JOCELYN Point knew her Friends in church groups. managing automation treasury She and were in JOEL Park, Pat Renda, right, and her daughter, Christine, show their exhaustion as they sit on the back of an emergency vehicle at the staging area in Aliquippa. FUBHT 42? THE VICTIMS )j vJ headquarters of the American Veterinarian Association is in Schaumburg, a suburb of Chicago.

He is by his son, Lee, 40, his Andrea Stark, 35, and Mary Jane, 60. P. TAYLOR, 35 of Breeze impressed those who her with her faith in God and commitment to her church. said she had been active outreach and youth Taylor was responsible for the client services project for PNC Bank's management division. five other PNC officials returning from a business trip Chicago.

THOMPSON, 61. of oak wis a businessman who had grown fearful of flying and weary of time away from his family. Before getting Into his car to go to the airport he said, "I don't want to do this, I don't want to go." He is survived by his wife Janlne Katonah. BERNIE VARISCO of Tarentum, 32, was In Chicago on business for Vanco Machine and Tool Co. of O'Hara, where he was sales manager.

He was a 1980 graduate of Shaler High School and a biology major at the University of Pittsburgh. His older brother Frank said Bernie was kind of a "Mr. Fix-it" who spent much of his spare time working around the house. "I always used to kid him that he reminded me of Tim the Toolman on 'Home Improvement," he said. Bernie also managed a men's Softball team In Hampton.

He is survived by his wife, Denise, and two children, Christopher, 2, and Rachel, 5 months, as well as his parents, Mario and Emelia Varisco of Shaler, and a sister, Patricia Weihrauch of Hampton. EDWIN VEGA, 44, had moved last year from his hometown of Bridgeport, to West Palm' Beach, which is where he was headed Thursday after attending a business conference In Chicago! He worked for Perkin-Elmer, a Connecticut electronics and optical company. But he was wed known in the Hispanic community of Bridgeport for his work with young people. He is survived by his wife and three children. BERNARD R.

WATERS i 50, of Imperial, was manager of "1 I i Bernie Varisco Jocelyn P. Taylor.