Caterpillar customers, employees, and dealers continue to join together to support New York City’s rescue efforts, providing people, power, and products as needed.
As of Sept. 14, Caterpillar’s New York dealer, H.O. Penn Machinery, had 40 technicians on site, 65 on standby, and 14 people on logistical support. Two other dealers, Foley (New Jersey) and Southworth-Milton (Massachusetts) assisted with recovery efforts, sending in 10 crews of technicians to help H.O. Penn. Technicians worked around the clock installing and operating generator sets and supporting both engines and machines.
Through H.O. Penn, Caterpillar, headquartered in Peoria, Ill., is supplying the vast majority of stand-by power to New York City’s financial, insurance, and banking districts as well as providing Con Edison with temporary power and technical assistance to stabilize the power grid in lower Manhattan. The company also donated three 30kW generator sets to the American Red Cross for food kitchens set up for relief workers.
First on site with the New York Police Department at the disaster scene, H.O. Penn set up 50 light towers and 12 small generator sets on the first night of the tragedy. Since that time, it has supplied more than 70MW of temporary electric power (enough to power 35,000 homes) in emergency service and installed more than 16 miles of cable, with 10 more miles on the way. Additionally, H.O. Penn has more than 250MW of permanently installed power in south Manhattan. In addition to the Caterpillar specialized demolition products shipped to the area, there are numerous other excavators on site, including models M320, 345, 330, 320, 330BL, 350, and 375, along with wheel loader models 950G and 966G.
In response to the extensive need for demolition attachments such as shears, grapples, multi-processors, and multi-purpose buckets, Caterpillar is supplying as many work tools as possible. Two truckloads of work tools left Wamego, Kan., the week of the disaster with two to three additional trucks leaving the following week. As a show of pride, Cat Work Tools and Services employees joined together to paint some multi-purpose buckets for wheel loaders in red, white, and blue.
Caterpillar’s Product Support Division also donated 1,000 hard hats and 2,000 work gloves to relief workers, while Caterpillar global footwear licensee Wolverine World Wide Inc. donated a total of 2,125 steel-toe work boots.
These efforts reinforce Caterpillar Chairman Glen Barton’s recent statement: “The men and women of Caterpillar have joined forces with our dealers and are assisting in the disaster response. Cat machines and power generation products are now on site where needed and will continue to support the relief effort. Our support is with the President as he guides the United States.”