Recently, R. Baker & Son took part in a solemn ceremony at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum honoring the 12 firefighters from Ladder Company 3 who lost their lives in the World Trade Center attacks of September 11, 2001. Working closely with the 9/11 Memorial and the NYC Fire Department, R. Baker & Son was tasked with rigging Ladder 3’s battered fire truck into the 9/11 Memorial Museum. The challenge was in figuring out how to lower the 58,000 lb fire truck vertically through a narrow opening into the museum 70 ft below ground, then returning it to its horizontal position using only one crane. The solution: a RAFT (Rigging Apparatus for Fire Trucks) custom-designed by the R. Baker & Son team.

Step one entailed securing the fire truck to the RAFT frame (fabricated for R. Baker & Son by Integrity Iron Works) at the hangar where it was stored. Escorted by Ladder Company 3, the RAFT assembly was transported to Ground Zero. A 350-ton capacity Liebherr LR 1350 supplied by Bay Crane was used to offload the assembly, and, using a set of tailing axles incorporated into the RAFT design, the fire truck was turned to a vertical position. With Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Fire Commissioner Salvatore Cassano, firefighters, family and friends looking on, the shrouded, flag-draped fire truck was carefully maneuvered down into the exhibition space. Once again using the RAFT’s tailing axles, the truck was moved back into a horizontal position, and a Versalift 2535 was used to move it to a temporary exhibition area.

R. Baker & Son also rigged several other artifacts into the museum, including Engine 21 and the iconic World Trade Center Cross. This cross-shaped section of steel beams was discovered in the rubble and erected at Ground Zero, where it stood for several years as a symbol of solace. In 2006, the cross was temporarily moved to nearby St. Peter’s Church. The R. Baker & Son team had the honor of transporting the cross from St. Peter’s to the museum after a ceremony attended by former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and recovery workers.

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