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10th Avenue Heroes Recognized

The BTEA awarded the four union men who averted disaster the day a crane burst into flames and fell hundreds of feet into rush hour.

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Members of BTEA honored the union men who saved lives the day a crane collapsed on 10th Avenue. Pictured are, from left, Paul Wehle, Executive Vice President, BTEA; Anthony Reale, Sal Bonello, and Benny Bonello, Cross County Constrction, LLC; Angelo Angelone, Business Manager, Cement and Concrete Workers District Council, and Elizabeth Crowley, President and CEO, BTEA. Not pictured, John DelRiccio.

The Building Trades Employers’ Association (BTEA) gave their 2024 Hardhat Safety Award to the four union men who heroically protected the city the day a crane burst into flames and fell on 10th Avenue. The four workers, John DelRiccio, Anthony Reale, Sal Bonello and Benny Bonello, saved countless New Yorkers. All four men are members of Cement Workers Local 18A.

 

BTEA is the construction contractor’s unified advocate for construction safety standards, professional development, government affairs and public relations.

 

Paul Primiano is the Director of the Cement and Concrete Workers Training Center, and is familiar with the four union men, all of whom have been through his union-sponsored training programs. Referring to that fateful day, July 26, 2023, when the crane endangered the city, he said, “I knew when I turned on the TV and saw on the news that a crane was on fire, that they had the right guys on the job to keep the city safe.”

Union Men Spring into Action

The BTEA said that when the crane fire was spotted, Mr. DelRiccio “ordered the immediate evacuation and instructed flaggers Anthony Reale, Sal Bonello, and Benny Bonello to divert vehicle and pedestrian traffic away from the site.”

 

Mr. Primiano said, “Those guys jumped into action, cleared the sidewalks, cleared the streets.”

 

But clearing 10th Avenue of cars at rush hour on a work day in Manhattan is no easy task. One observer of the event said, “That’s 10th Avenue, the westernmost major uptown thoroughfare in the city. Most of the traffic at that time of day is heading up to 42d street where they want to turn left and hop on the West Side Highway.”

 

“But the fire was raging at 41st Street. So drivers had to be diverted before 42d. In fact, they were told to turn right at 40th, the opposite direction that most of them wanted to go, and pushing them toward the mess of the midtown tunnel. A simple detour like that can cost you 45 minutes in this city. People did not want to do it.”

Duration – 4:38

One flagman said “When people were honking their horns and protesting about turning there, I told them, ‘look up, look up.’ That’s when they saw the flames. Then they turned right.”

 

But not everyone followed these instructions. One flagman was actually hit by a car that ran through the mayhem on the street. That flagman got back up and continued directing traffic away from the site.

“Look Up”

After burning for several minutes, the crane dropped its 16-ton concrete load to the street. The crane arm then buckled and swooped downward, breaking windows in the building across the street, and fell hundreds of feet to the ground.

 

Mr. Primiano said, “This is New York City. On a normal day there’d have been tons of people in the street. Rush hour traffic. A bunch of cars.” He added, “but when that crane fell, you see it in the news footage, the street is practically empty. Those guys successfully diverted just about everyone out of harm’s way.” He said, “without those union men we can only guess how many people would have been hurt or killed. But in fact, there were no fatalities. And that’s due to union training."

A Crane Falls on a Nearly Empty Street

Mr. Primiano said he was happy the four men were recognized for their valor. But he wasn’t particularly surprised that it was union people who have been union-trained who averted obvious tragedy that day. “The workers in 18A, from top to bottom, are all committed to safety. It’s a way of working for all of them. And that extends to protecting the public as well as themselves.”

 

He said, “when you have an organization that is thoroughly trained in safety, where everyone from the shop steward to the new apprentice graduates are pro-safety, it’s easy for things to go right.”

It’s Union Training

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