LUDLOW – Fire Chief Mark Babineau, who said he has received preliminary approval from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey for a piece of steel for his community from the World Trade Center collapse, said he hopes to learn what piece he will receive by winter.
The steel, stored in a hangar at John F. Kennedy International Airport, is being made available to fire and police departments across the nation.
The Port Authority has offered the steel to municipalities and other non-profit organizations for use in memorials to the victims of the trade center attack. The requests are still being processed.
"We don't know yet what size piece we will receive," Babineau said. He said his goal is to have a memorial built incorporating the piece of steel outside the town's public safety complex by Sept. 11, 2011, the 10-year anniversary of the World Trade Center attack.
The owner of a trucking company in town who wants to remain anonymous has already offered to transport the steel to Ludlow, Babineau said.
He said that with many landscapers and building contractors in town, he believes there will be no shortage of offers of services to landscape a memorial.
"Ludlow is a very patriotic community," Babineau said.
Ludlow native Nicholas Humber, 60, a graduate of Ludlow High School who lived in Newton, was among the victims on Sept. 11. The director of commercial sales for a California-based corporation, he was traveling on business and was aboard American Airlines Flight 11, the first of two jetliners which were crashed into the twin towers.
More than 20 victims of the 2001 attacks had ties to area cities and towns.
The pieces of steel from the World Trade Center vary from small to large, with the larger pieces weighing many tons.
"I am not interested in one of the larger pieces," Babineau said.
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