[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 109 (Tuesday, August 9, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: August 9, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                   GIVING CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Weldon] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. WELDON. Mr. Speaker, we have seen over the past several years 
disasters wreak havoc all across America. I rise tonight to recognize 
special unselfish responses of constituents of my district to three 
specific incidents.
  While we have havoc caused by these disasters, oftentimes they bring 
out the best in people.
  The first instance was a tornado that touched down in one of my 
communities a few weeks ago in the small town of Royersford. Then it 
jumped over several other areas and came down again in the town of 
Limerick, where it resulted in the deaths of one entire family, three 
individuals, the Thompson family, husband, wife, and young baby. It 
caused terrible devastation in the community of Limerick. I spend 
Saturday, July 30, in that community and was overwhelmed by the 
response of the local fire department, the neighboring fire 
departments, the emergency response crews, the American Red Cross. Dave 
Acres, the chairman of the board of supervisors in the town, and the 
commissioners and elected officials in Royersford, they all did what we 
would expect, and that is they handled the situation in a very calm and 
efficient manner. We should properly recognize those efforts.
  I will insert the names of all those involved in the Record so that 
we can properly acknowledge them.
  The second incident involved a group of about 100 volunteers who left 
my district on Friday to travel to Newton, GA. They represent about 30 
fire and EMS departments and are down there for the entire week; as a 
matter of fact, about 10 days. They are involved in cleaning up homes, 
removing mud and debris and helping these people get back on their 
feet, from the terrible devastation of the flood that occurred in that 
community.
  The project is called Delaware County Cares. It is an outreach effort 
by our local volunteer fire departments, much like we saw in the 
midwest floods that occurred a short time ago.
  For that, these fire fighters and these volunteers deserve our praise 
and recognition.
  The third incident involved a volunteer effort to Sarajevo by one of 
my constituents by the name of Michael Santillo. Mike went over to 
Sarajevo and spend about 2 weeks working with the emergency responders 
in downtown Sarajevo.

                              {time}  2010

  For the last year and a half we have worked with John Jordan, who is 
the United Nations special rep on the ground in Sarajevo. In fact, we 
sent over two plane loads of relief supplies including four fire 
trucks, doing it by volunteer fire companies throughout America. Mike 
Santillo went over to assist in repairing those trucks because they had 
been damaged, they had been shot up and because they were not able to 
be of service to the people. Mike went over as a volunteer. He came 
back. He is home now. I will insert an article that was in the times 
Herald dated Wednesday, July 27, documenting Mike's efforts in 
Sarajevo, and I will also be inserting at a later date an entire report 
from Mike about what he saw, about what his impressions are and what 
kinds of things we should be dealing with in terms of helping the 
people of Sarajevo in this very unfortunate and difficult time.
  The article referred to is as follows:

         [From the Norristown, PA, Times Herald, July 27, 1994]

Local Man Pitches in With Relief--Upper Merion's Santillo Bolsters U.N. 
                              in Sarajevo

                           (By Bob Carville)

       Fighting fires is a risky proposition anywhere, but an 
     Upper Merion Township firefighter who returned last week from 
     Sarajevo says it's another level of hell over there.
       Michael Santillo of Valleywyck Drive serves with the King 
     of Prussia Volunteer Fire Company and has expertise in large 
     service vehicle repair.
       Last fall, he attended a ceremony of the Congressional Fire 
     Services Institute in Washington, D.C., and volunteered for a 
     two-week stint aiding United Nations' humanitarian efforts in 
     war-torn Bosnia-Herzegovina.
       The U.N. sponsors a group of emergency-trained 
     professionals called GOFRS (Global Operations Fire and Rescue 
     Services) and it called on Santillo to assist in repairs to 
     fire vehicles sabotaged in the Sarajevo conflict.
       ``The saboteurs worked overtime destroying these trucks,'' 
     Santillo said this week.
       ``They all had dirt in the fuel tanks. One had a .30 
     caliber round go through it. The electrical systems were 
     short-circuited and sabotaged, and all the hose connections 
     were stolen.''
       Santillo has been active on local government transportation 
     committees for many years and works as an insurance agent 
     specializing in large vehicle claims for the Reliance 
     Insurance Co. of Philadelphia.
       His longtime love of fire trucks and his professional 
     experience assessing damages qualified him for the duty, he 
     said.
       Arriving in Sarajevo the first week of July via a U.N. paid 
     flight, Santillo and a team of volunteers with various 
     specialties toiled to restore the U.N.'s local fire company. 
     But efforts to repair the U.N.'s trucks were severely 
     hampered by a shortage of replacement parts, Santillo said.
       The volunteers lived in the fire house and ate military 
     rations, which Santillo said were ``great for losing 
     weight.''
       ``There are no shops to order these parts in Sarajevo like 
     there are here,'' Santillo reported. ``The U.N. had a kind of 
     makeshift SEPTA garage converted from an old marketplace.
       ``They didn't have much of what we needed, but we got the 
     trucks running. You just kind of have to find what you 
     need.''
       And just in time, as it turned out.
       After rigging repairs to two American-built LaFrance pumper 
     trucks, Santillo said the firefighters were called to battle 
     a blaze burning out of control for 15 hours at an old 
     Volkswagen factory in Serbian territory.
       ``It was a tough fight, very tough,'' he said. ``The crews 
     worked without air packs or even a steady water supply of 
     their own, but we brought the fire down after several more 
     hours. It was very, very dark in there.
       ``We were told through an interpreter after the battle 
     about how brave the Serbian firefighters thought we were,'' 
     Santillo said. ``It was then we learned there was about 
     80,000 pounds of explosive materials about 10 to 30 meters 
     from where we were standing inside the factory.''
       But fire, smoke and explosives weren't the only enemies.
       ``We also found out that while we were inside snipers had 
     fired on us three times,'' Santillo said.
       He said the area is blighted from the constant warring 
     between ethnic factions there.
       ``An area near the Olympic stadium has been turned into a 
     mass cemetery from the war casualties,'' Santillo said. ``You 
     say to yourself, My God, how many thousands have died 
     here.'''
       Although it would probably rank as a major motion picture 
     script, his experience will be recounted in a report to U.S. 
     Rep. Curt Weldon, R-7th Dist., a founder of the Congressional 
     Fire Services Institute and current co-chairman.
       ``I'm honored to have the opportunity to give my report for 
     the congressman,'' Santillo said. ``I understand he'll share 
     the information with his colleagues as they oversee relief 
     efforts in Sarajevo.''
       Santillo said he plans to return to Sarajevo in September 
     and he pledged to serve on the international scene ``whenever 
     and wherever I'm needed. We're not taking sides; if anyone 
     needs us, we're there.''
       In the meantime, he has issued a plea for areas fire 
     departments or other sources to contribute spare tools, extra 
     fittings, nozzles, hoses or accessories to the U.N. fire 
     relief forces.
       For information on contributions, Santillo recommended 
     contacting him at (610) 992-9063 or 768-8600 or King of 
     Prussia fire chief Gary Touchton at (610) 265-1063.

  Mr. Speaker, in our search for real heroes in America we sometimes 
get lost. More often than not the real American heroes in this country 
are right in our backyard. The kind of people like the Mike Santillo's, 
and like those volunteers that are down in Georgia and Newton, and like 
those individuals who respond to the tornado in Montgomery County and 
Chester County, PA, these are the people that make our country so 
great. It is only appropriate that we properly recognize them.

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