Credit: Tom Sofield/LevittownNow.com
Emergency workers last week made a promise to find Anthony “Tony” Gabriele.
On Sunday, they did just that.
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In shifts, firefighters, industrial workers and search and rescue personnel combed through the heavy dry concrete mix that engulfed Gabriele and anything nearby when the silo it was in collapsed unexpectedly around midnight on Thursday. They spent their personal time, missed dinners with their families and time with their kids to help bring closure to Gabriele’s family in their most trying time.
Read more on the effort to find Gabriele’s body
Edgely Fire Company Chief Carl Pierce’s Facebook post on the search effort laid out the promise first responders made:
The events that have unfolded in the last few days were nothing short of amazing. Like most of us we have never seen anything like this before. Pulling up was a sure test of your knowledge and ability to do the job we all signed up for. What mostly amazed me was the support. As I had never had a doubt, I had never seen so many fire companies come together. From the second we had contacted the family, our promise was not to leave until we brought him out.
Today we all proved we kept that promise. Thank you is not enough. There are no words to describe how I feel about every firefighter that walked on that scene. The compassion they showed was amazing. We all fought until the end. This is probably something we will never see again. I think its safe to say we all made it happen. This was a team effort. For the guys who stuck by my side, I cant thank you enough, You are true brother firefighters and friends. As I know this wasn’t easy for the family or us, we all at least have some closure. I want to thank each and every one of you that were there. 4 days, 1 day, or one hour. You all made it happen.
Most important, I want to thank my wife, all of the firefighters wives, and families. You were all truly effected by this. Most of us were gone for almost 100 hours. That’s over two weeks of work. What they put up with from us to keep our homes and families together is unexplainable.
Lastly, to the family. Our promise was to bring Tony out and we did it. May he Rest In Peace…..
Thank you all again, and from the bottom of my heart, I will never forget the last four days and support you have given to me and Edgely Fire Company.
