Pictured Above: IUPAT (International Union of Painters & Allied Trades) Member Robin De Haven, who was credited with saving five people from a burning building in Austin, Texas after a small airplane deliberately crashed into a structure that housed the offices of the Internal Revenue Service.

International Union of Painters and Allied Trades General President James Williams delivered the following statement of praise for IUPAT (International Union of Painters & Allied Trades) member Robin De Haven, who risked his life in a daring rescue of five people in the immediate aftermath of a deliberate small airplane crash into an IRS (Internal Revenue Service) building in Austin, Texas last week:

"The men and women of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades praise IUPAT Member Robin De Haven for putting aside all concerns for his personal safety and rescuing five people from that burning building in Austin.  His actions were nothing short of heroic and we're proud to have him in our ranks.  A veteran who served in Iraq, the IUPAT was fortunate to bring him aboard through the 'Helmets to Hardhats' program.  Robin's courage and character are a shining inspiration in these hard times. I hope his actions remind us all of what is most dear in our lives, and how important it is to take care of each other. Robin De Haven is a prime example of what a good 'Union Man' is made of."

The following are just two of many media reports on De Haven's actions:

From ABC News: Robin De Haven was driving the company truck to a job when he saw something that didn't look right - a small plane, flying extremely low over a heavily congested area of Austin.  When the 28-year-old Iraq war veteran (who is employed at Union-represented Binswanger Glass) saw black smoke billowing from the glass building and rushed to the scene where the plane had exploded into flames in a suicide attack fueled by anti-government hatred, De Haven found five people trapped on the second floor of the burning office housing Internal Revenue Service employees.  "I wanted to go help," said De Haven, who works for a glass company. "I thought, 'I'm going to go ahead and do it.'  I thought my boss would understand."

And From Fox News: A quick-thinking glass worker who happened to be driving by when a pilot with a grudge smashed his plane into a Texas building is being hailed as a hero after helping many people escape the inferno that followed the crash.  Robin De Haven, a glazer at Binswanger Glass, was on his way to a job site when he saw the small plane approaching the seven-story building that housed Internal Revenue Service offices in Austin.  "I first assumed it was a toy plane someone was messing around with, because it was flying really low and kind of going back and forth, turning left and right," De Haven said.  He soon realized the "toy" was actually a small passenger plane; moments later, he saw black smoke billowing from the building.  "I immediately drove my truck over there, got the ladder off, went up to the side of the building and I saw people up on the second floor with their heads out the window for air because the room was filled with smoke," said De Haven, who extended his ladder up to the stranded workers and tried to instruct them on how to secure it, but they were unable to. So, rather than have them climb down an unsecure ladder, he climbed up.  "I climbed inside the broken-out window into the building with them," said De Haven, who has a 3-year-old son.  "My ladder slipped a little bit actually," he added.  With the help of one of the men inside, he then broke another window near a ledge, and secured the ladder there so he could get five people out safely.  "I held onto their waists and their backs so they wouldn't fall if they slipped," he said.  De Haven said the woman and four men he rescued all appeared to have been uninjured, with the exception of one man who cut his hand trying to break the window.  Police said that rescuers did an admirable job, and only two people had to be transported to the hospital.  One person was unaccounted for, and there was one death: Joseph Andrew Stack, the pilot of the plane.  "It was surreal," De Haven said.  But De Haven's boss, Bubba Cepak, said he wasn't surprised to hear about the heroism exhibited by his employee of two and a half years.  "That's his deal, he just wants to help people out," said Cepak, who added he thought the six and half years De Haven spent as a combat engineer for the U.S. Army probably gave him many of the skills he used to execute the rescue.  But he had no doubt where he found the courage to go forward with it.

Reached for reaction here in Buffalo, IUPAT Painters District 4 Business Manager Dan Boody told WNYLaborToday.com that he was "proud and impressed" by what fellow IUPAT Member De Haven had done.

"We're all proud of him for what he's done and we're very impressed," said Boody, who noted the 'Helmets To Hardhats' program is attracting a number of vets who are returning from tours of duty in the Middle East and in Afghanistan who are looking for a career in the Unionized Construction Trades.  "All the Trades have benefited from this program that have attracted individuals who are focused, have a great background and a great work ethic.  Those are the people we want."