August 18, 2007
Breaking: Deutsche Bank Building on Fire, Firefighters Killed and Injured
Smoke is once again drifting across the skyline of downtown Manhattan near the World Trade Center site as the Deutsche Bank building on Liberty St. has caught fire. Initial reports said that scaffolding was falling from the building, which is under deconstruction. The fire was recently upgraded to 5 alarms 7 alarms and multiple firefighters have been injured. Two firefighters were triaged and designated in need of immediate care with a life-threatening condition and at least one reportedly was receiving CPR on the scene. Another five were designated as needing urgent care. We'll report more when additional information becomes available. Yesterday The New York Times featured a slide show about the deconstruction of the Deutsche Bank Building.
Update: The New York Times is reporting that two firemen died while fighting the Deutsche Bank building blaze. One was 34-year-old firefighter Joseph Graffagnino, who suffered cardiac arrest on the scene. The cause of death of the other fireman has not been released and nor has his name depending on the notification of his family. Mayor Bloomberg was quoted as saying that there was "no danger" of collapse. Early reports said that area residents were being turned away from their homes due to the possibility of collapse and the danger of the toxic smoke emanating from the site. The mayor said that on-site air quality sensors reported no danger had been detected by numerous on-site sensors so far.
Onlookers watched as pieces of debris fell from the scaffolding and mesh-enshrouded building burned. Mayor Bloomberg was quoted saying that a full investigation to the cause of the fire would be underway as soon as it was fully extinguished. The Times reports that the fire was said to have begun between the 14th and 15th floors of the building. The deconstruction of the Deutsche Bank building was being done very elaborately due to the number of hazardous chemicals detected on the site, which was damaged beyond repair in the 9/11/01 attacks.
Update: Deconstruction work was halted for a week last year when a 22-foot-long section of pipe fell from one of the upper floors and went through the roof of a neighboring firehouse. That story included the scary detail that the subcontractor charged with bringing the building down had little experience in bringing down large towers in urban settings. And it's now being reported that the second firefighter fatality was due to smoke inhalation.
(Photo by Seth Wenig, Associated Press)
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Wow, that's what that smell was! I'm in Dumbo/Downtown Brooklyn and I smelled "wtc" all afternoon.... damn...
i was just down there--check it out:
http://vanishingnewyork.blogspot.com/2007/08/deutsche-bank-building.html
Why are they bothering to put out the fire? Isn't this building hopelessly abandoned?
Firefighter keeling over from a heart attack? Time to lay off that St. Paddy's day beer, dontchathink.
number 2, jeremiah,
you've got a great blog. I've been wanting to take pics of yunnies forever but never got around to it.
I don't have a photographic eye.
I want to take pics of beautiful people picking up dog crap and put that in a book.
So will this building collapse the same way WTC #7 did, neither were hit by a plane, but WTC #7 collapsed! Fire apparently can melt the steel and cause a catastrophic structural failure, they may have to "pull" this one to save lives (and money).
@#4: Your comments is totally inappropriate. You try wearing 80 lbs. of gear on a warm day, fighting a smoky fire in a building that is full of shaftways.
Hey idiot #6 - steel doesn't have to "melt" to begin losing it's strength. Interestingly I passed a guy wearing a Loose Change shirt today near WTC before the fire started.
I was just over there and the air smells like 9/11. But hundreds of people are watching and nobody seems too concerned about breathing in that crap. My lungs already hurt.
so, what's "heat treated steel"?
I think the loose change guy was to counteract the ninnies on their motorcycles, reving their engines while stuck in traffic. they were doing this all the way from wtc to canal street.
I went down there and saw sobbing firemen... nobody is reporting deaths yet, I hope it stays that way. The building was smoking a lot but Church St was not chaotic. I should have headed into my office, I work across the street with the view...
odd, I live in tribeca, I don't smell a thing.
I hope the firemen are OK. Is there anything they can do when a high rise building going through demolishing catches fire?
two firefighters dead- http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/19/nyregion/19fire.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
NY Times says two dead firemen. And I think the wind is blowing west to east so you wouldn't smell it in tribeca. I walked home to the financial district through Tribeca and didn't smell anything until I was pretty close to the site.
#12... you're probably upwind. We're getting it a lot here in Brooklyn Heights, like #1 said, it's been that burning skyscraper smell all evening.
MSNBC reported that the building is in danger of collapse... but nothing on the Times site about this. Anyone got any good info? Thanks.
so, what's "heat treated steel"?
Hey genius, when the steel cools it regains it's strength. Jeez, I'd be less concerned about learning evolution and more concerned about people learning basic science. God or no God you can't mess with physics or chemistry.
this suks, I don't want more firemen dying because of this.
I'd be impressed if it collapsed because there isn't enough there to burn. I thought they had removed most of the debris and it was mostly steel beams and concrete floors. I was down there about an hour ago and it looked nothing like 9/11. Of course, maybe there is a larger fire inside and we can't see it because there is plywood covering the window spaces.
Anyway, sounds like a welder fucked up. An empty frat house that was being renovated at my college went up in minutes when the welders left for lunch and didn't leave a person to keep an eye on things. Probably left a hot torch near something flammable. Or it was an insurance scam. The frat was rebuilt quite nicely.
Anyone know why they aren't covering this on the Big Three news channels or the local networks?
this is all too convenient.
this ain't no ordinary office building, why is it burning? going on six years and you're telling me there's still combustible contents in that building?
this fix is in, AGAIN. Pull it.
Wow. Great analysis #20. The fix is in how exactly? Who is benefiting?
What's more likely? Massive conspiracy or sloppy construction worker?
Not again. are they going to "pull" it again or will more firefighters have to lose their lives?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/adamlawrence/sets/72157601531455072/detail/
Seriously, anyone thinking of going to watch should stay away. I watched for about 20 minutes and I feel like I just chain smoked a pack. And I can hear my neighbors coughing through the thin walls. I'm thinking of get the fuck out of here.
How soon before the families of the fallen firefighters "demand" 9/11 compensation and names on the memorial?
I put the over/under at three business days.
Fkn building is cursed, I tell ya. Better consult a feng shui specialist or just clear the entire area for a week and demolish the darn thing!
the scary detail that the subcontractor charged with bringing the building down had little experience in bringing down large towers in urban settings.
Who does?
i was down there, heard the fire trucks , then saw th building's collapse truck pass by , so had to investigate. i was north of it by Christopher street on the green way, couldn't smell anything there but from that area could see the smoke. it is horrible that 2 firefighters were killed fighting this blaze,
tragic, it was a vacant building,
To my knowledge, the Deutsche Bank building is one of, if not the largest building to ever be dismantled piece by piece. Therefore, nobody actually has "experience" performing an operation on this scale.
Sounds like it was a tragic construction mishap. The upper floors were covered in plywood and a scaffold, which must have been what burned.
#4 and #25 should probably go ahead and post their names and addresses so someone can go beat the shit out of them.
there is a time and a place to be cynical. too many new yorkers (at least new yorkers on internet postings...) can't seem to figure out when that time is...
The building was not under deconstruction. Deconstruction is an odd French theory or method for understanding (or maybe misunderstanding) literature.
Unless you are reading a piece about literature, when you see the word deconstruction or deconstruct, you are seeing the wrong word.
It does not mean take apart. It does not mean analyze.
It is often the choice of pretentious posers.
is #31 trying his hand at irony?
#31 Speaking of pretentious posers...