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The Fire Department is investigating whether standpipes failed to bring firefighters water to help fight a seven-alarm fire that broke out on the 17th floor of the Deutsche Bank building on Saturday. The cause of the fire, which spread between the 14th and 26th floors of the lower Manhattan building, is also unclear, though the FDNY suspects it may have been caused by a cigarette or a faulty electrical panel.
FDNY officials suspect that a standpipe, which brings water to buildings, may have had a broken or cracked valve, according to WABC 7. Further, the polyurethane used to keep toxic dust from escaping onto the street during during the Deutsche Bank building's dismantling (the building was contaminated after the World Trade Center towers collapsed) actually "fed the flames" and were an obstacle to effectively fighting the fire.
Two firefighters, Joe Graffagnino and Robert Beddia, died from smoke inhalation when their oxygen tanks ran empty. Beddia yelled on his radio, "We're running out of air!"; a source tells the Post there were also radio transmission problems. The NY Times reports that one fire official was recorded cursing as "he did not care about the building, and shouted, 'Where are my men?'" Governor Spitzer said, "They walked into a horror show. If the building had been deconstructed by now, clearly this tragedy would not have occurred."
However, a spokesman for the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, which owns the building, said, "This is not a building you can just take a wrecking ball to. Every floor has to be thoroughly cleaned and monitored by regulators before it can be deconstructed. And that process takes a tremendous amount of time." Spitzer and the LMDC have promised investigations, but residents in the area were upset. One told the NY Times, "You’d think that after six years, we would have learned something, but when this fire broke out, there was no notification system in place, and the people who live around here didn’t know what to do."
And they are also skeptical of the government's claims that the air is safe; Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer pointed out, "Residents were told after 9/11 that air was safe. "Well, we found out how untrue that was." And the executive director of the NY Environmental Law & Justice Project says the government has "no right to tell people it's safe. It's a fire in the most contaminated building in the city.
The Sun reports that Bovis Lend Lease, the contractors in charge of the dismantling, had a $6 million incentive to finish the job by the end of the year. Two months ago, JP Morgan Chase announced it would build a new tower on some of the Deutsche Bank's lot; Chase told the Sun it was still interested in building there. And in May, a 15-foot section of steam pipe fell from the Deutsche Bank building through the roof of a neighboring firehouse, injuring two firefighters. The subcontractor, John Galt Corporation, has had a number of work violations.
The NY Times has a graphic of where the fire occurred.
Top photograph of workers examining the Deutsche Bank building yesterday by Seth Wenig/AP; lower photograph of firefighters leaving a rooftop on Saturday during the fire by Eric Hazard
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Take this damn building down now. Just take it down. Why in hell are some insisting on keeping this chemical/death bomb in existence?
There was an article in the Times just last week explaining the dismantling process of this building. Since it's loaded with toxic chemicals, it can't be imploded.
RIP firefighters Grafagnino and Beddia.
jen chung removed a comment by "jenschungsgrammar" about jen chung's grammar. what gives?
Nick- That is odd. Does this mean any posts referencing grammar/typos and the like will be edited/removed from now on? I wouldn't be opposed to that.
odd thing is she removed my one relevant post too.
will posts about her rack also get removed? because then i might not have anything to write about.
Two firefighters are dead, a building infested with toxic chemicals was on fire, and you're bitching about a typo?
I can see the lawsuits being drawn up in advance for all the asbestoses claims and other lung diseases workers are being exposed to.
Seeing as how I was exposed to about 30 minutes of breathing in that smoke Saturday and had chest pain all day yesterday, I wouldn't mind if someone would kick in the deductible for me to go get a thorough medical exam. I'm waiting for toxic mold to start growing in my sinuses and lungs.
hopefully the rain will clean some of the air,
until then guess I have to get used to the chest tightness and difficulty taking deep breaths.
how were you exposed to the smoke for 30 minutes? were you working in the building?
give me your e-mail and I'll tell you privately.
I was exposed to the smoke because I live in the Financial District and was walking home down Broadway with no idea what all the fire trucks and emergency vehicles were responding to since almost every street was still open. I'm not saying I'm going to get sick like 9/11 workers but I prefer an answer sooner rather than later on just what was in that air.
*There was an article in the Times just last week explaining the dismantling process of this building. Since it's loaded with toxic chemicals, it can't be imploded.*
No Building in NYC can imploded with explosives. They all have to be dismatled by hand and machine.
#13:
The sicknesses many of the rescue workers from 9/11 endure(d) is/was from prolonged exposure to toxic smoke and chemicals post 9/11, plus many of them had cigarette smoking habits as well.
Also, aesbestos doesn't give you cancer if you're exposed for a day or even a week, it's cancerous over a long period of time.
That said, cool your kicks, you're fine. Stop whining and get on with you life.
No Building in NYC can imploded with explosives. They all have to be dismatled by hand and machine.
To expand on that, I believe that's the rule to protect fragile infrastructure underground. I heard that on some Discovery Channel show about the dismantling of the ConEd plant on the East Side. Any idea if they can implode Shea Stadium since it is surrounded by parking lot? Just throw up some protective netting next to the new stadium and aim the upper decks inward.
What is sad is everyone is only concerned about "their" needs. ME-ME-ME. How does this effect "ME". Only few have mentioned that once again lives were lost. Some will remember some will choose to forget because doesn't effect them. But we must not forget that 2 of our best firefighters were needlessly lost. Bobby Beddia was a warm friendly guy and who was also a bartender at Chumleys on Bedford Street. He usually bartend sunday afternoons. He was loved by all. We will miss by his warm smile. He is probably one of the friendliest guys you would ever meet on the street.
You people yammering about smoke from that fire are hypochondriacs. You live in density unique in human history. Wonder if the following keeps you up at night: particulates from vehicle engine soot, synthetic fumes from infrastructure like HVAC units, heavy atmospheric ozone on humid afternoons -- all chronic conditions in this city to which you're constantly exposed, not just for one goddamn day.
Don't forget the demographics of workers at the Pile. More likely to be smokers and generally more unhealthy -- they were mostly going to get lung cancer anyway. Working at Ground Zero got them worse cancer, faster -- big deal.
#12 must have been squatting in the DB building. He was making grilled cheese sandwiches on a faulty hot plate when a short circuit ignited his egg-crate mattress. He tried to put it out by throwing some of his polyurethane bedsheets on the growing flames, but the ensuing black smoke made it impossible to see. He escaped the building as he heard the first sirens headed his way. Fortunately, he made like a casual stroller on the West Side highway and got away.
Go ahead and call me a hypochondriac but my current HVAC doesn't give me chest pain. and I'm pretty sure my home and office don't have a documented mold problem.
As for #17, some of us can multi-task: we can feel bad about the deaths AND worry about ourselves. Frankly, I'm tired of every Gothamist thread turning into a funeral parlor where people pour out their emotions for people they never met.
Typica post: Oh my heart cries out for the families of the victims.
Really, what's the point of posting that here? It's not like the families are likely to read it.
not an egg crate mattress but a memory foam mattress, sir.
what's your e-mail again, I didn't get it the first time.
The subcontractor, John Galt Corporation, has had a number of work violations.
Maybe the folks at the John Galt Corporation should take the time to read the book from which they (rather unimaginatively) lifted their company name.
Does anything really work anymore? I don't think so.
does anybody really know what time it is?
does anybody really care?
As for #20 I'm so happy that you can multi task.
I wasn't looking for your pity or sympathy or could I say the lack of it in this case. I was simply pointing out that 2 more fire fighters were killed needlessly....
why even live in in lower Manhattan. With all the car/truck/cab etc noise along with the fumes they give it off the air is bad to begin with.
The project got off on the wrong foot 6 years ago when the powers that be didn't choose sensible plans for the whole project, ignoring all outside opinion, and as an example picked the nitwit Libeskind as the "Master Planner". The result was you have people working on the project who are all yes-men (like Doctoroff) who will dot the i's and cross the t's, but forget about the basics. Build quickly, don't think about what you're doing, that's the spirit. Just wait a few years, worse is yet to come as these confused plans come to fruition. Cooler heads are ignored by the "bold leadership", all we can do is watch and wait.