Results tagged “deutschebankbuilding”

Yesterday, smoke escaped from the former Deutsche Bank building on Liberty Street—the Daily News reports, "It turned out the smoke was from a battery-powered forklift that overheated about 4 a.m. Firefighters simply unplugged it." And while firefighters were on the scene, they found that a switch for an air-filtration system (you know, to keep toxic air—the building is full of debris from the 9/11 attacks— from escaping the building) wasn't working, so work was halted. The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, which is overseeing the demolition of the building, believes the building will be decontaminated by July and ready for demolition in January. In 2007, a seven-alarm fire, started by a worker's cigarette, killed two firefighters and, in 2006, it was hoped the building would be gone by...2007.

Of all the places for workers to sever a standpipe: The Daily News reports that workers "mistakenly" "bashed the horizontal section" of standpipe at the former Deutsche Bank Building. The under-demolition building was the site of a 2007 fire which claimed the lives of two firefighters; it was later found that no water was available at the scene because a large piece of the standpipe had been removed. In this recent incident, the workers didn't think the piece they severed was "part of the mostly vertical standpipe." Though an alarm went off, warning the pipe no longer had water pressure, at 8:30 a.m., the building wasn't evacuated until 3:30 p.m. Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer said he wants an investigation, "I call it an outrage because part of what we have really worked to do, to make sure that when trouble hits the building, there is an immediate warning to the workers within the building and to the residents throughout the community."

Approximately 100 people marched from the under-deconstruction Deutsche Bank building yesterday to City Hall Park, demanding stricter safety standards at construction sites. Some of the leaders of the march were Joseph Graffagnino Sr. and his wife, the parents of one of two firefighters (Graffagnino Jr. and Robert Beddia) who died when the Deutsche Bank building caught fire, and because of a lack of adherence to fire and building safety codes they ran out of oxygen and were killed at the scene. The march was organized following a spate of highly publicized construction accidents, including crane collapses, that have killed a number of city residents.

A memo from FDNY Operations Chief Patrick McNally is instructing firefighters to conduct inspections of buildings under construction or demolition on two different timetables, depending on their height. City rules have long mandated that all buildings going up or coming down had to be inspected by the fire department every 15 days. McNally's memo now instructs firefighters to inspect buildings over 75 feet tall every 15 days, and below 75 feet tall every 30 days.

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a child shot on Kingsborough Walk in Brooklyn, a person under a train at Kingston Ave. and Lincoln Pl. in Brooklyn, and a pedestrian struck at 12th St. and 8th Ave. in Manhattan. John Mayer performed an impromptu set at the Mercury Lounge to the surprise of attendees last night. John Galt Corp., the contractor doing the demolition work at the Deutsche Bank Building where two firefighters were killed,...

Two firefighters were pulled from beneath collapsed rubble last night, as a building undergoing demolition burned in Jamaica, Queens. The two men were partially pinned by debris when the landing between the second and third floors of the building on 95th Ave. and Sutphin Blvd. collapsed. Both were taken to a hospital along with a third firefighter, but all three were in stable condition and none suffered life-threatening injuries.

The Post and Daily News have a number of editorials and columns about the Deutsche Bank building fire response and fallout. The Post continues to demand FDNY Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta's resignation and faulted Mayor Bloomberg for standing by Scoppetta. The Daily News' Juan Gonzalez wonders why Bloomberg and Scoppetta have gone into "virtual hiding" and blasts Bloomberg for sending lobbyists to kill "legislation that would force tougher enforcement of safety laws by the city Buildings Department." The News also has an editorial saying that Spitzer must take charge (he "has the muscle to crack heads among the contractors and federal, state and city agencies that have made a perilous hash of the job").

Will it never end? Firefighters were injured this afternoon at the Deutsche Bank building at 130 Liberty Street. NY1 reports that two firefighters were "walking underneath the scaffolding" when something fell. Crews had been "doing remedial work on the building" after Saturday's fire, such as repairing scaffolding and removing debris.

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.

The demolition of the former Deutsche Bank building next to Ground Zero has been halted after officials are still unable to determine how a several-foot-long section of pipe fell from the deconstruction site and crashed through the roof of a neighborhing firehouse, injuring two firefighters. The incident occurred yesterday morning and investigators are still wondering how a 15-foot section of steam pipe from the irreperably damaged office tower fell through the roof of the firehouse, and two men inside suffered minor injuries. It does seem puzzling, since the 40-story office tower's been enshrouded in black netting since shortly after the 9/11 attacks.

“The Buildings Department will review the contractor’s means and methods to ensure that public safety is upheld,” said Kate Lindquist, a spokeswoman for the department, which issued a stop-work order yesterday and cited a subcontractor at the site, the John Galt Corporation, for failure to “safeguard the public and property.” She said the company could be fined up to $5,000.

It's unclear how long the demolition will be delayed, but a spokesperson for the LMDC didn't think it would seriously affect project deadlines. The Deutsche Bank building's plan for dismantling was approved in September 2006. The LMDC posted an animation of the property's proposed detoxification in 2005. JP Morgan Chase plans to build a 50 story replacement once the building's down, after extracting financial concessions from the city. We got some video of anti-war images projected on the building's enshrouded facade back in March.

There are a few pieces of ground zero news today, so we're just going to resort to that old school blog fallback, the roundup: