http://www.nbc29.com/Global/story.asp?S=6988685&nav=menu496_2_13 NYC fire officials reassigned after blaze in tower next to WTC site kills 2 firefighters
Associated Press - August 27, 2007 3:23 PM ET
NEW YORK (AP) - New York's Fire Department has reassigned 3 of its executives after a deadly blaze at the former Deutsche Bank building.
Two firefighters were killed in the condemned skyscraper near the World Trade Center site earlier this month.
The department acknowledged it didn't have a plan in place to douse flames in the tower and that it had not inspected the building's water supply system in more than a year.
A deputy chief, a battalion chief and a captain at the firehouse in charge of inspections at the tower are being reassigned to headquarters.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg says a preliminary investigation suggests careless smoking by construction workers started the fire.
The building was being cleared and dismantled floor by floor when it burst into flames.
The city's fire commissioner has ordered deputy chiefs to inspect all buildings in their divisions that are under construction or demolition.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
http://www.myfoxny.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=4184984&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=3.2.12 Firefighters Die in Deutsche Bank Fire
By SARA KUGLER
Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK (AP) -- Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Monday that careless smoking by construction workers is the apparent cause of a deadly fire at a ground zero skyscraper where the pipe that delivers water to firefighters was broken. Bloomberg said pieces of the pipe were sent to the FBI as part of the investigation.
Bloomberg spoke after the Fire Department demoted three fire officials and ordered more inspections and fire planning at buildings throughout the city.
Bloomberg said the department failed to properly inspect the building, which he called "not excusable." The mayor noted that the city is obliged to reduce risks to firefighters wherever possible, adding, "As a city I think it's safe to say that we failed to do that."
"I'm not interested in fingerpointing," he said. "I simply want to fix what is broken and that's why we've spent a lot of time over the last 10 days trying to account for those failures."
The main focus of the investigation is the broken standpipe, and the city has sought the help of the FBI in determining how the pipe was breached. Inspectors later found pieces of it disconnected in the tower's basement.
After the fire erupted in the former Deutsche Bank building -- which was heavily damaged in the Sept. 11 attacks -- more than 100 firefighters rushed into the tower to battle the blaze, including firefighters Robert Beddia and Joseph Graffagnino, who died of cardiac arrest just above the 14th floor. Bloomberg said the firefighters who responded behaved "in a textbook manner, doing everything they had been trained to do."
City officials had said earlier that workers routinely took smoke breaks just outside the area where the fire started on Aug. 18, and Bloomberg and Fire Commissioner Nicolas Scoppetta said that careless smoking on the 17th floor appeared to be the cause. They said investigators had ruled out electrical causes.
Scoppetta said a deputy chief and battalion chief in charge of the area where the tower stands, as well as a captain at the local firehouse closest to the building, would be reassigned to department headquarters.
Scoppetta also ordered deputy chiefs to inspect "any large building" under construction or demolition in their divisions and review all plans to fight fire at every building in their area.
He has also asked all divisions to make sure plans are in place to fight fires at other buildings.
"We will hold everyone accountable, no matter where this investigation takes us," Scoppetta said.
The department had said last week that it didn't have a plan to fight fire at the toxic skyscraper, which is being dismantled and cleaned of toxic debris floor by floor.
It also acknowledged that it had not inspected the building's standpipe system, which connects fire hoses to its water supply, in over a year,
even though it should have done so every 15 days.
