A Pipe Was Detached Before Deutsche Bank Fire

SARAH GARLAND

Staff Reporter of the Sun

August 21, 2007

Fire officials investigating the deaths of two firefighters in the former Deutsche Bank building have found that demolition contractors failed to maintain a standpipe used to supply water to the building.

The firefighters died Saturday in a huge blaze in the abandoned building after running out of oxygen as they dragged hoses to fight a fire on the 17th floor Â-- which due to the disabled pipe had no water supply.

The contractor responsible for the demolition, Bovis Lend Lease, and its subcontractor, John Galt Corp., were responsible for keeping the standpipe operational, according to fire officials. During an investigation into the failure of the pipe, fire marshals found a section of the pipe that had been detached lying in the basement of the building.

Fire officials were investigating how the pipe was dismantled and why the sprinkler system also failed during the fire. They said the contractors would be issued a violation for the disabled pipe.

In a separate investigation, fire officials were trying to determine the cause of the fire, but said they had not ruled the fire suspicious.

"We are using every possible resource to find out how this fire started and what went wrong," Mayor Bloomberg said in a statement yesterday. "Certainly, we owe that to Firefighters Beddia and Graffagnino."

The building has been abandoned since September 11, 2001, when pieces of the World Trade Center towers fell onto it, littering its floors with toxic debris and human remains. Demolition of the building began in earnest only in February, after years of legal wrangling over costs and environmental concerns. Workers were taking the building apart floor by floor, scrubbing down the contaminated materials as they went.    [read more]