Lack of Plan Cited in Ground Zero Fire

Aug 28, 06:22 AM

Current Headlines: By Ann Givens, Newsday, Melville, N.Y.

Aug. 28--In a highly unusual move, three ranking New York Fire Department officials were yanked from their posts yesterday after the mayor and fire commissioner said they appear to be responsible for information lapses that led to the deaths of two firefighters at the former Deutsche Bank building.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta, at a City Hall news conference, announced both the officials' reassignments and a preliminary cause of the Aug. 18 blaze in the building: careless smoking by workers on the 17th floor.

"Smoking was prohibited in the building," Scoppetta said. "Nevertheless, smoking was engaged in throughout the building, and particularly on the 17th floor where the fire originated."

Bloomberg, in talking about the lack of a firefighting plan specific to the building south of Ground Zero, which is in the process of being dismantled, took a stern tone.

"Despite the hazardous conditions, senior fire officers decided against creating a unique plan for the building," he said. "This is even more disturbing when you take into account that a battalion chief had recommended doing so three separate times. [His] recommendations were not followed, and we have to learn why." Bloomberg did not name the battalion chief who made the recommendations.

Yesterday's action against Deputy Chief Richard Fuerch, the Division 1 commander; Battalion Chief John McDonald, the Battalion 1 commander; and Engine Company 10 Capt. Peter Bosco is pending results of a criminal investigation into the fire. They will work at FDNY headquarters in Downtown Brooklyn until further notice.

Last week, Bloomberg and Scoppetta admitted the department did not have a unique plan to follow in case of fire at the 130 Liberty St. high-rise, which rose 41 stories before it was seriously damaged when a portion of the collapsing World Trade Center fell on it on Sept. 11, 2001. The building now is 26 stories.

In the Aug. 18 fire, a central water pipe was not connected, putting the lives of hundreds of firefighters in jeopardy, and the building had not been inspected since March, when it should have been inspected every 15 days, Bloomberg and Scoppetta said yesterday.

Firefighters Joseph Graffagnino, 33, of Brooklyn, and Robert Beddia, 53, of Staten Island, died of carbon monoxide poisoning while fighting the fire. Their funerals were held last week.

After the City Hall announcement, Uniformed Fire Officers Association President John McDonnell defended the three men who were reassigned.

"I know all three of these individuals personally, and I know them to be professional and dedicated fire officers," he said. "They would not have ignored a recommendation."

There were many facts about the condition of the building that would have helped firefighters had they known about them, Bloomberg said at the news conference. No one knew the central water pipe had been taken apart, and firefighters lost valuable time retooling plans to get exterior hoses to the upper floors as the fire burned, he said. They also were not aware of blocked stairways and flammable material that was piled throughout the building, he said.

In addition, the mayor said, the building's ventilation system, put in place because of asbestos and other toxins at the site, may have caused the fire to burn downward from the 17th floor where it started, rather than upward. That put the fire command center, which was on the 14th floor, in unexpected jeopardy, he said.

Even without required regular inspections, there were fire officials who should have known and reported the conditions in the building, Bloomberg said. Some FDNY officials toured the building earlier this year, searching for human remains from the 2001 terrorist attack, he said.

"If they witnessed the conditions of the building and didn't do anything with that knowledge, then their judgment must be questioned as well," he said.

Bloomberg said some blame may lie in the private sector or with other branches of government. He said he was only focused yesterday on the city agencies that were his responsibility.

The building contractor, John Galt Corp., was fired from the job last week after it was reported that local and federal authorities had issued the contractor numerous violations at the site. The state-run Lower Manhattan Development Corp. owns the building.

Gov. Eliot Spitzer, asked about the situation at an unrelated news conference in Manhattan, said he would wait to see what comes out of probes by state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau.

Staff writer Dan Janison contributed to this story.

THE LATEST

Cause of fire determined. Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta announced preliminary determination that the Aug. 18 fire was caused by workers' careless smoking on the former Deutsche Bank building's 17th floor.

3 FDNY officials reassigned. Three ranking FDNY officers -- Deputy Chief Richard Fuerch, Battalion Chief John McDonald and Capt. Peter Bosco -- were pulled from their posts after Bloomberg and Scoppetta said they were responsible for the department's failure to do regular inspections at the building and to create a plan tailored to fighting a fire there.

New building inspections. Scoppetta announces new inspections of all buildings in the city that are in the process of being demolished, and a survey to make sure that firefighting plans are in place for all buildings that need them.

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