by Lou Young Reporting
(CBS) NEW YORK There are no answers and lots of anger as rank and file firefighters are raising questions about decisions and conditions that killed two firefighters Saturday after the vacant Deutsche Bank skyscraper caught fire at Ground Zero.
Many are wondering how the two victims, Joseph Graffagnino and Robert Beddia, ran out of air, succumbing to smoke inhalation which caused cardiac arrest.
"It is devastatting to lose two firefighters, especially in a building that is a vertical love canal and a toxic pile of rubbish," said Steve Cassidy of the Uniformed Firefighters Association.
As fire marshalls continue to probe the tragic fire, other fire department sources raise serious questions about how the fire was fought. Why were men sent inside a toxic building when there was no threat to life or property? Why wasn't the fire fought from outside to prevent loss of life and injury?
Dangerous conditions inside the building have also raised eyebrows:
- Both standpipes -- which get water to the fire -- were not working.
- The only way in and out of the building was through a single construction elevator which can hold 4 or 5 firefighters. The other elevator was broken, which means that the 75 or so firefighters in the building had only one way to get out.
- The firehouse next door to the deutsche bank was apparently not allowed to inspect the building because of the toxic conditions... so they didn't know that the standpipe was not working.
"It was unacceptable. It should not have happened, it should never happen again," Cassidy said.
Officials walked around the Deutshce Bank building checking the air quality Monday, but the question is what were they checking for? Documents obtained by CBS 2 HD show the bank and the 17th floor where the fire started, and contained asbestos, dioxin, lead and mercury, some at levels from 100 to 1000 times the acceptable amount.
"We know that lead is on the beams, when fire hits lead it becomes aerosolized out in the air and onto different surfaces and into people's breathing," said Joel Kupferman of the Environmental Law Project.
Fire marshalls have not ruled out anything when it comes to a cause of the blaze. They're still looking at the possibility of it as a result of arson, a malfunction from an eletrical unit, or an accidental fire possibly started by a construction worker smoking.
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