|
(CBS) NEW YORK Investigators say firefighters battling Saturday's blaze at the Deutsche Bank building at Ground Zero had no working water supply. Two firefighters died trying to extinguish the flames.
A standpipe and sprinkler system were supposed to work, but they failed. So without a working water supply, firefighters had no other option but to carry heavy hoses up 17 flights outside of the building.
Permits issued as recently as two weeks ago required the presence of a working standpipe, but they were never tested.
"The question of what happened to the standpipes is one that's on our minds. It's the forefront of our work right now," said Avi Schick, chairman of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation.
"It was unacceptable. It should not have happened. It should never happen again," said Steve Cassidy of the Uniformed Firefighters Association.
It turns out that the toxic site has also been slapped with city buildings violations for storage of combustible material and allowing debris to fall off the building as construction crews tore it down floor by floor.
Radio calls from the fateful fire offer a glimpse at the poor conditions firefighters faced.
"It's getting pretty bad up here chief. Heavy smoke, heavy fire toward the front of the building," one firefighter could be heard saying in FDNY radio transmissions from Saturday.
For the first time, veteran firefighters heard the tapes of desperate radio calls from those battling the blaze inside the building.
"Listening to the tape there was a highly professional operation going on," said Yonkers Fire Commissioner Anthony Pagano.
"If someone has a sickness, and they died, you feel bad about it -- but to die like that."
To honor the two firefighters killed in the blaze -- 53-year-old Robert Beddia and 33-year-old Joseph Graffagnino -- a make shift memorial was set up outside Engine 24 and Ladder 5 in SoHo, where the two left behind a family of grieving brothers.
Mayor Bloomberg said that a full investigation is underway to find out how the fire started and the exact circumstances surrounding the firefighters' deaths.
Funeral arrangements have been made for the two fallen firefighters.
The wake for Graffagnino is being held on Tuesday and Wednesday. His funeral will be held Thursday at 10 a.m. at Saint Ephrem's Church in Brooklyn.
The wake for Beddia is being held on Wednesday and Thursday at the Harmon Funeral Home on Staten Island. His funeral will be held Friday morning at St. Patrick's Cathedral.
 |
