7 Online

Three FDNY officers stripped of their commands

Eyewitness News reporter Lisa Colagrossi is live in Lower Manhattan with more. Prosecutors have issued subpoenas for the fire department and contractor in charge of the demolition of the former Deutsche Bank building. They are all trying to piece together the mystery that led to the deaths of two firefighters

Firefighters Robert Beddia and Joseph Graffagnino died battling the blaze. They became trapped in the building and died from cardiac arrest induced by smoke inhalation. They were buried last week.

In a blunt, sometimes scathing review of their deaths, Mayor Bloomberg says the city failed to protect them. He demands to know why.

"This is a case where the procedures and the reasons for it were clear, and it wasn't followed, and that cannot happen," said Bloomberg during a press conference on Monday.

Prosecutors are using their subpoena power to secure records from the fire department, the building's department, the now dismissed contractor and the building's current owner, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation.

"Why didn't the FDNY know about all the conditions in the building? Why were they going in blind, for all intents and purposes?..We've identified three main reasons for this, and they are simply not excusable," said Bloomberg.

Scoppetta has ordered the following actions:

Pending the outcome of the investigation, the following fire officers are relieved of their commands and detailed to headquarters: Deputy Chief Richard Fuerch, Commander, Division 1 Battalion Chief John McDonald, Commander, Battalion 1 Captain Peter Bosco, Engine Company 10 Deputy Chiefs in the Department's nine Divisions have been directed to order surveillance by every fire unit in their respective administrative areas of all buildings under construction/demolition. The purpose of these inspections is to insure that all rules and regulations regarding fire protection and public safety are being adhered to.

Divisions are also ordered to review all existing pre-fire plans in their respective administrative areas, and to have units and Battalions canvass their areas for any potential structures that might require the creation of such plans.

Borough Commanders are ordered to oversee and coordinate all field fire inspection activities in their respective boroughs.

The Chief of Operations will conduct a review of the Department's field inspection program with emphasis on insuring accountability at all levels and making recommendations to strengthen and improve the quality and frequency of inspections by field units.

The union department says the reassigned fire officials are just scapegoats.

"We are certain that these fire officers did nothing wrong and will ultimately be found blameless.

On Monday night, Richard Fuerch, clearly distraught, spoke out to Eyewitness News exclusively.

"I'm still distraught over the loss. It's two of my brothers," he said. "I'm disappointed in the actions of the fire department ... I really have nothing to say because it's inappropriate to say anything."

Mayor Bloomberg says, "the reassigned officers did not have a fire plan in place, they also were not carrying out inspection as required."

Pieces of a broken standpipe in the tower were sent to the FBI as part of the investigation. The standpipe, which hadn't been inspected by fire officials in over a year, is used to send water from fire hoses up into the building.

Latest on the Investigation:

A preliminary investigation into a deadly fire found that the cause was careless smoking by construction workers, said.

City officials had said earlier that workers routinely took smoke breaks just outside the area where the fire started on Aug. 18.

Bloomberg said the department also failed to properly inspect the building, which he said was "not excusable."

Bloomberg 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."

After the fire erupted in the tower - which was heavily damaged in the Sept. 11 attacks - more than 100 firefighters rushed into the building to battle the blaze, including Beddia and 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."

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.

The standpipe was broken at the time of the blaze; inspectors later found pieces of it disconnected in the tower's basement.