by Kerry Burke and Michael White
A three-alarm fire yesterday ripped through a downtown Manhattan high-rise that is undergoing demolition, authorities said.
Two firefighters suffered minor injuries in the blaze at 80 Washington St., a 14-story structure.
"The fire started in a shaft in the back of the building, where debris was dumped," an FDNY source said.
City health and environmental officials were conducting air tests near the scene last night, according to Lower Manhattan Development Corp. representatives.
FDNY brass said the structure had undergone asbestos abatement before the demolition began.
The fire started shortly before 3:30 p.m. and it took more than 140 firefighters about two hours to bring it under control, an FDNY spokeswoman said.
The blaze drew comparisons to last month's conflagration at the Deutsche Bank building, just a block and a half away on Liberty St., in which two firefighters died.
"I saw the smoke and the big response and I couldn't believe it was happening again," said a man at the scene, who declined to give his name. "With all the things that have happened, it gives you flashbacks."
It was unclear what caused the blaze, which was concentrated in an elevator shaft, the spokeswoman said.
Firefighters Robert Beddia, 53, and Joseph Graffagnino, 33, died at the Deutsche Bank fire on Aug. 18. That building also is being torn down.
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