NY Metro

Uniformed Firefighters Association President Steve Cassidy said "things might have been different" at last month's fatal fire at the former Deutsche Bank building had Scoppetta followed the March 2005 recommendations by top FDNY brass, including Deputy Assistant Chief Joseph Pfeifer, head of the FDNY's Center for Terrorism and Disaster Preparedness.

A broken standpipe at the Ground Zero skyscraper left firefighters without water to extinguish the seven-alarm blaze on Aug. 18 that killed firefighters Robert Beddia, 53, and Joseph Graffagnino, 33. At the very least, Cassidy said, a helicopter would have given commanders at the scene an additional resource, an "eye-level" view of the 17th-floor fire and potentially saved lives.

"It's very possible that the outcome would have been entirely different," Cassidy said. "The only way to put that fire out was to somehow get water on it. We didn't have water, they were trying to get water, and a lot of bad things happened."

Cassidy said Scoppetta was shown the "FDNY Helicopter Project" presentation by six top FDNY commanders. One of the potential aircrafts identified in the presentation, the Sikorsky S-70A Firehawk, is capable of delivering 1,000 gallons of water and 30 gallons of foam concentrate for use in hazardous locations such as suspension bridges and high-rises.

Funding for the helicopter, according to the presentation, was available through the FDNY's operating budget, a grant from the Dept. of Homeland Security and other sources, including corporate and nonprofit organizations.

"It is simply unsafe to use helicopters to suppress high-rise fires in New York City," said FDNY spokesman Francis Gribbon. "However, helicopters have proven to be a valuable resource for surveillance and we have established a protocol with the NYPD. On August 18, 2007, a Battalion Chief was sent up in a NYPD helicopter to monitor the fire at the former Deutsche Bank building."