Sep 26, 2007 2:17 pm US/Eastern
Report: Escape Plan Existed For Deutsche Bank
Firefighters Union Brass Furious At Building Contractor
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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New York Fire Department vehicles pack the streets near the Deutsche Bank skyscraper as it burned in Lower Manhattan on Aug. 18, 2007.
Nicholas Roberts/AFP/Getty Images
New details have emerged about the deadly Deutsche Bank fire and a secret emergency escape plan.
Firefighters responding to the burning building apparently didn't know about it. And there are questions about whether that escape plan would have worked.
Sealed stairwells in the Deutsche Bank building are believed to have contributed to the deaths of firefighters Joseph Graffagnino and Robert Beddia. However, now comes word that the contractor actually had an emergency escape plan.
"It was an asinine plan that had no credibility whatsoever," said Jack McDonnell of the Uniformed Firefighters Association.
The plan was posted on the Lower Manhattan Development Corp.'s Web site five months before the fire as a way of opening stairwells sealed with heavy plywood and plastic to prevent toxic materials from escaping.
"The contractor's plan was ludicrous," UFA President Steve Cassidy said.
The plan called for firefighters to first locate a knife left on the floor near the blocked stairwells. They were to use it to cut through two heavy layers of polyethylene. Behind the plastic was a hinged door that the firefighters would then have to open.
"I don't see how you could find that knife in the smoke condition," McDonnell said. "It would have to be painted Day-Glo orange with a light on if it was impossible."
And while the fire department apparently didn't know about this proposal, the discovery has renewed questions about why the FDNY didn't have a fire plan for such a controversial building.
"It's a disgrace the leadership of the fire department needs to be held accountable for what's happened," Cassidy said. "We have two dead firemen. They either didn't know there was a plan or knew about it and did nothing."
A spokesman for the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. refused to comment, citing the Manhattan district attorney's criminal probe.
The plan was developed by the John Galt Corp., a subcontractor of Bovis Lend Lease, the company with overall responsibility for dismantling the Deutsche Bank building.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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