Aug 20, 2007 1:00 pm US/Eastern
Air Quality Concerns Follow Deutsche Bank Fire
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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The vacant Deutsche Bank skyscraper burns in Lower Manhattan opposite Ground Zero in New York on Aug. 18, 2007.
Nicholas Roberts/AFP/Getty Images
New York City fire marshals are working to determine the cause of the Deutsche Bank building fire that killed two New York City firefighters this weekend.
FDNY radio transmissions show that conditions inside the building were extremely dangerous before they turned deadly.
Many questions remain unanswered, notably the cause of the fire and the quality of air around the building site.
The tests for asbestos so far have been negative, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said. But not everyone is convinced that the air they are breathing is clear of toxins.
With an unsettling view out of her apartment, Patricia Moore remembers feeling the heat and choking on smoke.
"There was debris raining down," she said of Saturday's fire.
The fire may be gone, but her fears still linger about a possible scaffold collapse, the possibility of another fire and, of course, air quality.
Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer agrees. After touring the site, he says more tests are needed -- not only at the toxic tower but also at many surrounding buildings.
"We want to look at the air conditioning vents that the table tops are clean. We want to make sure that the testing go beyond the building," Stringer said.
The two firefighters who made the ultimate sacrifice fighting the fire in the abandoned Deutsche Bank building are 53-year-old Robert Beddia and 34-year-old Joseph Graffagnino.
No one questions the two firefighters' commitment and dedication, but experts say the two men shouldn't have died on Saturday.
Excerpts of radio transmissions from firefighters at the scene offer a terrifying glimpse of what
happened just before the men died.
A voice on the 14th floor can be heard saying, "We're outta air." A second voice on the same floor says, "It's starting to
get bad up here. We gotta force our way." And then, a third voice from the 15th floor: "We're all running low on air and we're really taking a beating up here on 15."
More details of the condition of the building are becoming available Monday, including the fact that the two had to carry a heavy hose up 17 flights because the building's water standpipes were not working and that the smoke could have been concentrated by sheeting meant to contain toxic materials.
According to Glen Corbitt of the Skyscraper Safety Campaign, "These fatalities were really, in a sense, needless deaths because there were so many things that should have been done and weren't."
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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