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FDNY Official Urged Caution At Deutsche Bank

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Aug 27, 2007 11:11 am US/Eastern

FDNY Official Urged Caution At Deutsche Bank

Battalion Chief Wanted More Building Inspections

Slideshow: The World Trade Center Remembered

WCBSTV.com's 9/11 Special Report
NEW YORK (CBS/AP) ― Two years before a deadly blaze at the Deutsche Bank tower at Ground Zero killed two FDNY members, a fire battalion chief wrote a memo that urged officials to be cautious before sending firefighters into the contaminated skyscraper.

The March 2005 memo, written by Battalion Chief William Siegel, recommended that if a fire broke out at the former Deutsche Bank tower, just one officer and two firefighters should go into the building to investigate and evaluate the situation. Instead, more than 100 FDNY members rushed in to battle the flames on Aug. 18.

"A ladder company officer and two members should leave the basement area and use the stairwell or elevator to travel to a floor below the location," the memo said.

"The ladder company officer should conduct a search and evaluate what fire department units will be required," Siegel wrote.

A Fire Department spokesman confirmed Monday that the memo, excerpts of which were reported in Monday's New York Post, was authentic. The department wouldn't comment on whether senior officials read the memo or accepted its recommendations.

But the department and Mayor Michael Bloomberg were expected to speak at an afternoon news conference about the investigation into the fatal blaze.

Robert Beddia, 53, and Joseph Graffagnino, 33, were among the dozens of firefighters who climbed into the vacant, partially dismantled building to fight the fire that burned through several floors of toxic materials.

City officials said last week that the Fire Department did not have a plan to fight fire at the building that was heavily damaged on Sept. 11, 2001.

The department had also not inspected the building's standpipe, which sends water from fire hoses up into the building, in over a year. Fire Department regulations mandate that the local firehouse inspect the standpipe, which was broken at the time of the fire, once every 15 days.

Siegel's memo recommended "weekly surveillance" of the building.

(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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