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Aug 28, 2007 1:00 am US/Eastern
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Mayor: Careless Smoking Caused Deutsche Bank Fire
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Monday that careless smoking by construction workers is the apparent cause of a deadly fire at a ground zero skyscraper where the pipe that delivers water to firefighters was broken. Bloomberg said pieces of the pipe were sent to the FBI as part of the investigation.
Bloomberg spoke after the Fire Department relieved three fire officials of their commands and ordered more inspections and fire planning at buildings throughout the city.
Bloomberg said the department failed to properly inspect the building, which he called "not excusable." The mayor noted that the city is obliged to reduce risks to firefighters wherever possible, adding, "As a city I think it's safe to say that we failed to do that."
"I'm not interested in fingerpointing," he said. "I simply want to fix what is broken and that's why we've spent a lot of time over the last 10 days trying to account for those failures."
The main focus of the investigation is the broken standpipe, and the city has sought the help of the FBI in determining how the pipe was breached. Inspectors found pieces of it disconnected in the tower's basement after the fire.
After the fire erupted in the former Deutsche Bank building—which was heavily damaged in the Sept. 11 attacks—more than 100 firefighters rushed into the tower to battle the blaze, including firefighters Robert Beddia and Joseph Graffagnino, who died of cardiac arrest from smoke inhalation just above the 14th floor. Bloomberg said the firefighters who responded behaved "in a textbook manner, doing everything they had been trained to do."
City officials had said earlier that workers routinely took smoke breaks just outside the area where the fire started on Aug. 18, and Bloomberg and Fire Commissioner Nicolas Scoppetta said that careless smoking on the 17th floor appeared to be the cause. They said investigators had ruled out electrical causes.
Scoppetta said a deputy chief and battalion chief in charge of the area where the tower stands, as well as a captain at the local firehouse closest to the building, would be reassigned to department headquarters.
Scoppetta also ordered deputy chiefs to inspect "any large building" under construction or demolition in their divisions and review all plans to fight fire at every building in their area.
He has also asked all divisions to make sure plans are in place to fight fires at other buildings.
"We will hold everyone accountable, no matter where this investigation takes us," Scoppetta said.
The department had said last week that it didn't have a plan to fight fire at the toxic skyscraper, which is being dismantled and cleaned of toxic debris floor by floor.
It also acknowledged that it had not inspected the building's standpipe system, which connects fire hoses to its water supply, in over a year, even though it should have done so every 15 days.
(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)