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Gov. Spitzer Speaks Out On Deutsche Bank Fire

NEW YORK (AP) ― A fire that killed two firefighters in an abandoned skyscraper near ground zero may have been harder to fight because of the protective polyurethane on several floors in the building, Gov. Eliot Spitzer said Sunday.

The former Deutsche Bank office building has been a toxic site since it was damaged on the morning of the 2001 World Trade Center attack, and was in the process of being disassembled. The federal Environmental Protection Agency had required the polyurethane sheets to prevent asbestos and other harmful debris from leaking out, Spitzer said.

The polyurethane in the building "may in fact have made this fire harder to fight," Spitzer said.

Questions about other complications were emerging on Sunday, including why the building's standpipe, or source of water, did not work, forcing firefighters to run hoses up to the 17th floor, where the fire started.

"The standpipe was not operating. We don't know why yet," fire department spokesman Frank Gribbon said.

The cause of the seven-alarm blaze was still under investigation. Fire marshals were scheduled to enter the building in the afternoon.

The smoke had mostly dissipated by Sunday morning, exposing broken-out windows and burned plywood siding in the deserted building.

"Our city's worked hard to recover from that awful day in September almost six years ago, and today's sad events have extended the sacrifice the city and the fire department has made," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Saturday as hundreds of firefighters worked for more than seven hours to squelch the seven-alarm blaze.

The latest disaster invoked memories of the attack nearly six years ago and renewed some of the same concerns that residents had about possible harmful effects of the air.

The 17th floor of the building, where the fire started Saturday afternoon, had not yet been cleaned of toxic debris, Environmental Protection Agency spokesman Bonnie Bellow said Sunday.

Spitzer said the latest air-quality tests on asbestos and other fine particulate matter have been negative.

Earlier, Bloomberg also sought to reassure residents that the asbestos and other toxic substances in the building, dumped there by the twin towers' collapse, likely did not present a significant health risk.

The mayor also said the building's structure was secure and in no danger of falling.

The fire brought the stench of smoke and the screech of sirens back to an area still recovering from the 2001 terrorist attacks. More than five dozen fire vehicles, carrying more than 270 firefighters, responded to the blaze as pieces of burning debris fell from the building to the streets. Smoke was visible from midtown Manhattan and the New Jersey side of the Hudson River.

Nearby buildings were hastily evacuated, and anxious residents waited for hours before they were allowed to return.

"We heard this crackling," said Elizabeth Hughes, who saw the fire start from her rooftop deck across from the Deutsche Bank tower. "And then a huge fire that went up three floors fast. It was massive."

The blaze began about a dozen floors up and burned on multiple floors at the building, steps from where 343 firefighters lost their lives in the trade center attack. A worker in the building discovered the fire on the 17th floor after noticing smoke, Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta said.

The state of the building, the asbestos hazard and heavy smoke made conditions especially difficult for firefighters, Scoppetta said.

Firefighters had to use ropes to haul hoses up from the street to douse the blaze, he said. Some firefighters used stairs to reach the burning upper floors; others smashed out windows to let in more air to reach the flames.

The firefighters who died, Robert Beddia and Joseph Graffagnino, had been trapped and inhaled a great deal of smoke, Bloomberg said.

Beddia, 53, had been a firefighter for 23 years; Graffagnino, 33, had been a with the department for eight years, officials said.

"It's so awful, I don't know what to do. My whole family is distraught," Graffagnino's grandmother, Connie Marchisotto, 90, told the New York Post.

The owner of a pizzeria near the slain firefighters' firehouse remembered Beddia as easygoing and eager to help newcomers learn the ropes. But the firehouse's losses on Sept. 11 haunted him, said Lisa Giunta, the owner of Arturo's Pizza.

"It was hard for him to work with those plaques inside looking at him," Giunta told the Daily News, referring to a memorial in the firehouse.

Five or six other firefighters were taken to hospitals with smoke inhalation, but their injuries weren't serious, Bloomberg said. No civilians were hurt.

The building at 130 Liberty St. has become a persistent headache for redevelopers in the nearly six years since the attacks. The 1.4 million-square-foot office tower was contaminated with toxic dust and debris after the trade center's south tower collapsed into it.

Two years ago, redevelopment officials said the building contained excessive levels of seven hazardous substances, including dioxin and lead. As part of the tear-down, a dozen air-quality monitors were installed in the area around the building.

Sept. 11's environmental and health aftereffects have become a subject of congressional hearings, court cases and medical studies.

Some preliminary scientific studies have indicated that as many as 400,000 people were exposed to toxic ground zero dust. Hundreds have fallen ill, several have died from lung ailments blamed on inhaled Trade Center ash, and thousands have sued various government entities.

Independent government reviews have faulted the federal EPA's handling of the immediate aftermath of the attacks, as well as the agency's cleanup program for nearby buildings.

(© 2007 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)