A smoking-gun FDNY memo about the Deutsche Bank building detailed a solid plan for fighting a blaze in the toxic skyscraper as far back as 2005, but the advice was ignored – creating a deathtrap for two firefighters in an inferno there last week, sources said.
Embattled Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta said shortly after the inferno that the department had no pre-blaze plan when commanders sent more than 100 Bravest into the burning, toxic, vacant building being torn down near Ground Zero.
But what Scoppetta didn’t mention was that more than 30 months before the fatal Aug. 18 fire, a high-ranking department official offered a step-by-step blueprint for fighting a fire in the cursed building – and even recommended a strict timetable for regular inspections.
First, “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,” Battalion Chief William Siegel wrote in a March 2005 memo to Division 1 Commander Richard Fuerch.
“The ladder company officer should conduct a search and evaluate what fire department units will be required.”
That did not happen. Instead, dozens of firefighters lugging heavy equipment and hoses made their way up into the smoky maze of a building, only to discover they had no water to extinguish the fire.
Investigators later discovered that a crucial section of the emergency standpipe in the building’s basement had been disassembled, spewing precious water through the area.
Firefighters Joseph Graffagnino and Robert Beddia, who were trapped amid smoke and flames on the 14th floor, died after running out of air.
Fire officials later acknowledged that despite laws requiring the FDNY to inspect the building every 15 days, more than a year had passed since a fire inspection was done. They have yet to officially say why.
Siegel personally inspected the building at 130 Liberty St. on March 22, 2005, and concluded that the standpipe was working.
But Siegel did see areas that troubled him. Plywood was being used to isolate contaminated areas, which the battalion chief noted presented “an additional fire load.”
Investigators said plywood indeed fed the fire and may have trapped some of the firefighters trying to get out of the building.
And while city law requires the FDNY to conduct visual inspections of standpipes located in buildings under demolition every 15 days, Siegel said in the memo that he didn’t think that was enough.
“The administrative company [the local firehouse] shall maintain a weekly surveillance of this building,” Siegel said in a section of the memo titled “recommendations.”
Sources said the department put a halt to even its 15-day inspections because of concerns about contaminates in the building.
But Siegel had addressed that concern in his memo, outlining a safe way to conduct inspections even in the midst of all the contaminates.
“This problem can be eliminated by using SCBA [self-contained breathing apparatus],” the memo said.
“The use of SCBA will be required when members leave the stairwell or elevator lobby area and enter the contaminated area.”
Siegel, who oversees hazmat and rescue operations as a deputy assistant chief, declined to discuss the memo yesterday.
“If you have the memo, that’s all you need,” he said.
Siegel said his thoughts were with the families of the fallen.
“No one has more time in [on the job] than I do,” Siegel said. “I’ve been going to funerals for 25 years. It’s very upsetting.”
Fuerch declined comment as well.
“There were other things discussed besides that one memo,” Fuerch said yesterday. “But I can’t get into it. I don’t want things taken out of context. I’m going to wait for the Fire Department to give a comprehensive report on that.”
The state Attorney General’s Office and Manhattan District Attorney’s Office have already launched investigations that could result in charges of criminally negligent homicide against the companies contracted to tear down the building.
Two more firefighters narrowly escaped death just two days later when a worker accidentally dropped a hand-operated forklift out of an elevator suspended 23 floors up.
Firefighter William Carbetis, 51, who had his spleen removed, “is doing well, he’s sitting up in a wheelchair,” a Bravest pal said after visiting him at St. Vincent’s Hospital yesterday.
“He’s not bitter,” the friend said. “He’s in good spirits.”
The other injured firefighter, Neil Nally, 35, was released from the hospital Friday.
“A guardian angel was on his side. He’s doing well,” Nally’s sister, Clara, 37, said. “He’s actually in New York trying to dodge everyone. He’s relaxing.”