News Archive
Building code lapses led to fire deaths, report says
Released on 25/08/2008
A report into the fire at the former Deutsche Bank building in New York that killed two firefighters last August has found that contractors tearing down the building didn’t have a formal demolition permit.
When a fire broke out at the building, which had been damaged and abandoned after the September 11 attacks in 2001, it took roughly 80 minutes to get water on the flames, in part because workers there waited some 13 minutes to call 911 and then gave firefighters inaccurate information about whether emergency equipment at the site was working, reports the New York Times.
The New York Fire Department commissioned the report. The New York Times says it finds fault with both the demolition operation and the fire department’s response. The report has now been turned over to the office of the Manhattan district attorney, Robert M. Morgenthau, who is considering the unprecedented step of prosecuting the city itself over the fire.
The Times says that investigators found the Deutsche Bank fire to have been an “operational nightmare”. The building, originally 41 stories but torn down to its 26th when the fire broke out, was wrapped in heavy mesh to trap construction debris.
Thick plastic curtains were hung from the walls to contain asbestos and other contaminants. Stairwells were sealed with plywood and plastic. The fire burned those materials, spewing toxic smoke that choked firefighters as they tried to find their way through what had become a deadly maze.
The newspaper says investigators suggest that a series of building code violations caused the deaths of the firefighters, who got trapped in the building and ran out of air.
Workers had removed part of the building’s standpipe, which left firefighters without water on the upper floors. Regular safety inspections had not been carried out.
The investigation focused on the city’s Fire and Buildings departments. The report calls on the two agencies to work together more closely and to share information about the construction and demolition of buildings, the newspaper said.
The Department of Buildings reportedly did not require the building’s owner, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, to obtain a demolition permit for what was a highly complex demolition job. The department instead allowed the contractors to take out a series of ‘alteration permits’ to take the building down one or two floors at a time.
Both types of permits however would require safety measures not present when the fire began, including working standpipes and sprinkler systems, enclosed stairs and clear exits. The investigation reportedly raises questions about whether a formal demolition permit should have been required because, the Times said, it might have required inspections by agency inspectors instead of licensed professionals who work for the landlord, as allowed under alteration permits.
(PHOTOGRAPH: Deutsche Bank building burns in Manhattan August 18, 2007. By Devyn Caldwell.)
