Blocked stairwells, radio confusion, and
misinformation about the water supply system thwarted
firefighters' efforts to put out a blaze at a toxic ground zero
skyscraper that killed two firefighters, an internal report said
today.
Fire officials released the 176-page report along with 40
pages of emergency radio transmissions from more than 100
firefighters who went into the former Deutsche Bank tower on
Aug. 18, 2007.
Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta said the report "is not
about affixing blame" and his department would conduct further
inquiries about its performance before the fire.
But the report detailed a litany of problems fighting the
fire that Mr. Scoppetta said would have been handled differently
if officials had known of the hazards.
Firefighters were told at the scene by construction workers
that a standpipe supplying water to fire hoses worked, wasting
20 minutes before realizing it was broken, according to the
report. It took 13 minutes for workers to call the department,
and another 67 minutes to get a water supply.
Firefighters sent more than 30 distress signals, including 14
maydays, from inside the burning bank tower, but some weren't
heard because they came in at the same time. Mr. Scoppetta
blamed "a failure of radio discipline" and said firefighters
would be trained to allow the urgent signals to come through one
at a time, keeping channels clear once one signal is posted.
"Some messages were not being received. Everybody was
speaking over them," Mr. Scoppetta said.
There was no record of maydays or the less serious "urgent"
radio transmissions sent from firefighters Robert Beddia and
Joseph Graffagnino, who died of smoke inhalation, Mr. Scoppetta
said.
The report didn't explain why the fire department hadn't
inspected the tower, which was being cleaned of toxic waste and
dismantled, in over a year. Several other agencies were assigned
to inspect the tower daily; a Manhattan grand jury is
considering whether to criminally charge contractors or the
government agencies overseeing the project in the blaze.
"It was very, very important that the building had not been
inspected, and we will deal with that," Mr. Scoppetta said.
Careless smoking is believed to have started the fire, which
began on the building's 17th floor. Beddia and Graffagnino were
found dead on the building's 14th floor. Neither were wearing
face masks connected to air tanks, and Beddia's tank had about
five minutes left of compressed air inside it, the report said.
Mr. Scoppetta said Beddia was probably trying to conserve air
while he continued to fight the fire, "and probably thought he
still had enough to get to the perimeter and get out."
