Lost In Deutsche Bank Building Fire
NY1 News 8/19/09
A memorial service was held in Lower Manhattan Tuesday for the two firemen who died in a fire at the former Deutsche Bank Building two years ago.
Family and friends gathered for the somber and emotional morning service at Saint Anthony of Padua Church in SoHo, just a few blocks from the firehouse where both men worked.
The firefighters, Robert Beddia and Joseph Graffagnino, were killed in the August 2007 fire when they could not get water out of a broken standpipe.
The building was damaged in the September 11th terrorist attacks and is still in the process of being demolished.
The message delivered during the sermon was one of optimism and hope that some good will come from the loss of these two men, but there is still a lot of frustration from those close to the firefighters about the way the case has been handled.
Graffagnino's father, who is also named Joseph Graffagnino, complained that he has not seen much movement from the Manhattan district attorney's office.
Last year, three construction supervisors and a subcontractor were charged with manslaughter. Earlier this summer, seven city fire department officials and two supervisors from the city's Buildings Department were disciplined in connection with the blaze.
But Graffagnino said he wants higher officials to be held responsible.
"Nobody is going after the prime contractor, Bovis, nobody even mentions [Lower Manhattan Development Corporation] any more, which is the landlord of the building. The city and the state officials who are all a part of this, haven't even been mentioned by name," said Graffagnino. "I think that that is a huge failing on the City of New York and the State of New York. Not to hold these people who caused these things to happen, not to hold them to the highest standard that they try to hold everybody else to."
Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver have both expressed frustration with the pace of dismantling the Lower Manhattan building.
The slow progress is partly due to the building's toxic materials, but the mayor said the hazardous cleanup is pretty much over.
"That is essentially done and very soon this building will come down," said Bloomberg. "And once it starts to come down, taking it down is something that happens pretty quickly, once you don't have to worry about the pollution."
"Yes I would have liked to have it done faster, but yes, I wanted it as safe as it's been, with the monitoring that is necessary for the surrounding community," said Silver.
The City Council is scheduled to conduct a hearing Wednesday on a number of safety bills related to the deadly blaze.
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