Posted on 08/18/2007 4:24:03 PM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist
Several Firefighters Injured Battling 5-Alarm Fire
(CBS) NEW YORK -- A five-alarm fire in the abandoned Deustche Bank skyscraper sent a plume of gray smoke trailing above ground zero Saturday afternoon as fire trucks and police cars raced through lower Manhattan to reach a building already decimated by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Two firefighters were critically injured while trying to reach the fire, which began about a dozen floors up in the tower left vacant since Sept. 11 turned it into a toxic nightmare, fire officials said.
One firefighter suffered cardiac arrest and another smoke inhalation. A third suffered minor injuries to an ankle, fire officials at the scene said.
The fire was burning on multiple floors at the building, where construction crews had already dismantled 14 of the building's 40 stories—reaching the 26th floor on Tuesday. Some firefighters used stairs to reach the burning upper floors.
The cause of the fire was unknown. Smoke pouring from the burning building was visible from midtown Manhattan and the New Jersey side of the Hudson River. NYU Downtown Hospital reported its emergency room was treating at least one patient brought in from the blaze.
The acrid smell of smoke, which hung over the neighborhood for days after Sept. 11, returned to lower Manhattan along with the wail of emergency vehicles. More than three dozen fire vehicles, with 168 firefighters, responded to the blaze as pieces of burning debris fell from the building to the streets.
Scaffolding on the sides of the building was aflame as police shut down streets in the area around ground zero.
The building at 130 Liberty St. has become a constant headache for redevelopers in the nearly six years since the attacks. The 1.4 million square foot office tower stood as a downtown Manhattan eyesore, contaminated with toxic dust and debris after the World Trade Center's south tower collapsed into it.
Efforts to dismantle the skyscraper were halted by a labor dispute last year, along with the ongoing search for the remains of attack victims.
More than 700 bones and fragments were discovered in the contaminated skyscraper from mid-2005 to June of this year, including some positively matched this year to a previously unidentified victim. The last bones found at the building were in March, leading city officials to conclude their search three months later.
There was another weeklong shutdown of work in May, when a 22-foot pipe fell through the roof of a nearby firehouse from the 35th floor.
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.
Officials did not immediately comment on whether the smoke at the scene contained any toxic chemicals. A spokesman for the Empire State Development Corp. said the agency, which is overseeing redevelopment at ground zero, was working with emergency officials to assess the impact of the fire.
SWAT, Army Ranger and Navy SEAL units ordered by President Bush.
Mennonites coming down from Canada?
Where was Bush today?
It was an inside job...
Vagrants.
We used to call it Italian lightning, btw. (For those FReepers not from New York, this means the mob set the fire so somebody could collect on the insurance.)
Prayers for the firefighters.
I sense the insidious hand of Karl Rove behind all this. Can the diabolical genius behind the Hurricane Machine and the Earthquake Gun fail to have on hand a Building Destroyer?
Just reported on FNC that two firefighters have died.
Prayers for their families.
Ask a Troofer.
So sad, prayers up....
MOgirl
That’s a Troofer. Endless and intelligible.
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Really? Always heard it called Jewish lightning by the boys I knew with heavy fathers. Heavy father, for you freepers outside NY means mafia).
Such an ill-starred building.
“Always heard it called Jewish lightning...”
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An economic staple of the rag trade.
"SHHHH! That's tomorrow night."
Yes, I’ve always heard Jewish lightning too.
Highly likely this is an ordinary demolition worksite mishap.
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