Personal Injury Law

2 FIREFIGHTERS KILLED AND MORE HURT IN SEPARATE CONSTRUCTION ACCIDENTS AT THE DEUTSCH BANK BUILDING

It has been one thing after another since the Deutsch Bank Building was severely damaged and contaminated after the terrorist acts of September 11, 2001. The New York Times reports that the troubled building has passed through a few owners and, most recently, last August 18th two firefighters were killed and two others hurt while fighting a blaze in the building. Just this week a family member of one of the dead firefighters filed suit against a government agency the sister claims created the dangerous conditions at the construction site that caused her brother?s death. Robert Beddia, 53 died as a result of toxic smoke created by the fire. Apparently, the fire was a result of a discarded cigarette on the 17th floor, and while an investigation is ongoing there are serious questions about a malfunctioning standpipe that made it impossible to bring water up above the fifth floor. The second firefighter, Joseph Graffagnino, 33, died as a direct result of the broken standpipe in the basement because it could not deliver water to the fire.

At a news conference last August, Mayor Michael Bloomberg indicated that three senior
fire officials had been relieved of their command as the investigation into the fatal fire continues. Mayor Bloomberg further commented that the local firehouse had conducted none of the required inspections of the bank building since 2006, even though it was on the edge of ground zero.

Full post as published by New York Injury Talk Blog on April 18, 2008 (boomark / email).