Smoke Over Lower Manhattan: Fire At Toxin-Filled Deutsche Bank Building

[rodeodance]

Smoke Over Lower Manhattan: Fire At Toxin-Filled Deutsche Bank Building

Huffington Post | Rachel Sklar | August 18, 2007 at 05:28 PM
Read More: Google Inc.

2007-08-18-DeutscheBankfire.JPGFire in Lower Manhattan: The 40-story Deustche Bank building is on fire, sending billows of smoke into the sky over Ground Zero. The building has been empty since 9/11, destabilized beyond repair by the events of that day and awaiting demolition for years — a process that began recently, on a floor-by-floor basis, according to this AP report. The cause of the fire is, so far, unknown. ........







http://www.huffingtonpost.com/thenewswire/

[tularetom]

1. Rudy getcher ass down there and put that fire out!!!

You spent more time there than anyone else in the free world you must know more about it. And god knows you are one brave mfer. So here's your chance to prove all that 9/11 stuff wasn't bullshit. Go there put the fire out and impress us all.

[Selatius]

2. Yet the EPA said the air was OK to work in after 9/11, yet there is...

dioxins, lead, PCBs, asbestos, etc. in the dust inside that building. Gee, I guess that building absorbed all the harmful stuff and let ordinary dust rain down on rescue/relief workers. What the EPA did was craven, shameful.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

3. Hope no on is hurt extinguishing the blaze

and that the fire doesn't spread.

[Stephanie]

7. We might get to test that "fire can't melt steel" argument.

It's not on New York 1

and it's not on 1010WINS
http://www.1010wins.com/

[C_U_L8R]

4. There's a lot of sirens but not a lot of smoke

anyone could've guessed that the
Deutsche Bank building was going to have an "accident"

That said.. it looks like construction materials probably combusted
(i walked by on my way to J&R) No visible flames but the crosswinds
through the open building probably aren't helping one bit.

Brave NYFD people on the scene.

[Stephanie]

6. what time did it start?

my ofc is across Bway from J&R

[C_U_L8R]

9. I first saw saw smoke around 3 or 4

while walking down the West Side Hghway.

It gave me eerie slight reminder of 911 but not nearly as much smoke.
It looks more like it's smoldering.. but I can't see what's going on inside

Don't hear sirens anymore (from Battery Park)

[Stephanie]

11. weird, I just said "eerie" in my post below - it's very creepy

NY1 reporting it's now a 5 alarm fire.

hundreds of firefighters responding.

[C_U_L8R]

15. it is a creepy building.. like a ghost in the neighborhood

also a caveat on my reporting.... I walked by and witnessed it
but I'm no fire expert so when I say there isn't a lot of smoke....
who knows what real danger there is. Just want to qualify that for anyone.

There are a TON of fire fighters on the scene.... the neighborhood was solid sirens
for at least an hour (don't hear any now).

The building is encased in scaffolding and has constuction elevators running up the outside.
It looked like FDNY were using them to ferry people up. I mostly saw smoke coming out the top
but there was some forefighter activity (hoses and ladders) on the western lower side.
I did not see any flame... must be on the interior somewhere.

[Stephanie]

5. that's just great.

It's filled with toxic mold. They actually have to destroy a structurally sound skyscraper because they can't get the mold out of it, from when it got soaked as the fires were burning for months at the WTC. Now this place is probably going to be burning for days or weeks. It's creepy too. It's a huge black monolith, like a shiny black tombstone at the foot of the WTC site. And I work on the north end of the site and the Deutsche Bank is at the south end, about four blocks away. So I'll get the privilege of breathing that crap if they don't get it out. I wonder if the Tourists of Ground Zero will still be flocking down there every day if the place is on fire. You know there are dozens of tour buses down there every single day. The place is crawling with tourists.

[NYC]

30. Billionaire Bloomberg said it's okay.

The structure is known to contain asbestos and other toxic materials, but the mayor said: “All the preliminary tests say that there is not any environmental danger.”

[Terri S]

8. aw man! Update from Huffington!

Update, 6:00 pm: Bad news: NBC News Channel 4 reports that two NYC firefighters have been critically injured fighting the blaze and have gone into cardiac arrest; "there is the possibility that other firefighters will have to be de-conaminated after fighting this afternoon's blaze." It is apparently a 5-alarm fire. Not at all good.

[Stephanie]

12. NY1 reporting five alarm fire

streets closed, WH highway closed, a number of injuries, people hit by debris, scaffolding is coming down

[Stephanie]

13. It looks like the whole top of the building is on fire

It's 34 stories, now, was 40 before they started the demolition. it looks to me from tv that maybe 6-10 floors are burning. it looks like a hot fire. the reporter is saying it's so much like 9/11, the weather. the wind is blowing too.

[C_U_L8R]

17. That sounds a little exagerated from what I saw

But i could be wrong...I may go out and check again.

If anyone has a photo account I can send a pix I snapped with my iPhone ..
PM me

[ldf]

32. here is what i saw...

obviously a building is in front of the bank building, but i was trying to not have to take a photo looking into the sun.

there were times of quite a bit of smoke coming from the building, coming from many floors. it took at least 15 or 20 minutes for the firetrucks to start arriving, but when they did it was like they were coming from all over manhattan.

ironic, i will not go down because i hate to see the gaping hole in the manhattan skyline. i have been down there twice, since 2001, with friends who came to visit. when we get off our asses and renew the city in that neighborhood, i'll be glad to go back. right now it is a monument to our failure.

[ldf]

34. a follow up to show that we ARE rebuilding

i think this may be the first of the buildings completed that are to surround the central new world trade center. (i refuse to call it freedom tower... :grr: )

i believe there will be about five (maybe more) surrounding buildings of similar design, of varying heights and different shaped summits.

i do think, when finished, it will be a beginning of true renewal of the area.

of course everyone can not be pleased, but we have to get past it. i am so sick of hearing 9-11 multiple times during every local newscast... it just feeds into the whole terra, terra, terra thing.

we have got to move on.

[Stephanie]

10. NY1: still burning, massive fire, two firemen taken to hospital

with cardiac arrest. and Bush is on vacation. it's a little eerie.

[grasswire]

14. Stef, we're with you in spirit

Thanks for reporting. Stay safe.

[smirkymonkey]

29. Cardiac Arrest?

That's strange? Any word on their health condition or was there something burning that would have caused healthy people to go into cardiac arrest?

[pansypoo53219]

37. actually very common

was listening to some NPR thing. high stress, or lots of adrenaline and most go that way. my dad is a retired FF, but he hadn't gone into fires for a long time. worked he pumper truck. not that i'd give a sit as he is a raging republikkkan dittohead.

[undeterred]

16. Oh shit I hope no one else gets hurt

[C_U_L8R]

18. Anyone have a photo account?

PM me and I can send a pix to upload

[PCIntern]

19. webcam....

fire engines on right...

[C_U_L8R]

21. Actually the DB building is off to the left

I think those are construction vehicles.. I walk up that strip not an hour ago

[NYC]

24. C_U_L8R's picture:

[C_U_L8R]

26. Thanks NYC

Terri S also posted it here.

Isn't DU great?

[NYC]

27. Clear picture.

That took a while because they changed their website.

:hi:

[Karenina]

20. #7 Redux. (burn the documentation)

must. not. react.

[glitch]

38. No kidding. Because the courts know major corporations don't back up data.

We don't have it, it got burned. Deniability doesn't even really need to be plausible any more does it?

[bemildred]

22. We don't need no stinking terrists, we can make our own disasters. nt

[Terri S]

23. Here's a pic from C_U_L8R

[C_U_L8R]

25. Thanks so much Terri !

As you can all see.... it looked kind of smoldery from the outside.
Mostly smoking out the top fifth of the building. No visible flames.
Who knows what was going on inside. There were tons of firetrucks
and around the left side they had ladders and hoses out.

You can see the construction elevator (close to that center corner)
and firefighters seemed to be using it to move themselves up.

Right now I'm just hearing a siren every so often.

Thinking of FDNY.

[Terri S]

28. Firefighters Die in Blaze by Ground Zero

VERENA DOBNIK | August 18, 2007 09:09 PM EST |

link

NEW YORK — An abandoned skyscraper was in danger of collapse after a seven-alarm ripped through the building near ground zero, police said. Two firefighters died of injuries suffered battling the blaze, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.

The fire was burning on multiple floors in the former Deutsche Bank building, which was devastated by the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. One firefighter suffered cardiac arrest and another smoke inhalation. A third suffered minor injuries, fire officials at the scene said.

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 not immediately known, but 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 more than 160 firefighters, responded to the blaze as pieces of burning debris fell from the building to the streets.

The 1.4-million square foot office tower was contaminated with toxic dust and debris after the World Trade Center's south tower collapsed into it. Efforts to dismantle it were halted by a labor dispute last year, along with the ongoing search for the remains of attack victims.

City officials announced in June they had completed recovery efforts at the structure. More than 700 human remains were found at the site.


-----------
I hadn't read that any had died. My heart goes out to their family and ALWAYS to all of NY's Bravest!

[Stephanie]

35. they died? OMG!

was out all evening, just got in. havenn't seen any news. I do know all the trains are disrupted and friends who drove in from S.I. had to park their car downtown and take the train, they could not drive uptown. It's scary the way this town shuts down over relatively small events.

[Bluebear]

31. We need to get the folks who did this. Attack Iran!!!1

[DU GrovelBot]

33. ## PLEASE DONATE TO DEMOCRATIC UNDERGROUND! ##

==================
GROVELBOT.EXE v4.0
==================



This week is our third quarter 2007 fund drive. Democratic
Underground is a completely independent website. We depend on donations
from our members to cover our costs. Thank you so much for your support.

[defendandprotect]

36. Deutsche had moved; they were dismantling this building in the manner in which it was built --

and it was evidently toxic, as well.

Sounds a litle fishy --