[NYTr] More Firefighter Injuries & Mishaps at Deutsch Bank Bldg at Ground Zero

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

[The war on "terror," corruption and incompetence goes about as well
in NYC as it does in Baghdad or New Orleans.  A "troubled" contracting
firm is being blamed for Thursday's little mishap ... after years of
safety violations.  The FDNY had not inspected the non-functioning
standipe since April, 2006 -- due t the toxic conditions in the
building, according to this. The "troubled" contracting firm, about
to be dropped from the safety project, is named the John Galt Corp. A
tribute indeed to Ayn Rand. -NY Transfer]

AP via Yahoo - Aug 24, 2007
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070824/ap_on_re_us/deutsche_bank_fire

2 firefighters hurt at Ground Zero site

By AMY WESTFELDT
Associated Press Writer

NEW YORK - A heavy piece of construction equipment plummeted 23 stories
Thursday from the site of last week's deadly fire at ground zero,
crashing through a shed and hitting two firefighters in another
accident at the plagued building, officials said. 

The accident came five days after two firefighters died battling a
blaze in the former Deutsche Bank building at the World Trade Center
site.

Authorities blamed the accident on a worker with a troubled contractor
that was on notice that it was about to be dropped from the project for
safety problems.

After Thursday's mishap, Firefighter William Corbetis had surgery to
remove his spleen and was hospitalized in serious condition, Fire
Department spokesman Jim Long said. The other firefighter, Neil Nally,
was in stable condition.

The accident happened when a pallet jack used to carry construction
equipment fell off a hoist elevator outside the building and plunged 23
stories through the shed, hitting the two firefighters, fire and state
officials said.

A worker for John Galt Corp. lost control of the jack, sending it onto
the elevator and off the building, fire and city officials said.

Bovis Lend Lease, the main contractor for taking down the building,
gave John Galt Corp. five days notice on Wednesday before Bovis could
terminate its contract with Galt.

Galt had been cited with dozens of safety violations, including one
after a 15-foot pipe fell 35 stories through the roof of the local
firehouse in May. The company also was cited early this month after
torch work sent burning sparks down through the building.

Messages left for Galt, which has about 200 workers on the project,
weren't immediately returned.

Demolition had been suspended after Saturday's blaze, but work had
continued to repair scaffolding and remove debris. State officials had
warned earlier this week that falling objects such as broken glass were
a danger in the immediate area.

All work at the partially dismantled building was stopped after the
Thursday incident, said the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., which
owns the tower.

It is not known what specific kind of pallet jack plummeted from the
building. Most pallet jacks have two forks that look like those on
forklifts, and weigh about 300 pounds.

On Wednesday, city officials acknowledged that the fire department had
not regularly inspected the building, which has been vacant since it
was damaged by the falling twin towers during the Sept. 11, 2001,
terrorist attacks. They also did not have a plan to fight a fire there,
two steps that were required, the city said.

When the fire broke out, the standpipe needed to bring water up to the
level of the fire wasn't working.

Firefighters Robert Beddia and Joseph Graffagnino became trapped on one
of the burning floors and died of cardiac arrest and smoke inhalation
after their oxygen ran out.

The Fire Department had not inspected the standpipe since April 2006,
although it was required to do so every 15 days, the city said in a
statement. The head of the city's fire union said the Fire Department
had told the local firehouse over a year ago to stop the inspections
because of health concerns in the toxic building.

At Graffagnino's funeral in Brooklyn on Thursday, Gov. Eliot Spitzer
and Mayor Michael Bloomberg promised to aggressively investigate what
happened.

"We are going to demand answers and then make sure a tragedy like this
never happens again," Spitzer promised the crowd of 1,400 mourners who
gathered at St. Ephrem's Church to remember the husband and father of
two small children.

The 41-story building was being dismantled floor by floor, a dangerous
process because it is contaminated with asbestos and other toxins.

___

Associated Press writer Sara Kugler contributed to this report.