The FDNY has taken much of the heat for the Deutsche Bank building blaze that killed two Bravest -- even though its top brass were virtually excluded from crucial plans to ensure safety during the tower's demolition, sources said yesterday.
Although the FDNY was required to regularly inspect the toxic building that had been irrevocably damaged on 9/11 - and top officials recognized the need for a unique firefighting plan there - ranking officers were never brought in by a subcontractor to help strategize safety during demolition, officials said.
"We've been unable to find anyone who was brought into their decision-making at any high level," said a city official familiar with the site.
In fact, the now-fired demolition subcontractor, The John Galt Corp., submitted a 31-page "Deconstruction Implementation Plan" late last year that doesn't even mention the FDNY until Page 5.
Even then, the department is only mentioned in passing.
But the document does recognize the Department of Buildings, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the state Labor Department in its list of agencies whose requirements have to be met.
An intense round of finger-pointing erupted after the Aug. 18 fire that killed firefighters Robert Beddia and Joseph Graffagnino. The pair died from smoke inhalation after a broken standpipe allowed the fire to rage out of control and their escape was hindered by a maze of plywood obstacles.
Sources said the FDNY was likely excluded from the demolition-safety plan to cut through red tape that could have slowed work. Contractors were in line for a $6 million bonus if the work was completed by the end of the year.
Construction giant Bovis Lend Lease Corp., the general contractor at the site, had hired John Galt. A Bovis contract, obtained by The Post, states clearly that the FDNY should have been involved in the implementation plan.
A spokesman for the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., which owns the building and signed off on the plan, was unavailable for comment.
An FDNY representative said the department was investigating the matter.
In terms of the FDNY's culpability regarding the fire, three officers were disciplined and reassigned after investigators learned that required inspections on their part - which would have discovered the broken standpipe - had been suspended.
Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta also has been heavily criticized for having no pre-fire plan in place to attack the blaze and for rejecting the use of helicopters to fight high-rise fires.
Days after the fire, the LMDC and Bovis fired John Galt as the asbestos-removal subcontractor.
A day later, a John Galt employee who was still on the site dropped a 300-pound pallet jack from the 23rd floor of the building, injuring two more firefighters.
Republished with permission of The New York Post.
