CBS 11 / TXA 21 - Dallas / Fort
Worth's Source for Breaking News, Weather, and Sports: NYC Fire Kills 2
Firefighters Near Ground Zero

Search
News Video The Web Dining

Advertisement

A

A+

A++

Save It 0

Top
Stories

Save  |
E-mail
|
Print

Aug 18,
2007 4:30 pm US/Central

NYC Fire Kills 2 Firefighters Near Ground Zero

Deutsche Bank Building Was Being Torn Down

(CBS) NEW YORK A seven-alarm fire at the Deutsche Bank office
building, vacant since Sept. 11, killed two firefighters and sent a plume of
gray smoke trailing above ground zero Saturday afternoon.

Officers at
the scene were preventing nearby residents from returning to their homes,
telling them that authorities were
concerned the damaged office building
could fall. Bloomberg said that fear turned out to be unfounded.

Mayor
Michael Bloomberg sought to reassure residents that the chemicals in the
building did not present a significant health risk, saying officials saw no need
for a frozen zone around the building.

Bloomberg said air-quality tests
so far show no danger but tests are to continue overnight, and authorities
"don't want to prejudge anything."

He says for now, health authorities
don't see a need to establish any "frozen zone" around the former Deutsche Bank
building, except what's needed for firefighting.

Two firefighters were
killed, and five or six others were taken to a hospital but were exepcted to be
released, Bloomberg said. No civilians were hurt. Earlier, one firefighter
suffered cardiac arrest and another smoke inhalation. A third suffered minor
injuries to an ankle, fire officials at the scene said, reports CBS station
WCBS-TV in New York.

Firetrucks and police cars raced through lower
Manhattan to reach a building already decimated by the Sept. 11 terrorist
attacks.

The fire burned on multiple floors at the building.
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.

More than two hours after the blaze was
first reported, the blaze was declared a six-alarm fire. Officials continued to
push onlookers further back from the building and set up a command post on the
West Side Highway. Officials could be seen poring over a map of the
area.

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.

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.

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 susbstances, 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.

(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The
Associated Press contributed to this report. )

From Our Partners

Video

You need the latest Flash player to view CBS 11 / TXA
21 - Dallas / Fort Worth's Source for Breaking News, Weather, and Sports video
content.
Click
here to download.

Advertisement

New York Fire Department vehicles pack the streets near the vacant Deutsche
Bank skyscraper as it burned in Lower Manhattan opposite Ground Zero in New York
on Aug. 18, 2007.

Nicholas Roberts/AFP/Getty Images

The vacant Deutsche Bank skyscraper burns in Lower Manhattan opposite Ground
Zero in New York on Aug. 18, 2007.

Nicholas Roberts/AFP/Getty Images

The Deustche Bank building that was damaged during the 9/11 attacks caught
fire on Saturday.

CBS

Mayor Michael Bloomberg announces the deaths of two firefighters killed
battling a seven-alarm fire at the former Deutsche Bank skyscraper near ground
zero in New York on Aug. 18, 2007.

CBS

Related Links

WCBS- TV Local Coverage

Top News Stories

N. Texas Part
Of State's Hurricane Evacuation Plan

5-Alarm Fire
Destroys Oak Cliff Church

Plano Little
League Strikes Out With Parents

Evangelist
Billy Graham In Hospital

Family Buries
Teen Shot By Grand Prairie Police

Advertise

Terms of Service

Privacy Policy

EEO Report

Parent's Guide to TV
Ratings

CBS Television Stations Digital
Media

Site Map

© MMVII, CBS Stations Group of Texas L.P. All Rights
Reserved.