The Star-Ledger
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NEW YORK — A 15-foot steel pipe fell 35 stories from a skyscraper being dismantled near the World Trade Center site and pierced the roof of a nearby firehouse yesterday, injuring two firefighters, officials said.
Demolition work was stopped on the 40-story former Deutsche Bank building, which is being taken down floor by floor, after the 3-inch-wide sprinkler pipe fell off the building onto Engine 10/Ladder 10, the closest firehouse to ground zero.
Known as the "Ten House," the firehouse was nearly destroyed on Sept. 11, 2001; six firefighters who responded to the attacks from the firehouse were killed. A bronze bas-relief memorial to the 343 firefighters killed in the attacks is affixed along one side of the firehouse.
Workers from John Galt Corp. were cutting the pipe at around 7 a.m. when it became dislodged and fell through the roof and landed on a stairwell, officials said. The city Buildings Department issued John Galt Corp. a violation for failure to safeguard the public and property, spokeswoman Kate Lindquist said. A message left with the company wasn't immediately returned yesterday.
The firefighters weren't hit by the pipe, but debris from the firehouse fell into their eyes, fire officials said. The firefighters were treated at a local hospital for minor injuries and released.
The accident caused another stoppage at the black-shrouded building that has languished for years over ground zero, the subject of court battles over who should pay to take it down. The building was heavily damaged on Sept. 11, when the south tower collapsed into it, tearing a 15-story gash and contaminating the building with toxic dust.
Cleanup of the building began in 2005, and work to dismantle it began late last year. Environmental regulators have stopped work on the building before, and a brief labor dispute last year put off work for days.
Cleanup work on the building continued. A search is also ongoing for hundreds of human bones that have been recovered from the building in the past 18 months.
