By Peter N. Spencer
Staten Island Advance
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — A Staten Island attorney claims an FDNY document provides evidence that top firefighter officials were told by the city Department of Buildings three months before the Deutsche Bank blaze that they were no longer responsible for inspecting the troubled skyscraper.
Great Kills lawyer John Bosco, the brother of Engine Co. 10 Capt. Peter Bosco, who was stripped of his command for his role in the Aug. 18 fatal fire, said he was recently forwarded the internal memo, which appears to be the official minutes from a meeting between Buildings and the FDNY on May 18. According to the memo, Building’s principal Engineer, Timothy Lynch, told the FDNY that “the demolition of 140 Liberty Street (sic) would be under the jurisdiction of Building’s B.E.S.T. (Building Enforcement Safety Team).”
Although the address of the Deutsche Bank building is 130 Liberty St., Bosco said he believes the “140 Liberty Street” mentioned in the memo is a typographical error. The memo indicates the meeting was prompted by a pipe that fell from the Deutsche Bank through the roof of Engine 10/Ladder 10 headquarters at 124 Liberty St. Representatives of Bovis Lend Lease, the firm responsible for dismantling and decontaminating the Deutsche Bank building, also were present at the meeting.
Spokesmen for the FDNY and Buildings declined to comment on the May 18 memo.
“Because there are currently several ongoing investigations into the fire at Deutsche Bank, and a thorough review of FDNY and DOB’s procedures, it would be inappropriate to comment at this time,” said John Gallagher, a spokesman for Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Bosco would not say who gave him the memo, which appears to have been sent to 24 top-ranking officials, including FDNY Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta and Chief of Department Salvatore Cassano, Buildings’ Manhattan Borough Commissioner Chris Santulli and Bovis senior vice president James Abadie.
Since the fire claimed the lives of Firefighters Robert Beddia of South Beach and Joseph Graffagnino of Brooklyn, many have questioned who was ultimately responsible for ensuring the building’s safety. Several agencies, including the FDNY, Buildings and the Environmental Protection Agency, have had a hand in the oversight of the complicated deconstruction project.
The Deutsche Bank building was in the demolition phase and had been knocked down to 26 stories from its height of 41 when a seven-alarm blaze engulfed it three months later. The standpipe was inoperable and did not deliver water to the 14th floor, where Beddia and Graffagnino were battling smoke and flames when they died of cardiac arrest from smoke inhalation.
In the aftermath, three high-ranking FDNY members - Capt. Bosco, Battalion 1 Chief John McDonald and Division 1 Deputy Chief Richard Fuerch - were relieved of their duties for contributing to a failure of oversight of the building.
John Bosco said the meeting memo raises several questions about those disciplinary measures.
“Having this knowledge, how, in good conscience, could FDNY blame three fine fire officers for not doing what was assigned to DOB to do?” he said. “I hope the mayor is big enough to admit he made a mistake, and reinstate them.”
Advance reporter Sally Goldenberg contributed to this report.
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