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Family, FDNY Mark One-year Anniversary of Deutsche Bank Fire Dozens of New York’s Bravest gathered at a Soho firehouse Monday, Aug. 18, to mark the one-year anniversary of the deadly fire at the Deutsche Bank building that claimed two of their own. At the fallen firefighters’ station house, Engine 24/Ladder 5 on Sixth Avenue, friends, family and former colleagues paid tribute to Lt. Joseph Graffagnino and Firefighter Robert Beddia by dedicating a pair of memorial plaques. “They led by example, and they did their job with everything they had,” said Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who spoke at the dedication, the families of the fallen firefighters seated nearby. A grand jury is reportedly nearing an end to its task of sorting through testimony and assigning blame for the fire. In the year since the blaze, controversy and accusations of negligence have surrounded the circumstances under which Graffagnino, 33 and Beddia, 53, perished. Several media outlets reported recently that the FDNY had completed its own investigation of the fire. According to reports, fire officials doled blame to just about everyone connected to the building's detox and demolition, citing the city's Department of Buildings for allowing the demolition to commence without a proper permit, the contracter and laborers for substandard work and the Fire Department itself for failing to keep up with inspections. In addition, the New York Daily News cites numerous occasions in which inspectors hired to enforce safety regulations warned the company demolishing and decontaminating the building, John Galt Corp., that its safety management team was understaffed. The report also alleges several small fires on the site were never reported to the Fire Department prior to the Aug. 18 inferno. Decontamination work on the building stopped for more than five months following the fire, finally resuming in February. At the dedication ceremony, Bloomberg offered assurances that the city was doing all it could to make sure the building comes down without another deadly incident. “We’re not going to compromise safety for speed,” Bloomberg said. [Home][Back][Search][Contact] The Tribeca Trib · 401 Broadway, 5th Floor · New York, NY · 10013 · 212.219.9709 |