文章摘要：New York officials ordered fire inspectors to examine hundreds of buildings under construction or demolition throughout the city after an investigation found numerous planning and safety failures at the "ground zero" building where two firefighters died.
Three fire officials sai......
New York officials ordered fire inspectors to examine hundreds of buildings under construction or demolition throughout the city after an investigation found numerous planning and safety failures at the "ground zero" building where two firefighters died.
Three fire officials said to be responsible for lapses at the former Deutsche Bank tower were also reassigned, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg warned Monday that more administrative and disciplinary action could follow.
Officials said the cause of the fire appeared to be from cigarette smoking, likely by workers who were demolishing the beleaguered skyscraper floor by floor. The building, which once stood 41 stories, had deteriorated into a toxic horror in the six years since it was damaged beyond repair during the World Trade Center attack.
When workers began taking it down earlier this year, the fire department failed to conduct the required regular inspections there, Bloomberg said. Deputy chiefs are now ordered to examine some 420 structures under construction or demolition citywide.
If officials had kept up with inspections at the Deutsche Bank building, they might have seen numerous conditions that contributed to the Aug. 18 fire, including a broken water supply system, a maze of sealed-off stairwells, combustible debris throughout the building and signs that workers regularly ignored the no smoking rule on site.
Bloomberg said it was "not excusable" that the fire department failed to properly inspect the building, especially after repeated urging from at least one fire official who spotted numerous potential hazards in the skyscraper and sent memos about his concerns.
Warning that "inspections are not up for debate," Bloomberg said there would be consequences for ignoring fire and building codes. He noted that the Manhattan district attorney and state attorney general are investigating.
"This is a case where the procedure and the reasons for it were clear, and it wasn't followed, and that cannot happen," Bloomberg said.
The city also asked the FBI for help in figuring out how and when the building's water supply network, known as the standpipe, was broken.
After the fire broke out on the 17th floor, more than 100 firefighters rushed into the tower to battle the blaze, including firefighters Robert Beddia and Joseph Graffagnino, who died of cardiac arrest from smoke inhalation.
Bloomberg said the city believed the response was appropriate, considering what officials knew at the time.
"But it's what they didn't know that contributed to the enormous difficulties they encountered," he added.
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Associated Press Writer Pat Milton contributed to this report.
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