Two N.Y. Firefighters Die After Blaze Starts In Skyscraper Abandoned Since 9/11
Posted August 18, 2007 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A fire in an abandoned New York skyscraper, the charred remnants of the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, has left the building on the verge of collapse near ground zero and claimed the lives of two New York firefighters.
The fire is burning on multiple floors in the former Deutsche Bank building, which was devastated when the planes hit the Twin Towers.
One of the firefighters suffered cardiac arrest and another succumbed to smoke inhalation. A third suffered minor injuries.
Construction crews had already dismantled 14 of the building’s 40 stories, reaching the 26th floor on Tuesday, but the process of taking the building down was a long and tedious one, and the fire, the cause of which isn’t known, was sparked before demolition could be completed.
Meanwhile 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.
The 130,000 square metre office tower was contaminated with toxic dust and debris after the World Trade Center’s south tower collapsed into it.
