Air-quality tests on asbestos negative
A fire that killed two firefighters in an abandoned skyscraper near ground zero may have been harder to fight because of the protective polyurethane on several floors in the building, Gov. Eliot Spitzer said Sunday.
The former Deutsche Bank office building has been a toxic site since it was damaged on the morning of the 2001 World Trade Center attack, and was in the process of being disassembled. The federal Environmental Protection Agency had required the polyurethane sheets to prevent asbestos and other harmful debris from leaking out, Spitzer said.
The polyurethane in the building "may in fact have made this fire harder to fight," Spitzer said.
Questions about other complications were emerging on Sunday, including why the building's standpipe, or source of water, did not work, forcing firefighters to run hoses up to the 17th floor, where the fire started.
"The standpipe was not operating. We don't know why yet," fire department spokesman Frank Gribbon said.
