The Freedom Tower

The New York City Fire Department has removed three high-ranking officials from their jobs in connection with a fatal fire near Ground Zero.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the city fire commissioner said the officers may have been responsible for problems related to the deaths of two firefighters at the former Deutsche Bank building near Ground Zero.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta, at a City Hall news conference, announced the officials’ reassignments and disclosed a preliminary cause of the Aug. 18 fire in the building: careless smoking by workers on the 17th floor.

“Smoking was prohibited in the building,” Scoppetta said. “Nevertheless, smoking was engaged in throughout the building, and particularly on the 17th floor where the fire originated.”

Bloomberg, in talking about the lack of a firefighting plan specific to the building south of Ground Zero, which is in the process of being dismantled, took a stern tone.

“Despite the hazardous conditions, senior fire officers decided against creating a unique plan for the building,” he said. “This is even more disturbing when you take into account that a battalion chief had recommended doing so three separate times. [His] recommendations were not followed, and we have to learn why.” Bloomberg did not name the battalion chief who made the recommendations.

Yesterday’s action against Deputy Chief Richard Fuerch, the Division 1 commander; Battalion Chief John McDonald, the Battalion 1 commander; and Engine Company 10 Capt. Peter Bosco is pending results of a criminal investigation into the fire. They will work at FDNY headquarters in Downtown Brooklyn until further notice.