If ever at the site, the building that burned is easily remembered. It's near the walkway to the site. When walking the area, it's obvious of it's disuse.
The vigil is only a moment away in NYC. Permanent emotional damage to a city takes many forms. I don't recall such spontaneous responses in other cities. People have been profoundly traumatized. The pain never stops in NYC. Buoy.
I know this building. I've been to the former site of the Twin Trade Towers. The entire area has stood fallow for nearly six years now. No funding. New York City is chronically left with a hole in it's heart as well a sense of threat all the time. New York City was Rove's favorite place to cause feelings of 'terror' in Bush's Culture of Fear with unsubstantiated warnings of terrorist attacks. The 'horseplay' of Bush and Rove was not only expensive but did emotional damage they should be held responsible.
I don't know when NYC will be healed from this. I don't remember hearing NYC being called "The Big Apple" in years. It's the place where 911 happened.
2 Firefighters Are Killed in Blaze at Ground Zero (click title above)
By RAY RIVERA and FERNANDA SANTOS
Published: August 19, 2007
Two firefighters were killed yesterday battling a blaze in the Deutsche Bank skyscraper, a vacant relic of the Sept. 11 terrorist attack that was in the process of being dismantled.
New York Fire Department
Robert Beddia, left, and Joseph Graffagnino were killed. More Photos »
The firefighters were among hundreds who poured into ground zero all afternoon to fight the high-rise fire, which was finally brought under control after seven hours. At least five others were hospitalized, but were expected to recover.
The building, at 130 Liberty Street, had stood as a ghost since parts of the twin towers crashed into it, leaving it severely damaged and filled with toxic debris, including asbestos, dioxin, lead and chromium. For residents nearby, the acrid smoke brought back memories of the grim dust clouds that lingered after the attacks.
The demolition work created difficulties for firefighters trying to reach and put out the blaze, which started on the 17th floor, allowing the fire to mushroom out of control, fire officials said. The building did not have a working standpipe, which runs through high-rise buildings to provide a source of water for firefighters....
By RAY RIVERA and FERNANDA SANTOS
Published: August 19, 2007
Two firefighters were killed yesterday battling a blaze in the Deutsche Bank skyscraper, a vacant relic of the Sept. 11 terrorist attack that was in the process of being dismantled.
New York Fire Department
Robert Beddia, left, and Joseph Graffagnino were killed. More Photos »
The firefighters were among hundreds who poured into ground zero all afternoon to fight the high-rise fire, which was finally brought under control after seven hours. At least five others were hospitalized, but were expected to recover.
The building, at 130 Liberty Street, had stood as a ghost since parts of the twin towers crashed into it, leaving it severely damaged and filled with toxic debris, including asbestos, dioxin, lead and chromium. For residents nearby, the acrid smoke brought back memories of the grim dust clouds that lingered after the attacks.
The demolition work created difficulties for firefighters trying to reach and put out the blaze, which started on the 17th floor, allowing the fire to mushroom out of control, fire officials said. The building did not have a working standpipe, which runs through high-rise buildings to provide a source of water for firefighters....
Aug. 19, 2007, 2:01PM
After blaze kills two firemen, governor says material was used to limit asbestos
By VERENA DOBNIK
By VERENA DOBNIK
Associated Press
NEW YORK — A blaze that killed two firefighters in an abandoned skyscraper being dismantled next to the World Trade Center site may have been harder to combat because of plastics required by a federal agency to control asbestos, the governor said today.
The blaze broke out on Saturday on the 17th floor of the former Deutsche Bank office building, which has been a toxic site since it was damaged by falling wreckage when the Trade Center's twin towers collapsed and contaminated by toxic dust.
During demolition work, the federal Environmental Protection Agency had required that polyurethane sheets be used to prevent asbestos and other harmful debris from escaping, Gov. Eliot Spitzer said at a news conference.
The polyurethane "may in fact have made this fire harder to fight," Spitzer said.
Questions about other complications also were emerging today, including why the partially gutted building's water supply did not work, forcing firefighters to run hoses to the 17th floor.
Spitzer said the latest air-quality tests for asbestos and other fine-particulate matter had been negative.
The cause of the fire was unknown, but Mayor Michael Bloomberg said it might have been fueled by plywood, boxes and other flammable supplies related to the dismantling work.
More than five dozen fire vehicles, carrying more than 270 firefighters, were sent to the site as pieces of burning debris fell to the streets.
The firefighters who died, Robert Beddia, 53, and Joseph Graffagnino, 33, were trapped and inhaled a great deal of smoke, Bloomberg said.
The blaze broke out on Saturday on the 17th floor of the former Deutsche Bank office building, which has been a toxic site since it was damaged by falling wreckage when the Trade Center's twin towers collapsed and contaminated by toxic dust.
During demolition work, the federal Environmental Protection Agency had required that polyurethane sheets be used to prevent asbestos and other harmful debris from escaping, Gov. Eliot Spitzer said at a news conference.
The polyurethane "may in fact have made this fire harder to fight," Spitzer said.
Questions about other complications also were emerging today, including why the partially gutted building's water supply did not work, forcing firefighters to run hoses to the 17th floor.
Spitzer said the latest air-quality tests for asbestos and other fine-particulate matter had been negative.
The cause of the fire was unknown, but Mayor Michael Bloomberg said it might have been fueled by plywood, boxes and other flammable supplies related to the dismantling work.
More than five dozen fire vehicles, carrying more than 270 firefighters, were sent to the site as pieces of burning debris fell to the streets.
The firefighters who died, Robert Beddia, 53, and Joseph Graffagnino, 33, were trapped and inhaled a great deal of smoke, Bloomberg said.
