Rep. Nadler Outraged by Suggestions that Environmental Safety Rules Are to Blame for Tragic Deutsche Bank Fire

NEW YORK -- Congressman Jerrold Nadler (NY-08), whose district includes the Deutsche Bank building that caught on fire Saturday and resulted in the tragic loss of two firefighters, today raised serious objections to the arguments by some that the entirely appropriate and legally mandated environmental safety rules were to blame for the blaze. Rep. Nadler noted that the likely cause of the fire is negligence.

"The City’s Fire Marshalls have not yet reached any conclusion as to the specific cause of the tragic fire, but some are already jumping the gun and placing blame on the local community for demanding the entirely appropriate and legally mandated environmental safety guidelines that were in place for the building’s demolition. Such a move is outrageous, unwarranted and deflects attention from the real problems – the negligence on the part of the government and the contracted companies. Blame cannot be placed on the residents who demanded that both public health and worker safety be protected during the demolition process.

"We know now that the Fire Department did not have a fire plan for the building; we know that the building’s standpipes – required by law to be maintained and inspected – were not; and we know that building’s sprinkler system was not working. We also know that key safety guidelines were ignored by John Galt and Safeway. Indeed, Community Board 1 had unanimously passed a resolution on April 18, 2006, rejecting Safeway and John Galt because of their prior safety violations.

"The community and I had repeatedly warned the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation about the safety of the Deutsche Bank building. There were serious safety concerns about the John Galt and Safeway – and neither company had handled a demolition projection of this scale or unique nature. We had to petition hard to get the Pataki Administration’s LMDC even to recognize that there was a legal obligation to follow environmental safety guidelines. And, they refused to place a single agency in charge of the demolition project and the monitoring of adherence to safety, health and environmental rules – despite our repeated calls for that necessary step.

"It is clear that even before the fire, the various government agencies involved and John Galt and Safeway were bad actors. The demolition of the Deutsche Bank building had to be conducted in a manner that protected the safety of local residents – and these steps were not the cause of Saturday’s fire. We must let the investigation run its course and let the truth come to light."

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