FDNY Officials Reassigned Following Deutsch Bank Fire

New York, NY —

Three officers at the Fire Department have been demoted for not being prepared for a fire at the Deutsche Bank building. A fire at the deconstruction site next to Ground Zero killed 2 firefighters. The firefighters union says the reassignments are a rush to judgment. WNYC's Kathleen Horan has more.

The officers union says the blame should not rest on the shoulders of the men who have been relieved of their duties. Instead, they say the contractors overseeing the demolition of the building should be first in line when it comes to taking responsibility for what went wrong. Union President Jack McDonnell says that because the decontamination effort was underway at the same time as workers were taking down the building, interior inspections weren't possible.

Fire personnel would have been required to be outfitted with special protective equipment and then be de-contaminated after each visit. He says the FDNY at its highest levels failed to provide guidance in what he called an "extraordinary situation." Yesterday, Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scopetta ordered chiefs to inspect any large building under construction in their divisions and fire safety plans for the buildings in their areas. For WNYC, I'm Kathleen Horan.