2 firefighters hurt at Ground Zero site

2 firefighters hurt at Ground Zero site
By AMY WESTFELDT, Associated Press Writer

NEW YORK - A heavy piece of construction equipment plummeted 23 stories Thursday from the site of last week's deadly fire at ground zero, crashing through a shed and hitting two firefighters in another accident at the plagued building, officials said.

The accident came five days after two firefighters died battling a blaze in the former Deutsche Bank building at the World Trade Center site.

Authorities blamed the accident on a worker with a troubled contractor that was on notice that it was about to be dropped from the project for safety problems.

After Thursday's mishap, Firefighter William Corbetis had surgery to remove his spleen and was hospitalized in serious condition, Fire Department spokesman Jim Long said. The other firefighter, Neil Nally, was in stable condition.

The accident happened when a pallet jack used to carry construction equipment fell off a hoist elevator outside the building and plunged 23 stories through the shed, hitting the two firefighters, fire and state officials said.

A worker for John Galt Corp. lost control of the jack, sending it onto the elevator and off the building, fire and city officials said.

Bovis Lend Lease, the main contractor for taking down the building, gave John Galt Corp. five days notice on Wednesday before Bovis could terminate its contract with Galt.

Galt had been cited with dozens of safety violations, including one after a 15-foot pipe fell 35 stories through the roof of the local firehouse in May. The company also was cited early this month after torch work sent burning sparks down through the building.

Messages left for Galt, which has about 200 workers on the project, weren't immediately returned.

Demolition had been suspended after Saturday's blaze, but work had continued to repair scaffolding and remove debris. State officials had warned earlier this week that falling objects such as broken glass were a danger in the immediate area.

All work at the partially dismantled building was stopped after the Thursday incident, said the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., which owns the tower.

It is not known what specific kind of pallet jack plummeted from the building. Most pallet jacks have two forks that look like those on forklifts, and weigh about 300 pounds.

On Wednesday, city officials acknowledged that the fire department had not regularly inspected the building, which has been vacant since it was damaged by the falling twin towers during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. They also did not have a plan to fight a fire there, two steps that were required, the city said.

When the fire broke out, the standpipe needed to bring water up to the level of the fire wasn't working.

Firefighters Robert Beddia and Joseph Graffagnino became trapped on one of the burning floors and died of cardiac arrest and smoke inhalation after their oxygen ran out.

The Fire Department had not inspected the standpipe since April 2006, although it was required to do so every 15 days, the city said in a statement. The head of the city's fire union said the Fire Department had told the local firehouse over a year ago to stop the inspections because of health concerns in the toxic building.

At Graffagnino's funeral in Brooklyn on Thursday, Gov. Eliot Spitzer and Mayor Michael Bloomberg promised to aggressively investigate what happened.

"We are going to demand answers and then make sure a tragedy like this never happens again," Spitzer promised the crowd of 1,400 mourners who gathered at St. Ephrem's Church to remember the husband and father of two small children.

The 41-story building was being dismantled floor by floor, a dangerous process because it is contaminated with asbestos and other toxins.

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Associated Press writer Sara Kugler contributed to this report.