Burned WTC Area Skyscraper to be Sealed

September 14, 2007

Workers will seal a contaminated a New York City ground zero skyscraper damaged in a fatal fire at the same time new fire safety measures are adopted in the building, officials overseeing the building’s demolition said.

The former Deutsche Bank building’s owner, the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., gave no timetable for when it would close windows on several floors that have been open to the elements since the Aug. 18 blaze, which killed two firefighters. Several more meetings will have to precede any work at the condemned building.

But officials from the LMDC, the city and the federal Environmental Protection Agency agreed in a meeting Wednesday to simultaneously seal the building and complete necessary safety work, the EPA said.

At a downtown Manhattan community board meeting last week, LMDC Chairman Avi Schick and Deputy Mayor Ed Skyler said the building would not be sealed until other safety work is completed; Schick said that could take weeks. An EPA official publicly criticized the move, and the agency wrote letters to the LMDC demanding that the building be resealed immediately.

Air tests have shown no dangerous levels of asbestos and other chemicals that have been released.

Topics Pollution

Was this article valuable?

Here are more articles you may enjoy.

Latest Comments

  • September 17, 2007 at 2:12 am
    Geeno says:
    Ive been living in the building for well over a year now as a squater, the building is structurally sound. It has served me and many of my friends well over the past few year... read more
  • September 14, 2007 at 6:01 am
    lastbat says:
    Government work at its finest. We should have imploded it while it was still safer to do so. Adding a few more ppm of contaminants to an already polluted atmosphere would ha... read more
  • September 14, 2007 at 1:15 am
    JFR says:
    NYC's handling of the Deutche Bank demolition is an embarassment. It sat there across from ground zero for years with a black screen covering it, a macabre reminder of 9/11. ... read more

Add a CommentSee All Comments (3)Add a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

More News
More News Features