By Julie Shapiro
A cloud of smoke at the Deutsche Bank building prompted a massive emergency response Wednesday night, though firefighters quickly realized there was no danger.
The smoke came from an overheated battery-operated motor on a scissor lift, which workers were using on the first floor to reach the double-height ceiling, said the F.D.N.Y. and the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., which owns the building. A scissor lift is like a cherry picker for use indoors, without a vehicle attached.
Workers noticed the smoke at 6:20 p.m. Wednesday and notified the fire command chief on site, who called in 12 units to respond, said Jim Long, an F.D.N.Y. spokesperson. The alarm was briefly upgraded to a high-rise fire but Long said there were no flames and by the time firefighters arrived, the commander was already turning them away, Long said. The scissor lift was removed and no one was hurt.
The F.D.N.Y. initially said the smoke was caused by a welding torch, but Mike Murphy, spokesperson for the L.M.D.C., said workers were not using torches. On Thursday, the F.D.N.Y.’s Long said the report of welding torches was “unfounded.”
Sparks from welding torches caused several small fires at the Deutsche Bank building in the spring and summer of 2007, before a much larger fire, caused by a cigarette, killed two firefighters that August.
Part of the reason the smoke from the motor collected into a cloud Wednesday evening is that the building is under negative air pressure to keep 9/11 contaminants from escaping. Workers turned off the negative air pressure once they noticed the smoke, and the smoke quickly dissipated, Murphy said.
After a meeting between the contractors and government oversight agencies Thursday morning, the L.M.D.C. is cleared to go back to work in the afternoon, after missing two shifts.
The Deutsche Bank building, damaged on 9/11, is being cleaned so it can be demolished. Under the project’s latest schedule, the building would be fully cleaned by the middle of July and demolished by the middle of next January.
Julie@DowntownExpress.com
