by AMY WESTFELDT
The owner of a condemned ground zero skyscraper and several contractors hired to dismantle it turned it into a "death trap" filled with fire hazards, according to a lawsuit filed by the family of a firefighter killed there last August.
Wednesday's lawsuit accuses the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., which owned the former Deutsche Bank tower, another government agency overseeing it and the contractors of negligence in firefighter Robert Beddia's death.
Beddia, 53, and firefighter Joseph Graffagnino, 33, were killed last Aug. 18 after climbing up more than a dozen floors into the burning tower, which was being dismantled. Careless smoking is believed to have started the fire; a grand jury has been hearing evidence to consider criminal charges.
The state Supreme Court lawsuit renews charges made by lawmakers and community officials who have looked into the fire: An inexperienced contractor was hired to take down the toxic tower, and multiple agencies didn't have emergency plans, accessible stairwells with exit routes for firefighters or a working standpipe that would have supplied fire hoses with water.
The LMDC "and the array of contractors conducting the demolition, led by Bovis Lend Lease and The John Galt Corporation, were responsible for numerous and serious safety lapses that converted the building into a veritable death trap for firefighters," the lawsuit said.
Galt, the main subcontractor, allowed its workers to smoke, while Bovis and other contractors, including URS Inc., failed to fix fire hazards and give firefighters floor plans or other information to be able to safely fight the blaze, the lawsuit said.
"If not for defendants' wanton, willful and reckless conduct, Bobby Beddia would be alive and would still be fighting fires with New York City's Bravest today," it said.
The suit also named the Lower Manhattan Construction Command Center, a state-city agency that oversaw demolition of the building, which had been damaged on Sept. 11, 2001, when the World Trade Center collapsed into it. A spokesman for the agencies declined comment Wednesday.
Bovis, the main contractor still on the job, doesn't comment on pending litigation, spokeswoman Mary Costello said. A spokeswoman for Galt, which was fired from the job a week after the fire, declined comment. An e-mail to URS wasn't immediately returned.
Beddia family attorney Aryeh S. Portnoy said he may file suit in the future against city agencies charged with the building's safety. The Fire Department of New York has said it hadn't inspected the building for more than a year and never had a plan to fight the fire.
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