Firefighters had asked FDNY officials for plans three years before fatal fire

Firefighters at Ladder Co. 10 were asking New York City fire officials to draw up firefighting plans for the toxic Deutsche Bank building nearly three years before the fatal fire that swept through it this summer.

In a December, 2004, memo, Ladder 10 Capt. Thomas Engel asked his division commanders to issue "standard operating procedures" for the Ground Zero building at 130 Liberty St. He noted that firefighters were twice called upon to enter the poison-filled structure for emergencies before hazardous-materials units could arrive on the scene.

The memo is one of several sensitive documents that have surfaced since the August deaths of firefighters Joseph Graffagnino and Thomas Beddia at the building.

An FDNY source said Engel's memo came before the building had been cleared for demolition work, so any procedures would have been outdated by the time the razing began earlier this year.

But even after getting Engel's memo - and several others in 2005 from officers in requesting guidelines for the toxic trap - the FDNY didn't issue a standard operating procedure for the building until Aug. 23. That was just a week after the fire, and six years after the 9/11 attacks filled the building with asbestos and other hazardous material. (New York Post)