Fresh grief at Ground Zero

NEW YORK — Two more firefighters are dead, and once again the rituals of public bereavement are playing out in front of the brick firehouse in Greenwich Village, where a brass plaque lists the names of 11 men who perished on Sept. 11, 2001.

It begins with early morning dog-walkers pausing as they pass the big red door on Sixth Avenue where photographs of Robert Beddia and Joseph Graffagnino are posted. Then comes a trickle of neighbors carrying bouquets, to be deposited at two impromptu memorials that have steadily grown on the sidewalk.

"I just feel bad. They lost so many already, it's a shame," said Jennifer Bernucca, 25, who visited the firehouse on Monday with a friend, Yvette Bisono, 22, to lay flowers at the entrance.

The ritual is the same as, if less intense than, it was nearly six years ago when terrorists flew hijacked jetliners into the World Trade Center, killing more than 2,700 people. On that day, the station that is home to Ladder 5 and Engine 24 lost 11 of the 343 firefighters among the dead — the most of any firehouse in the city.

On Monday, firefighters from around the city gathered in the entrance with family members. The funerals for Beddia, 53, and Graffagnino, who would have turned 34 Monday, were scheduled for Thursday and Friday.

Beddia, a 24-year veteran, and Graffagnino, who joined the department eight years ago, died of smoke inhalation on Saturday while fighting a fire at the former Deutsche Bank building, which was being demolished because of damage from the falling towers on Sept. 11.

Graffagnino leaves a wife and two small children, said a neighbor, Mario Vigorito, who grew up next door to Graffagnino in Brooklyn. "He was a very nice guy, from a close family," Vigorito said.

Graffagnino was at the trade center with Ladder 5 on Sept. 11, said another neighbor, Teddy Etimos.

Beddia also responded to the twin towers with Engine 24, but "he wouldn't talk about it," said François Moulin, 63, who lives near the firehouse.

City officials said Monday that the water supply at the Deutsche Bank building was "not operational."

The building has been plagued with citations and received a violation for failure to maintain the system after fire investigators found a section of the water network, known as the standpipe, unattached and lying on the floor in the basement.

The building has been a toxic wasteland since it was damaged during the Sept. 11 attacks and was being dismantled floor by floor. It once stood 41 stories, but crews had whittled it to 26 by Saturday, when the fire erupted.

Fire investigators determined the blaze began in an area on the 17th floor where workers would stop before entering and exiting a chamber for decontamination, but they don't know how it started, city officials said.

Separate investigations will determine how the fire started and what circumstances led to the deaths of the two firefighters, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.

In working buildings, the Fire Department is responsible for checking standpipes every five years, department spokesman Jim Long said. Building owners typically maintain them in between.

The city could not say Monday when the water network had last been inspected or tested, but the Fire Department said the building had been issued at least one other violation related to standpipe problems.

The hundreds of firefighters who responded to the blaze quickly found that the building's main water supply did not work, forcing them to hoist hoses to the upper floors where the fire was tearing through the skyscraper. The building's status as a demolition site only added to the confusion.

The building's owner, the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. (LMDC), bought the tower three years ago to take over the removal project. As the demolition proceeded, the city Buildings Department had to issue a separate permit for each floor before it could be taken down.

Authorities said each floor permit mentioned the requirement for a working standpipe to be present, but it was apparently never tested to ensure water could be delivered. The last permit was issued as recently as July 31.

The LMDC said it was still collecting information about what may have gone wrong.

"Two firefighters lost their lives; we're all trying to figure out what happened at this time," LMDC chairman Avi Schick said. "Nobody knows."

The loss raised questions about why emergency responders would enter an empty building that was long ago condemned.

But Jack McDonnell, president of the Uniformed Fire Officers Association, said there was no choice other than to send firefighters into the building.

"It never could have been contained from the outside," he said. "The building could have collapsed, endangering lives and property."

More than 10 floors of the skyscraper had been sealed off with polyurethane to keep toxic dust containing asbestos, lead and trade-center materials from leaking out into the air. Gov. Eliot Spitzer theorized that the protective materials "may in fact have made this fire harder to fight."