Print

Email story

Comment

Letter to the editor

Digest

Deutsche Bank fire taxed fighters' oxygen

By Times Wires
Published August 20, 2007

NEW YORK

Fire officials Saturday night said that two firefighters - taxed by a climb up 14 floors and perhaps unable to find a clear way to retreat - likely expended their air supplies in as little as 25 minutes, instead of the typical 40.

That, they said, probably helped doom Joseph Graffagnino and Robert Beddia in the burning Deutsche Bank building, under demolition at ground zero.

City officials said both firefighters were overcome by carbon monoxide in the fire Saturday.

WINONA, MINN.

Floods kill 13 people in three states

Swollen rivers lifted houses off their foundations and washed away roads, killing at least 13 people in Texas, Oklahoma and Minnesota, authorities said Sunday. Hundreds of people in southeastern Minnesota and southwestern Wisconsin were evacuated.

Elsewhere

NASHVILLE: An oppressive two-week heat wave in the Southeast and Midwest has killed at least 44 people. Many were elderly and living without air-conditioning.

BLACKSBURG, VA.: Two Virginia Tech students were in critical condition and 17 other people were hospitalized Sunday after a suspected carbon monoxide leak in off-campus apartments.

MINNEAPOLIS: The body of Scott Sathers, 30, of Maple Grove was recovered Sunday from the Interstate 35W bridge collapse, bringing the confirmed toll to 12.

[Last modified August 20, 2007, 00:18:34]