Company partially responsible for deadly 2007 Deutsche Bank blaze still fighting two injured FDNY firefighters in court

The decade-long litigation between Bovis Lend Lease and retired firefighters Steven Olsen and Vincent Massa is rooted in injuries the men sustained on Aug. 18, 2007, when a fire broke out on the 17th floor of a skyscraper at 130 Liberty Street.

At 3:40 p.m., flames were spotted rippling through the black-shrouded Deutsche Bank building, nicknamed the “The Toxic Tower” for the dangerous 9/11 dust that had accumulated inside.

Hundreds of firefighters poured into the building, which was encased in net-covered scaffolding as workers abated and demolished it floor-by-floor.

When the smoke cleared, Beddia and Graffagnino were discovered lifeless on the 14th floor.

More than 100 firefighters suffered injuries in the blaze that very nearly became one of the worst in FDNY history.

In the months of investigations that followed, the Manhattan District Attorney’s office concluded that serious safety laws had been ignored or overlooked — by Bovis Lend Lease and its subcontractors, but also by the city’s Department of Building and the FDNY, which was supposed to inspect the work site every 15 days.

The most glaring errors included workers decision to cut a 42-foot section out of the basement standpipe system that was meant to deliver water to firefighters on upper floors in the event of a fire, and the decision to nail plywood barricades across the stairwells — essentially trapping firefighters inside.

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The Manhattan DA’s office could have prosecuted Bovis Lend Lease on charges of manslaughter, criminally-negligent homicide and reckless endangerment.

But instead it signed a non-prosecution agreement with the company. The agreement, signed in 2008, laid out a clear description of Bovis Lend Lease missteps along with others.

“(The DA) agrees not to prosecute Bovis in connection with the crimes alleged … in consideration of Bovis’ willingness to acknowledge responsibility for its actions,” the agreement said.

It also mandated that the company improve its safety practices and create $5 million memorial funds for the families of Graffagnino and Beddia.

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At the same time, the agreement gave Lend Lease some cover against any future civil lawsuits stemming from the Deutsche Bank fire.

“Bovis neither admits nor denies any criminal or civil liability,” the agreement said.

That clause is one reason the cases of Olsen and Massa have dragged on so long. Unable to use the non-prosecution agreement as evidence of Bovis’ role in the fatal fire, the firefighters are battling in court — a slow and paper-heavy process.

For Olsen, who has now undergone a complete knee replacement with limited success, the time is dragging.

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“I don’t have much of a life, I have swelling, pain. I got to bed by 8 p.m., I gotta get my leg up,” said Olsen, 57, who lives on Long Island.

It’s not just the knee that bothers him, but also the memories of the rash of maydays coming over his radio 10 years ago Friday — a distress call he was seconds away from making himself.

Olsen arrived at the Deutsche Bank fire on Aug. 18, 2007 with Ladder Company 1, which was transported up to the 15th floor in a nearby construction hoist.

As a FAST company — a firefighter assist search team — Olsen’s crew was on standby to rush to the 17th floor if any Bravest got in distress.

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Instead, it was his crew that got into trouble — along with most of the firefighters around him.

Unaware that crews below couldn’t get water in the hoses — because of the missing standpipe — and the deadly nailed-shut doors around them, Olsen soon found himself alone and unable to see in black, choking smoke on the 15th floor.

“All I could see what dripping fire, it was the plastic covering everything, it burned as it melted,” he said.

As the alert on his tank went off — signaling low air — Olsen considered grabbing the radio to issue a mayday alert for himself.

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Before he could, the radio traffic went “haywire,” he said.

“The mayday calls just erupted, there were so many going on, and I couldn’t make one myself — you have to follow radio discipline, you can’t talk over someone else’s call for help,” he said.

Determined to find a way out, Olsen made his way to window where he know there was scaffolding — just a six-foot jump away.

With black smoke curling over his shoulder and down through his legs — a sure sign of imminent flashover, he said — Olsen made the leap.

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“I screamed a bit when I landed, I had bashed my knee into something. The scaffolding was just two sliver planks and I aimed to land on my legs, not on my feet, so I wouldn’t fall off,” he said.

Like Massa, who has filed a claim for PTSD against Bovis Lend Lease related to the fire, Olsen also has problems forgetting the horror of hearing so many Bravest screaming for help — and knowing two of them died.

“The knee pain is like a constant reminder of what happened 10 years ago. I can never forget the cries and the helplessness I felt because I couldn’t save Joey Graffagnino and Bobby Beddia, and it sucks going through life knowing that you couldn’t complete your job,” he said.

Olsen, who had to retire in 2008 due to his knee, has sued Bovis Lend Lease for undisclosed damages for his leg injury and psychological suffering.

Bovis Lend Lease, which settled with several other firefighters who filed injury claims, is arguing that Olsen’s case has no merit because the company wasn’t at fault for the fire.

His case should be dismissed because “Bovis did not violate the applicable statutes and codes pertaining to standpipe and fire suppression systems,” the company’s lawyers said in a motion to dismiss.

A secondary source of water from the first floor was available and the FDNY could have used it, “had the FDNY followed its standard operating procedure,” Bovis’ lawyers argued in court papers.

The company also said regulators didn’t require it to fix the building sprinkler system, which had been inoperable since damaged on 9/11.

Lend Lease declined to comment on Olsen’s case.

“As these matters involve active litigation being handled by our insurance carrier, we are not able to comment,” the company wrote in an email.

The law firm representing the company said it didn’t comment on pending litigation.

Sara Director of Barasch McGarry Salzman and Penson, who represents Olsen, said Bovis Lend Lease is looking to rewrite history.

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“They said one thing to get out of a criminal prosecution and now they’re saying another thing to get out of civil prosecution,” Director said.