Building Cited for Housing Fuel Tanks Catches Fire [NYT]

Sat Mar 8 14:40:17 UTC 2003

X-URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/07/nyregion/07HUDS.html?pagewanted=print&position=bottom

March 7, 2003

Building Cited for Housing Fuel Tanks Catches Fire

By CHARLES V. BAGLI

An electrical fire broke out in the basement of an office tower
in TriBeCa yesterday, four months after building inspectors said
they had discovered illegal diesel fuel tanks installed on the
upper floors of the tower.

....

The building is one of a half-dozen Manhattan towers that were
the subjects of an investigation in November by fire and building
officials. The six, known as telecom hotels, house the computers,
cables and equipment of international telecommunications and
Internet tenants, all of which require backup generators run
by diesel fuel to keep the equipment cool. The stored fuel is
potentially lethal in an accident or a terrorist attack.

The New York Times is withholding the addresses of the buildings
at the request of city officials, who cited their importance to
international telecommunications and their potential as terrorist
targets.

According to the violations, inspectors found that five diesel
fuel tanks and seven large diesel generators had been installed
illegally on upper floors of the TriBeCa building. At the bottom
of each citation, the inspector wrote: "Conform fuel storage
tanks to code at once."

......

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