On February 27, 1975, at approximately 12:15 a.m., a fire broke out in a New York Telephone Company central office, located at 13th Street and Second Avenue in New York City's Borough of Manhattan. The fire, which started in the building's basement cable vault, raged out of control, damaging or totally destroying millions of dollars worth of telephone equipment. The result: an unprecedented, total telephone communications blackout in the affected subscriber area, and its environs, disrupting service to over 160 000 residential and business subscribers.
The media focused on the fire, the loss of service and the difficulties repairing damage and returning service. The real story was the terrible health effects, cancers and deaths sustained by the 699 FDNY members who fought this fire, often many years later. The full impact will never be complied because of the loss of contact with members who retired.
Video:
http://techchannel.att.com/play-video.cfm/2011/3/9/AT&T-Archives-Miracle-on-Second-Avenue
WNYF summary 3rd issue 1975:
NY Daily News 2004 -
" Death stalks these men. A 40-foot bronze wall of honor looms over the lobby at FDNY headquarters with 1,127 gold nameplates for those "who died in the performance of their duty.
Nowhere is there any memorial for Joseph Pfundstein, Thomas Pitarresi or Richard Schultz. Pfundstein, 45, died of leukemia in 1983. Pitarresi, 62, died of colon cancer in 2000. Schultz, 63, died of liver cancer in 2002. The three, dozens more who died and scores of other men suffering from cancer are among a group of 699 firefighters who battled the infamous New York Telephone Co. fire of 1975. In January, almost 29 years after the fire, Dr. Stephen Levin, an expert in chemical toxins at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, issued a letter identifying the fire as a factor in Dan Noonan's case of leukemia. "It is my view that your exposure to the combustion products of the PVC-insulated wiring present in the New York Telephone Co. building . . . made some contribution," Levin said. And therein lies the tragedy. Cancers caused by burning polyvinyl chloride take more than 20 years, on average, to appear. But today, the FDNY has no clear medical history for men who fought one of the department's worst toxic fires ever - and no data to document what's happening. The only tracking system is the red "Telephone Fire" stamp on 699 paper folders. Meanwhile, the department has rejected pleas to mail a cancer warning letter to its aging veterans of the Telephone Co. fire. "How do you single out this fire?""
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/news/decades-infamous-new-york-telephone-blaze-cancer-ravages-heroes-article-1.551401#ixzz2uZhzx4RJ
The media focused on the fire, the loss of service and the difficulties repairing damage and returning service. The real story was the terrible health effects, cancers and deaths sustained by the 699 FDNY members who fought this fire, often many years later. The full impact will never be complied because of the loss of contact with members who retired.
Video:
http://techchannel.att.com/play-video.cfm/2011/3/9/AT&T-Archives-Miracle-on-Second-Avenue
WNYF summary 3rd issue 1975:
NY Daily News 2004 -
" Death stalks these men. A 40-foot bronze wall of honor looms over the lobby at FDNY headquarters with 1,127 gold nameplates for those "who died in the performance of their duty.
Nowhere is there any memorial for Joseph Pfundstein, Thomas Pitarresi or Richard Schultz. Pfundstein, 45, died of leukemia in 1983. Pitarresi, 62, died of colon cancer in 2000. Schultz, 63, died of liver cancer in 2002. The three, dozens more who died and scores of other men suffering from cancer are among a group of 699 firefighters who battled the infamous New York Telephone Co. fire of 1975. In January, almost 29 years after the fire, Dr. Stephen Levin, an expert in chemical toxins at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, issued a letter identifying the fire as a factor in Dan Noonan's case of leukemia. "It is my view that your exposure to the combustion products of the PVC-insulated wiring present in the New York Telephone Co. building . . . made some contribution," Levin said. And therein lies the tragedy. Cancers caused by burning polyvinyl chloride take more than 20 years, on average, to appear. But today, the FDNY has no clear medical history for men who fought one of the department's worst toxic fires ever - and no data to document what's happening. The only tracking system is the red "Telephone Fire" stamp on 699 paper folders. Meanwhile, the department has rejected pleas to mail a cancer warning letter to its aging veterans of the Telephone Co. fire. "How do you single out this fire?""
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/news/decades-infamous-new-york-telephone-blaze-cancer-ravages-heroes-article-1.551401#ixzz2uZhzx4RJ
