N.Y. Rescue Workers Move to Sue Over Respiratory Damage

More than 1,300 people, mostly firefighters who toiled in the smoldering rubble of the twin towers, have notified New York City they may sue for damages stemming from the attack on the World Trade Center.

The claims, a necessary first step before lawsuits can be filed against the city, alleged the firefighters and other workers were exposed after Sept. 11 to “dangerous levels” of toxins, PCBs, benzine, lead, chromium, copper, asbestos, sulfur dioxide, fiberglass and other toxic and carcinogenic chemicals.

The exposure was the result of “negligence, carelessness and recklessness” in not providing rescue workers with proper protective gear, including respirators and other breathing apparatus, the legal papers charged.

Many of the firefighters said in the claims that they suffered from cardiopulmonary and respiratory ailments including a constant cough, burning lungs, trouble swallowing and other injuries, the full extent of which are still unknown.

In October, the Fire Department arranged for a group of firefighters to undergo a specialized breathing test at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx. Physicians found 25% had airway irritation.

The percentage remained the same when the tests were repeated in November and December.

Approximately two-thirds of the firefighters with positive results in October continued to show irritation. In addition, 13% of those who tested normal in October showed irritation, according to the study.

“The continued presence of airway irritation in a sizable number of participants on this repeat test raises the question of whether this irritation will persist for longer time periods,” wrote Dr. David Prezant, the Fire Department’s pulmonary expert, in a letter to the firefighters who took part in the study. “If the hyperreactivity persists for longer time periods, this may represent irritant asthma.”

“Without further evaluation, it is impossible to predict whether airway irritation will resolve in persons currently experiencing it,” he added.

The department is planning more tests in March.

The possibility of lawsuits concerned former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and Gov. George Pataki. Both officials wrote to House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) in the fall seeking a congressional cap on the city’s liability for recovery work at the trade center site.

The airline security bill passed by Congress granted their request, setting a liability limit of $350 million.

“We are not suing about Sept. 11. We are suing about the month that followed,” said Jim McGarry, a principal partner in a Manhattan law firm representing many of the firefighters. “During that time, the city of New York and other agencies at ground zero failed to provide proper respirators.

“I have a fire marshal who was told, ‘Your bronchial tubes are coated with silica. Don’t do any exercise whatsoever,’ ” McGarry continued. “I have another fireman with acute asbestos scarring of the lungs. . . .

“You have marathon runners who can’t jog. You have fathers of 2- and 3-year-olds who can’t carry their children down stairs,” he added. “People are scared.”

Fire officials admit a shortage of respirators existed after the twin towers collapsed.

“We had them in limited supply at the time of the attack,” said Frank Gribbon, a Fire Department spokesman. “As the days wore on, we ordered them, and we had them delivered. . . . We do acknowledge initially they weren’t available.”

Gribbon said some workers decided not to wear the respirators or put them on intermittently.

More than 9,000 firefighters have been given comprehensive medical examinations since the attack, he said, with “no significant elevations” of lead, beryllium, mercury or other metals reported.

The department spokesman said impairments ranged “from a mild cough or irritation to more severe issues in the extreme, resulting in reduced lung capacity.” The majority have returned to work full time in firehouses, he said.

“We have a couple of hundred people out on medical leave or on restricted duty,” he added.

Firefighter Philip DeMaria, 33, hasn’t been able to work and belongs to the group charging inadequate protection at the site.

“The first couple of weeks, all we were given were paper painters’ dust masks,” he said. “They don’t help you for the exposure to asbestos and other chemicals.

“When they finally gave us the proper respirators, they didn’t provide the proper filters and instructions. The filters they were using were supposed to be changed more frequently than they were telling us.”

DeMaria, who worked more than 12 hours at a time at the trade center site, said he finally learned from an employee of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration that the mask’s filters should have been replaced every four hours.

He said hundreds of firefighters developed coughs, wheezing and shortness of breath at the site. DeMaria said he contracted an infection, asthma, coughed up blood for two months and lost his voice. His lung capacity fell to below half its normal level, but with the help of steroids and other medications, it is showing improvement.

He badly wants to return to work.

“It’s not a job. It’s a way of life. It’s a family,” said DeMaria, whose father retired as a fire lieutenant after 30 years. “I work in a firehouse with 50 firemen and fire officers. Those are the people I respect. I miss being in my firehouse.”