LIC Firefighters Injured At Deutsche Bank Building
BY LIZ GOFF

"Pray for Uncle Billy," fellow firefighters said. "He's facing a long road back, but he'll make it."

Standing in their Long Island City firehouse, comrades of New York City Firefighters William "Uncle Billy" Corbetis and Neil Nally recalled the horror that followed the August 23 accident at the condemned Deutsche Bank Building that almost took the lives of the two men even as they recalled some of the antics of the man they call "Uncle Billy", who they describe as the heart of the firehouse on 47th Avenue.

The firefighters from Engine Company 258 in Long Island City were required to be at the building across from Ground Zero last Thursday. "They were doing escort duty there- babysitting a construction company that's run by The Three Stooges," fire department sources said

At about 2:15 p.m. a worker for construction firm John Galt Corporation lost control of a 300-pound pallet jack. The machine tumbled out of an elevator and plummeted at a speed of 75 mph to the ground floor, shattering the roof of a shed where the firefighters were standing. Corbetis and Nally were saved by the shed roof, which shattered on impact, slowing the jack as it fell toward the two men.

Corbetis, a 17-year FDNY veteran, underwent surgery at St. Vincent's Hospital where his spleen was removed. He also received 100 stitches to close a deep gash in his head. His helmet was shattered by falling debris at the site, sources said. He remains in the Intensive Care Unit at St. Vincent's in extremely critical condition.

Nally, 35, with five years on the job, was treated for neck and back injuries and for an injury to his right hand. He was released from the hospital on August 24.

"Thank God they were wearing their helmets," firefighters at Engine 258 said. "Billy took the brunt of it. He got clocked pretty good. He has a long way back to recovery, but he'll make it."

Family members said Corbetis also suffered internal bleeding. "It seemed like it was touch and go for a while there," they said.

City officials said the construction firm was fired from the $177 million demolition project at the Deutsche Bank Building on August 22, the day before the accident. City, state and federal agencies had given the firm permission to return to the site on August 23 to clean debris off scaffolding and retrieve some tools that had been left behind by workers.

The accident occurred less than two hours after Governor Eliot Spitzer, speaking at the funeral of one of two firefighters killed during a blaze at the Deutsche Bank Building on August 18, promised the firefighter's widow that he "would do whatever is necessary to make sure a tragedy like (the deaths) never happened again".

The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, which owns the 41-story tower at 130 Liberty St., ordered all work stopped after Corbetis and Nelly were injured.

The office tower was abandoned after it suffered extensive damage during the September 11 terrorist attacks. Demolition crews had removed five stories from the asbestos-laden building before the blaze that killed two firefighters on August 18 broke out.

Firefighters at Engine 258 said family members, including Corbetis' wife and brother, were at his bedside following the surgery, waiting for him to regain consciousness." They're eager to talk to him," the firefighters said. "We all are."