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CNN Saturday Morning News

New York Firefighters Protest Ground Zero Policies

Aired November 03, 2001 - 10:11   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Let's turn now to the recovery efforts in New York. Police and firefighters clashed at the site of the World Trade Center debris yesterday.

And CNN's Brian Palmer was there, and is there.

Brian, any activity there this morning?

BRIAN PALMER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning Kyra.

Well, recovery operations do continue here. It's relatively quiet, at least compared to yesterday. We might as well go ahead and roll that video for you. Yesterday, when New York City firefighters scuffled with New York City police officers, as the firefighters were trying to protest New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani's decision to scale back the number of uniformed personnel who can participate in the recovery operations on a day-to-day, shift-by-shift basis.

Previously, we've had dozens of firefighters picking through this rubble looking for remains. The mayor scaling that number back to 24 firefighters, 24 police officers per shift. The mayor says it's about safety. The fewer people on-site, the fewer people who will get injured from this heavy machinery. You've got cranes, you've got excavators operating on a 24/7 basis.

The firefighters are accusing the city of essentially trying to speed up the recovery operation in order to return this very valuable patch of real estate -- basically to put it back into business as usual. Whey they say they want to do -- they say their goal is simply to recover the remains of their fallen colleagues and everyone else killed at the World Trade Center on September 11.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE HEFFERNAN, NEW YORK FIREFIGHTER: We're not talking about just firemen and cops. Let me tell you something: We don't walk over civilians to get to firemen. We give them the respect that they deserve. They're victims in this too.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PALMER: Now just to put this back into perspective again, Kyra, between 4,000 and 5,000 people are assumed to be killed on September 11; that's depending upon which estimate that you go with. Five hundred forty-two of those people are confirmed dead, but only about 500 have been identified.

There are over 200 firefighters who are still not accounted for. Now again, just to put it in perspective, there were seven memorial services for firefighters yesterday, 11 more today. A very emotional issue for the New York City Fire Department -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: And you can definitely understand why they want to go back in there and find the remains, because it's been happening as of just a few days ago.

Brian, another question. You mentioned some of the dangers -- the cranes and some of this machinery. Is that the only concern? Is that why they don't want so many people in there right now, and firefighters in right now, or are there other safety concerns?

PALMER: Well, there are plenty of safety concerns. We were talking to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration -- that's the part of the Labor Department responsible for worker safety. They called this site, quote, "the most dangerous workplace in America." A very high number of eye injuries and lung injuries.

So yes, safety is a concern. But firefighters saying they're taking all the precautions that they can. But their priority, again, is to get those remains out of there -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: CNN's Brian Palmer, thank you so much.

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