NEW YORK, NY October 03, 2007 —Firefighters never knew there were escape routes down sealed staircases in the former Deutsche Bank building where two firefighters were trapped and died in an August blaze.

The New York Times reports that contractors dismantling the contaminated building devised an emergency escape plan, dated March 1. The plan was submitted to the building's owner, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation.

But the Fire Department says it wasn't asked or even told about the plan. Officials have said the firefighters who responded to the August 18th fire at the building faced conditions that made a dangerous job even riskier including a broken water supply system, an abundance of combustible debris, and a maze of sealed-off stairwells.