The state is now "leaning toward" cleaning the contaminated Deutsche Bank tower before demolishing it, a plan it had long rejected as too slow.

Avi Schick, chairman of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., mentioned the proposed change yesterday after testifying before the City Council.

For years, job safety advocates and neighborhood residents anxious about an accident there repeatedly called on the state to do the two tasks separately.

Prior to an Aug. 18 blaze that killed two firefighters, contractors hired by LMDC were taking down the building floor by floor while cleaning asbestos and other toxins out of several floors below the demolition.

Some investigators have theorized that the simultaneous nature of the work could have contributed to the rapid spread of the fire.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

Schick insisted the simultaneous work had nothing to do with the fire, and that deconstruction work wasn't going on that day - just abatement.

Nevertheless, the state will likely "decouple" the two tasks because, Schick said, "That's the traditional way to do it."