The deadly Legionnaires’ outbreak gripping Harlem has city officials in hot water — as locals accused them Friday of dropping the ball on life-saving inspections and needlessly slow-walking revealing exactly where the disease hit.

Legionnaires’ disease is a rare condition, and incidence is hard to estimate because diagnosis requires a suspicion of disease and ordering of the tests needed for confirmation, said Krishna Thavarajah, MD, a pulmonologist and director of the Interstitial Lung Disease Program at Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit, in an interview.

The Legionnaires' disease outbreak in Harlem has been traced to 12 cooling towers, including several at city-run buildings, officials said.

New York City's health department says all 12 cooling towers that were contaminated with the bacteria that causes Legionnaires' disease have been fully drained, cleaned and disinfected.