What really happened to WTC 7

[DoYouEverWonder]

There is some good information in this article but be aware that the article fails to mention all of the other tanks, pressurized fuel lines and generators that were installed in various parts of the building.

City Had Been Warned of Fuel Tank at 7 World Trade Center

December 20, 2001

Fire Department officials warned the city and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in 1998 and 1999 that a giant diesel fuel tank for the mayor's $13 million command bunker in 7 World Trade Center, a 47-story high-rise that burned and collapsed on Sept. 11, posed a hazard and was not consistent with city fire codes.

The 6,000-gallon tank was positioned about 15 feet above the ground floor and near several lobby elevators and was meant to fuel generators that would supply electricity to the 23rd-floor bunker in the event of a power failure. Although the city made some design changes to address the concerns — moving a fuel pipe that would have run from the tank up an elevator shaft, for example — it left the tank in place.

But the Fire Department repeatedly warned that a tank in that position could spread fumes throughout the building if it leaked, or, if it caught fire, could produce what one Fire Department memorandum called "disaster."

<snip>

The engineering and fire experts who have been examining the collapse of 7 World Trade Center have not settled on the final cause of the disaster. But they have seen evidence of very high temperatures typical of fuel fires in the debris from the building and have raised questions about whether the diesel accounted for those conditions.

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/20/nyregion/20DIES.html?ex=1158379200&en=3aa0e2f1f0792145&ei=5070

It is not surprising that there's a lot of theories and misconceptions regarding what happened to WTC 7.

Some people claim that the south side of the building was severely damaged and started large fires that led to the collapse of a 47 story steel building. That may or may not be true but even if the building was severely damaged there had to be something inside of it to burn. Steel and concrete are not combustibles. Carpet, office paper, desks, are. So what was inside of WTC 7 that could cause such intense fires that could lead to the complete failure of the structure?

In order to understand why WTC 7 failed, you have to first look at the history of the building and how it was constructed. It is rare to see a hi-rise built over an existing building, in this case a Con Ed substation. The result is a very unusual building. A building that was essentially built on top of a truss bridge.

Then in 1996, the building underwent a major renovation in order to install Rudy Giuliani's OEM bunker and at the same time, the system that brought down the building.

[DoYouEverWonder]

1. The strange case of the Mayor's OEM office

12 September 01
by Gail Robinson

In 1996, partly to fight terrorism, Mayor Rudy Giuliani created the Office of Emergency Management, a descendant of the city's Office of Civil Defense and the Police Department's Office of Emergency Management. The agency, which includes personnel from the Police and Fire Departments, Emergency Medical Service, and other city agencies, was intended to deal with catastrophes such as a chemical or biological attack or a "mass fatality situation." However, until the attack on the World Trade Center, many of the emergencies it had confronted were far less dire, such as the threat of the Y2K computer virus, an infestation of longhorn beetles, and an influx of rodents. The day of the attack, Emergency Management seemed focused on the dangers of hurricanes and power outtages." It's Hurricane Season in NYC," its website announced.

The OEM was created specifically in response to the 1993 WTC bombing. For them to claim that they were focused on the weather is a bunch of bunk. The biggest threat after 1993 were the supposed plots to blow up the bridges and tunnels, another potential mass casualty event that would require explosives to pull off. At the same time was the ongoing WTC bombers trial in NYC, where Project Bojinka was revealed and was major news in the NY area. If the Mayor and his top command did not know about these threats and did not plan for them, there is something seriously wrong or they are liars.

In a related move, in 1999, Giuliani opened a $15 million emergency management center at 7 World Trade Center. The city boasted that the command center's walls could withstand 200 miles per hour winds, and the ventilation system was designed to blow out chemicals or germs. Although it was on the 23rd floor, critics assailed the center as "Rudy's bunker." Michael Daly of the Daily News likened it to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's shelter. "Of course, the mayor's inner circle will not have the cozy security of the traditional underground setting. They will be in the first-ever aerie-style bunker, a 46,000-square-foot expanse on the 23rd floor of 7 World Trade Center."

Yet on 9-11, Giuliani never put one toe in this Command Center. Instead Giuliani hooked up with Police Commissioner Bernie Kerik outside of the WTC. According to Kerik they set up their first Command Center at West Broadway between Barclay and Liberty, only problem is that West Broadway doesn't go down to Liberty Street. From there they decided to move to 75 Barclay, which is where they were when WTC 2 fell. They 'escaped' from 75 Barclay and when they moved the Command Center for the 3rd time that morning to Pier 92 where FEMA had already set up a command center the day before to get ready for a terror attack drill.

In the meantime, the office workers in WTC 7 were evacuated from the building before the 2nd plane hit, even thought people in WTC 2 were being told to stay at their desks. At 9:30 before the first tower fell, the staff in the OEM bunker evacuated. What was wrong with WTC 7 that suddenly, the 'safest' place in NYC was too dangerous for Giuliani and his top aides?

[Ferry Fey]

2. Not that big a tank, all things considered

giant diesel fuel tank

A 6000 gallon fuel tank is not actually that big. In the basement of my single-family home I have a 550 gallon tank, so it's slightly more than 10x mine. Roughly ten times the volume of my shower stall.

Not insignificant if it is feeding a fire somewhere, but really, not "giant."

[DoYouEverWonder]

4. I would assume this tank is installed in your basement?

The problem with the 6000 gallon tank that the article describes is that for some reason the OEM people wanted to install it above ground but within the building and they were warned by FDNY that this was not a good idea and that this set up could cause a disaster.

But there were other, even bigger problems in WTC 7. There were numerous fuel tanks in the building. Silverstein Properties had two 12,000 gallon tanks that fed the OEM system. Salomon Smith had two additional 6000 gallon tanks. American Express had their own day tank up on the 8th floor.

The SSB tanks fed numerous generators and other day tanks located throughout the building but most of the system was located on the 5th floor. Pressurized distribution pipes that came up from the big tanks in the sublevel fed the system. The piping covered much of the 5th floor. Even though WTC 7 was considered a sprinklered building, there was very little in the way of fire suppression on the 5th floor. Despite warnings from FDNY, the Port Authority allowed the renovations to WTC 7 that permitted the installation of pressurized fuel pipes and tanks directly under transfer beams and trusses.

This seems to be a bit much for keeping the power on in an office building built over an electrical substation?

[Nozebro]

3. How anyone who knows this can SINCERELY claim to believe the OCT is

beyond me.

Thanks for posting this information, DYEW

[DemInDistress]

5. the greatest flaw in the OCT is Wt7.. it can't be explained away

with spin. If by chance the steel in the basement collapsed (ROTF) then how about the rest of the building's floors. It should have come down in one piece. The steel needed to be cut in order for it to come down neatly into its footprint and only explosive devices shaped charges well placed can do that.

watch this clip its short but telling. These guys appear to know WT7 is coming down soon how?

http://www.terrorize.dk/911/wtc7dem1/911.wtc.7.comming.down.soon.wmv

[DoYouEverWonder]

6. According to the NIST report the collapse began at the 5th floor

The transfer girders and trusses that held up the building went from the 5th floor to the 7th floor. The fuel lines ran directly under them. It would not be hard to install shut-off valves at key points that could be turned on instead of off when the time came.

[greyl]

8. Knows what? nt

[FourScore]

7. I'm not sure why demo experts

even bother with explosives. Sounds like they could bring down some enormous buildings with a some fuel tanks and a match. Let's em collapse in one clean swoop right into their own imprint. Who needs explosives anymore?

[DoYouEverWonder]

9. That's why building codes normally don't allow

this many tanks and this much fuel to be stored inside of a hi-rise office building.

However, the Port Authority was in charge of these decisions and had jurisdiction over the WTC. Despite warnings and advise from FDNY and other agencies they went ahead and allowed this equipment to be installed in WTC7. If the WTC was under NYC's jurisdiction you can be damn sure they would not have allowed this.

[FourScore]

11. Umm...Actually,

I was being sarcastic. I don't believe for a second that fuel tanks caused that building to fall like a perfect controlled demo.

[DoYouEverWonder]

12. Oh no, it wasn't the tanks that brought the building down

The 4 big tanks were recovered damaged but intact.

Most of the fuel was recovered from the two 12,000 gallon tanks. However, the two 6,000 gallon tanks were empty and there was little fuel found around those tanks and none under the slabs.

The fuel had to have been used up before the collapse. My guess is they used the fuel to take down the building.

[rman]

10. "very high temperatures typical of fuel fires"

how high is "very high"?
source?


For all i know the temperature of a fire depends not so much on the type of fuel, certainly as long as it's carbon based (jet fuel, diesel, wood, paper), rather it depends on the amount of oxygen fed to the fire (think blast furnace).

Also color (aside from the reflective component) is a direct indicator of the temperature of a material regardless of what the material is - that includes burning fuel vapors.
That's the basics of the science of black-body radiation - that is to say, color that depends entirely on the emissive component of the radiation (light) coming from the body (object, material), as is the case with fire (and stars, and cosmic background radiation).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_body
"In the laboratory, the closest thing to black-body radiation is the radiation from a small hole entrance to a larger cavity. Any light entering the hole would have to reflect off the walls of the cavity multiple times before it escaped and is almost certain to be absorbed by the walls in the process, regardless of what they are made of or the wavelength of the radiation (as long as it is small compared to the hole). The hole, then, is a close approximation of a theoretical black body and, if the cavity is heated, the spectrum of the hole's radiation (i.e., the amount of light emitted from the hole at each wavelength) will be continuous, and will not depend on the material in the cavity (compare with emission spectrum). By a theorem proved by Kirchhoff, this curve depends only on the temperature of the cavity walls."

[DoYouEverWonder]

13. Would it be possible

if you install pressurized fuel pipes, like they did on the 5th Floor, you could also install something like this at some point? Or set the system up so it would be easy to plug a few of these in later on.



I'm thinking a few of these a key points would do the trick?

Keep in mind that even though they decided to evacuate the building very early in the day and then at midday decided not to try to put out any of the fires that were breaking out, they didn't bother to turn off the back up power system. When the day tanks ran out, the pressurized system kicked in. Wouldn't have been hard to go around and light a few burners once the system kicked in.

[rman]

14. Possible, but i think it'd be simpler

(faster, less invasive to existing installations) to install explosives (thermite/thermate) with wireless detonators.

[DoYouEverWonder]

15. They were already doing an invasive installation

None of the tanks, generators or fuel lines were part of the original construction. All of this equipment was installed when Rudy decided to build his bunker there. I think they designed this back-up power system, to do a little more then to provide electric to the floors above.

They also installed a natural gas line that went to some kitchen near the top of the building. I haven't looked into whether or not that line may have also been part of their 'system' but it must have cost a fair bit to run a gas line all the way to the top of the building just for someone's stove.

One other point, I'm not ruling out the use of thermite either, especially since there was probably only about 3 key points on the 5th floor that you would have to take out in order to bring the building down, because of the unusual design requiring trusses near the bottom of the building. But this whole back up power system makes no sense if that is all you wanted to do was to provide power to the building. At least FDNY, convinced them not to run the pressurized fuel pipes up the elevator shafts, which was part of their original plan.

[Make7]

16. Please read the information at the link provided in this post.

 

DoYouEverWonder wrote:

None of the tanks, generators or fuel lines were part of the original construction. All of this equipment was installed when Rudy decided to build his bunker there.

That does not appear to be the case. Please read the following portion of the NIST report:

NIST NCSTAR 1-1J: Design, Installation, and Operation of Fuel Systems for Emergency Power in World Trade Center 7

- Make7