Dislodged fireproofing led to collapse, report says

[sabra]

<<SNIP>>
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-wtc06.html


Dislodged fireproofing led to collapse, report says

April 6, 2005

BY KAREN MATTHEWS

NEW YORK -- Federal investigators said Tuesday the World Trade Center buildings probably would not have collapsed on Sept. 11 if fireproofing had adhered firmly to the columns and floors.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology also concluded the average survivor took more than double the estimated time to descend emergency stairwells, and that better communication between emergency responders could have saved more lives.

The NIST, which issued three reports on the attacks, did not blame designers or builders for the buildings' collapse. However, Shyam Sunder, who led NIST's fire and safety investigation, said there are now better ways to ensure that fireproofing adheres to steel.

''Even with the airplane impact and jet-fuel-ignited multifloor fires, which are not normal building fires, the buildings would likely not have collapsed had it not been for the fireproofing that had been dislodged,'' he said.

The report also found in Tower 1, the average survivor took 48 seconds to go down a flight of stairs. That's double the slowest time estimated in a handbook used to design buildings, the report said. AP

<</SNIP>>

[ramapo]

1. How about inadequate fireproofing?

I just finished reading "102 Minutes", a riveting book that'll leave you more pissed off than when you started.

The bottom line is that good old fashioned greed was the cause of death for a significant percentage of the 9/11 casulaties and that they were doomed by decisions made during the design and construction of the WTC.

Most died because they were trapped above the impact zones. They were trapped because the stairwells were destroyed. Nearly ALL the stairwells were destroyed because: there were fewer stairwells than previously required, there was no hardened masonry protected stairwell, and the stairwells were clustered. The building codes were changed to allow construction of the WTC, though the PA did not have to follow the code but pledged to do so as a sign of "good" faith.

Fewer stairways provided more rentable space. No masonry or structural steel meant cheaper construction and more rentable space. Clustered stairways meant more rentable space. More rentable space meant more profit. It is doubtful that the WTC would've been built, at least in that configuration, had the building codes not been changed.

Then the South Tower was not evacuated partially due to greed. Bond firms can lose big bucks by missing or not completing trades. Traders did not want to leave their stations.

Others did not leave because of inadequate communication. This was the case for some PA workers who stayed in their offices in the South Tower for far too long. Many of the emergency workers should not have been in the building but communication failures doomed them.

Finally the fireproofing, even the enhanced fireproofing, was never proven adequate to protect trusses of the length used in the WTC.

Basically the WTC was a disaster waiting to happen. Much is made of the many thousands who escaped. Little is mentioned of the many who were killed by poor decisions and by the end result of the need to maximize profits at the expense of proven building safety techniques.

[Dancing_Dave]

2. When Pigs Fly!

When pigs fly, displaced fireproofing will cause buildings to explode into microscopic dust!

The most sympathetic understanding of these NIST writers I can think of, is that they knew the Federal Government was paying them to come up with a cover story, so they invented the most flagrantly ridiculous one they could think of. Something that would really resonate in the annals of human folly. We could use a man like Mark Twain right now--give him some grist for his mill!

[LARED]

3. Where did that happen?

When pigs fly, displaced fireproofing will cause buildings to explode into microscopic dust!

Are you saying the WTC's towers exploded into microscopic dust? Very funny.