9/11 and History of High-Rises Fires.

I found this artical and it opened my eyes and made me think alittle bit. I hope it does the same for you.

The history of high-rise, steel-framed buildings spans only about 100 years. Still, there are a number of very hot, large, and long lasting fires to review. One in particular, the Empire State Building, suffered a severe fire when it was struck by a B-25 bomber. The fire was fueled by high-octane gasoline, when the plane hit the 78th and 79th floors. Here's a look at some high-rise fires through history, listed chronologically.

1. July 28, 1945 - The Empire State Building - New York, NY

A 102-story building. The 79th floor endured most of the impact, but fuel reportedly ran down stairwells as far as the 75th floor. The blaze was extinguished by N.Y. firefighters after about three hours and remained isolated within those floors. Most of the plane's wreckage remained inside the building. There was no collapse.

2. August 5, 1970 - One New York Plaza - New York, NY

A 50-story building. Two people died. Only the top two floors were involved. Still, the fire burned for more than six hours. There was no collapse.

3. February 13, 1975 - World Trade Center - North Tower - New York, NY

A 110-story building. Twenty-eight firemen were reported injured. The fire began on the 11th floor shortly before midnight, spreading to limited portions of six other floors via electrical wiring and through small openings in floor slabs for telephone cables. The fire burned for approximately three hours. FDNY Captain of Engine Company Six Harold Kull later said, "It was like fighting a blow torch." There was no collapse. As a result of this fire, sprinkler systems, elevator shaft dampers and electrical system fireproofing were installed in both towers.

4. May 4, 1988 - First Interstate Bank - Los Angeles, CA

A 62-story building. The fire broke out late in the evening starting on the 12th floor. The blaze gutted four floors and damaged a fifth. Due to the combined efforts of 64 fire companies and a total of 383 firefighters and paramedics, the fire was extinguished in three hours and 40 minutes. There was no collapse.

5. February 23, 1991 - One Meridian Plaza - Philadelphia, PA

A 38-story building. Three firefighters died and 24 more were injured. Until 9/11, this had been the most devastating fire in U.S. history. This blaze burned for 18 hours and gutted eight floors (the 22nd-29th) before being halted by an upper floor equipped with an automatic sprinkler system. There was no collapse.

6. September 11, 2001 - World Trade Center - North Tower - New York, NY

A 110-story building. Estimated deaths: 1,344, mostly office workers above the 91st floor. One hundred twenty-one N.Y. firefighters died. At 8:46 a.m. American Airlines Flight 11 struck the northeast side between the 94th and 98th floors. The ensuing fire burned one hour, 42 minutes before being blamed for the total catastrophic building destruction at 10:28 a.m. in about a dozen seconds.

7. September 11, 2001 - World Trade Center - South Tower - New York, NY

A 110-story building. At 9:03 a.m. United Airlines Flight 175 struck the southwest side at an angle, sending a large fireball and other debris out the southeast and northeast sides of the building. The ensuing fire burned 56 minutes before being blamed for the total catastrophic destruction in about a dozen seconds at 9:59 a.m.

The total number of dead from both attacks range from 2,749 (ABC News) to 2,823 (Wall Street Journal) - including 479 public service workers such as firefighters and police.

8. September 11, 2001 - World Trade Center Building 7 - New York, NY

A 47-story steel-framed 7 World Trade Center underwent a sudden total collapse. The NIST Final Report blames its collapse on fires initiated by debris from the collapse of nearby WTC North Tower.


9. October 18, 2004 - Parque Central - East Tower - Caracas, Venezuela

A 56-story building. There were no fatalities but 40 firefighters were injured. This fire broke out shortly before midnight on the 34th floor, burned for over 17 hours and spread over 26 floors, reaching the roof. There was no collapse."Engineers have gone up there and inspected," Caracas Fire Chief Rodolfo Briceno later said, adding, "It is very solid."

10. February 9, 2009 - Mandarin Oriental Hotel - Beijing, China

One firefighter died and seven other people were injured, six of them firefighters. The nearly completed hotel was reportedly set ablaze accidentally by fireworks.

The fire burned throughout the night and early morning for approximately 10 hours. Most of the building was gutted but there was no collapse.

So we have 7 of these non 9/11 buildings, all had fires longer then the 60-90 minutes the twin towers had but non of them fell. Some of these high rises had 10-12 hours of fires and the high rises did not fall. So why is history full of high rise fires yet the only ones in history to fall were the twin towers and building number 7? We can all learn a leason in history.

I've done a thread on this, your gonna get the usual suspects in here soon saying "they weren't hit by planes" yada yada, but.....neither was bldg 7 yet that somehow collapsed from fire. They can say all day long that it had structural damage from the debris that hit it but common sense tells me that's BS. That debris would have to hit the load bearing portions of the frame with enough velocity to weaken it, hell obliterate it for it to come down so soon. And far as I know they didn't have anything other than gravity and the initial thrust it received when the towers collapsed, and I'm pretty sure those pieces didn't hit terminal velocity.

reply to post by camaro68ss


As long as media manipulation is going on, the average person doesn't know what to believe. I don't even know what to believe about this issue anymore.

Before 9/11


After 9/11


Link

The trouble is we are not given the really significant details to make comparisons. Just saying the buildings did not collapse because of fire is not enough.

The B-25 that hit the Empire State Buildings was a 12 ton aircraft. It was probably a good sized plane for its day. The fuel alone that went into the twin towers was almost triple the weight of a B-25. 10,000 gallons would be 34 tons.


The thing is the amount of steel. Even without fire proofing it would take TIME for the steel to heat up to weaken. Since steel conducts reasonably well, though not as well as copper, the heat would be conducted away from the fire. So the amount of steel on every level and on nearby levels would matter in analyzing how enough steel could possibly get hot enough to weaken in less than two hours.

So for the physics profession to not demand the tons of steel on every level for TEN YEARS is pretty amazing.

psik