Sudden collapse

Claim

Sudden and violent initiation of collapse⁰.

Background

The claim which can be found on a flyer handed out by the Danish Truth Movement indicates that the collapses of the World Trade Center 1, 2, and 7 happened instantaneously and quite surprisingly.

This is considered evidence that the buildings were destroyed by explosives.

Facts

Image documentation
The existing comprehensive photo and video material clearly show that all three buildings showed signs of impending collapse.

Examples:

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There are numerous witness accounts from fire fighters, police officers and others which confirm that all three buildings showed signs of impending collapse.

Examples (local time):

Time: 08:46-09:59
Location: The World Trade Center 2, 56th floor, evacuation

Architect Bob Shelton had his foot in a cast; he’d broken it falling off a curb two weeks ago. He heard the explosion of the first plane hitting the north tower from his 56th-floor office in the south tower. As he made his way down the stairwell, his building came under attack as well. “You could hear the building cracking. It sounded like when you have a bunch of spaghetti, and you break it in half to boil it.” Shelton knew that what he was hearing was bad. “It was structural failure,” Shelton says. “Once a building like that is off center, that’s it.”⁵

Time: 9:15
Location: The World Trade Center 1

Around 9:15, Drohan heard (Port Authority WTC Construction Manager Frank) DeMartini over the walkie-talkie.
“Any construction inspector at ground level.”
Drohan acknowledged that he was on the street.
“Can you escort a couple of structural inspectors to the 78th floor?” DeMartini asked.
DeMartini had seen something in the steel–Drohan was not sure what–that he did not like. The drywall had been knocked off parts of the sky lobby, exposing the elevator shafts, and revealing the core of the building. That had prompted his first radio alert, warning that the elevators might collapse. Now DeMartini wanted inspectors from a structural engineering firm to come up to the 78th-floor sky lobby and take a look.⁶

Time: Ca. 09:30
Location: Close to the World Trade Center 1 and 2

You could see A Tower, the outside, the columns were glowing red by that time, because that had been on fire for at least a good 25 minutes by that time. B Tower, I could see tremendous structural damage to the outside of the building. We stood on the corner across the street from the towers.⁷

Time: Ca. 9:30
Location: The World Trade Center 1, lobby

Approximately 40 minutes after I arrived in the lobby, I made a decision that the building was no longer safe. And that was based on the conditions in the lobby, large pieces of plaster falling, all the 20 foot high glass panels on the exterior of the lobby were breaking. There was obvious movement of the building, and that was the reason on the handy talky I gave the order for all Fire Department units to leave the north tower.

Approximately ten minutes after that, we had a collapse of the south tower, and we were sort of blown up against the wall in the lobby of the north tower, and we gathered together those of us who were still able to. Chief Pfeifer gave the order for everybody, Mayday for everybody, to leave the north tower and we then proceeded to try to find our way out of the lobby of the north tower.⁸

CALLAN: For me to make the decision to take our firefighters out of the building with civilians still in it, that was very tough for me, but I did that because I did not think the building was safe any longer, and that was just prior to 9:30.⁹

Time: Ca. 9:30-9:59
Location: The World Trade Center 1, lobby

I was in a discussion with Mr. Rotanz and I believe it was a representative from the Department of Buildings, but I’m not sure. Some engineer type person, and several of us were huddled talking in the lobby and it was brought to my attention, it was believed that the structural damage that was suffered to the towers was quite significant and they were very confident that the building’s stability was compromised and they felt that the north tower was in danger of a near imminent collapse.

I grabbed EMT Zarrillo, I advised him of that information. I told him he was to proceed immediately to the command post where Chief Ganci was located. Told him where it was across the street from number 1 World Trade Center. I told him “You see Chief Ganci and Chief Ganci only. Provide him with the information that the building integrity is severely compromised and they believe the building is in danger of imminent collapse.” So, he left off in that direction.

Q: They felt that just the one building of both of them?

A: The information we got at that time was that they felt both buildings were significantly damaged, but they felt that the north tower, which was the first one to be struck, was going to be in imminent danger of collapse. Looking up at it, you could see through the smoke or whatever, that there was significant structural damage to the exterior of the building. Very noticeable.¹⁰

Time: 09:37
Location: The World Trade Center 2, 106th floor

At 9:37, a civilian on the 106th floor of the South Tower reported to a 911 operator that a lower floor – the ’90-something floor’ – was collapsing.¹¹

Time: Ca. 10:00 – 10:15
Location: The World Trade Center 1, floors 6 and 7

We reached the sixth or seventh floor and are met by many firefighters coming down the stairs, informing us that the upper floors are collapsing and that there’s a heavy odor of gas and fuel.¹²

Time: 10:00-10:28
Location: The World Trade Center 1, lobby

From the lobby we heard Mayday, Mayday, evacuate. We could feel the building starting to twist above us. I called Ladder 10 three times, Ladder 10 roof to Ladder 10. There was no answer. I said we have to evacuate, the building’s coming down. Again, there was no response.¹³

Time: 10:06
Location: Police helicopters

Federal engineering investigators studying the destruction of the World Trade Center’s twin towers on Sept. 11 said New York Police Department aviation units reported an inward bowing of the buildings’ columns in the minutes before they collapsed, a signal they were about to fall.
…
According to Shyam-Sunder, the concave bowing of the steel was seen on the sides of the towers opposite where the planes hit them. At 10:06 a.m. that morning, an officer in a police helicopter reported that “it’s not going to take long before the north tower comes down.” This was 20 minutes before it collapsed.¹⁴

Time: 10:06
Location: Unknown

NYPD officer advises that it isn’t going to take much longer before the north tower comes down and to pull emergency vehicles back from the building.¹⁵

Time: 10:07
Location: Police helicopters

Minutes after the south tower collapsed at the World Trade Center, police helicopters hovered near the remaining tower to check its condition. “About 15 floors down from the top, it looks like it’s glowing red,” the pilot of one helicopter, Aviation 14, radioed at 10:07 a.m. “It’s inevitable.”

Seconds later, another pilot reported: “I don’t think this has too much longer to go. I would evacuate all people within the area of that second building.”

Those clear warnings, captured on police radio tapes, were transmitted 21 minutes before the building fell, and officials say they were relayed to police officers, most of whom managed to escape.¹⁶

Time: 10:20
Location: Police helicopters

NYPD – Aviation 14 states the World Trade Center 1 is leaning. (NYPD, McKinsey & Company)¹⁷

Time: 10:20
Location: NYPD helicopter

NYPD aviation unit reports that the tip of the tower might be leaning.¹⁸

Time: 10:21
Location: Police helicopters

In another radio transmission at 10:21 a.m., the officer said he saw buckling in the north tower’s southern face, Shyam-Sunder said.

The report includes photographs taken from police helicopters showing the bending columns.¹⁹

Time: 10:21
Location: NYPD helicopter

NYPD aviation unit reports that the north tower is buckling on the southwest corner and leaning to the south. NYPD officer advises that all personnel close to the building pull back three blocks in every direction.²⁰

Time: 10:27
Location: NYPD helicopter

NYPD aviation unit reports that the roof is going to come down very shortly.²¹

Time: 10:28
Location: Just north of the World Trade Center 1

“Guys were giving us water, wet rags to put on our head, and we were standing there, and there was a cop I knew who came by and gave me a drink of water, and then as he was standing there, he said, “Aviation just reported that the north tower is leaning.” I said, “Which way is it leaning?” He said, “This way.” So we started to turn around walking. John Malley, who was right behind me, I turned around for him, because he was doing something, either putting his coat on or something, and as I was looking at him I heard the explosion, looked up, and saw like three floors explode, saw the antenna coming down, and turned around and ran north.
Q. About how long would you say it was from when the police officer told you it was leaning?
A. Within 30 seconds.”²²

NIST

In their investigation of the World Trade Center 1 and 2’s collapse, NIST found clear evidence that the collapse of the two buildings began at the floors where the planes impacted and continued progressively from top to bottom.

NIST found no evidence of explosives or that the towers had been hit by missiles.

NIST’s findings also do not support the “controlled demolition” theory since there is conclusive evidence that:

• the collapse was initiated in the impact and fire floors of the WTC towers and nowhere else, and;
• the time it took for the collapse to initiate (56 minutes for WTC 2 and 102 minutes for WTC 1) was dictated by (1) the extent of damage caused by the aircraft impact, and (2) the time it took for the fires to reach critical locations and weaken the structure to the point that the towers could not resist the tremendous energy released by the downward movement of the massive top section of the building at and above the fire and impact floors.

Video evidence also showed unambiguously that the collapse progressed from the top to the bottom, and there was no evidence (collected by NIST, or by the New York Police Department, the Port Authority Police Department or the Fire Department of New York) of any blast or explosions in the region below the impact and fire floors as the top building sections (including and above the 98th floor in WTC 1 and the 82nd floor in WTC 2) began their downward movement upon collapse initiation.

In summary, NIST found no corroborating evidence for alternative hypotheses suggesting that the WTC towers were brought down by controlled demolition using explosives planted prior to Sept. 11, 2001. NIST also did not find any evidence that missiles were fired at or hit the towers. Instead, photographs and videos from several angles clearly show that the collapse initiated at the fire and impact floors and that the collapse progressed from the initiating floors downward until the dust clouds obscured the view.
²³

Witness accounts, the World Trade Center 7

Time: Ca. 10:40
Location: The World Trade Center 7

“However, as the dust cloud continued to clear, it became apparent that WTC 7 had sustained damage and required immediate attention. The PAPD reported that the collapse of WTC 1 had done significant damage to WTC 7. FDNY personnel at the scene reported that a large amount of debris from WTC 1 had crashed through the front center (south side) of WTC 7 from approximately the 10th floor down to ground level, and debris ripped off part of the southwest corner from approximately the 8th floor up to the 18th floor. The collapse of WTC 1 also was ascribed as responsible for starting fires inside of WTC 7.” ²⁴

Time: Ca. 13:00
Location: The World Trade Center 7

“At approximately 1:00 p.m., an OEM staff member, a FDNY Deputy Chief, and a FDNY Battalion Chief entered WTC 7 to further evaluate conditions. The OEM staff member reported that they entered WTC 7 through the door near the southeast corner on West Broadway and proceeded up the B stairway on the east side. They stopped at the 3rd level. The atrium was filled with dust but had no significant debris. As they observed the area, they heard the building creaking.” ²⁵

Time: Ca. 13:00
Location: The World Trade Center 7

“On the 8th or 9th floor, one of the group said he saw two elevator cars ejected from their shafts and in the hallway. Looking past the elevators, they could see a gaping hole in the south face from around the 6th to the 9th floors. They could see one floor below and two to three floors above that location. A lot of the core walls were destroyed, and one individual reported that he saw columns hanging from the floor above. They did not observe any fires at this time on the 8th or 9th floor, but the interviewee reported that they could hear fires burning well above where they were standing. Also, they continued to hear creaking noises in the building. As the FDNY Officers continued their inspection of WTC 7, they heard a loud noise, and a Chief decided that they should evacuate the building.” ²⁶

Time: Ca. 13:00
Location: The World Trade Center 7

“When a Chief Officer got to Barclay Street and West Broadway, numerous firefighters and officers were exiting WTC 7. These firefighters indicated that several blocks needed to be cleared around WTC 7 because they thought the building was going to collapse. In addition, there were numerous observations reported by other emergency responders who indicated that WTC 7 was considerably damaged by the collapse of WTC 1, and the potential for collapse of WTC 7 was taken seriously by these FDNY personnel. First-person interviews conducted by the news media, NIST, and FDNY communications recordings provide additional information on the building conditions, damage assessment, and emergency response operations at the scene. See the following statements:

• “There was a 10-story gash in the side of building 7. The southwest corner was taken out when Tower 1 came down.”
• Early on, we saw a bulge in the southwest corner betwee Floors 10 and 13, and we had put a transit on that, and we were pretty sure she [WTC 7] was going to collapse.”
• “…you could see the structural members, literally 10 floors, were taken out. The corners were taken out.”
• “You could see where the north tower was and we looked back at 7 WTC, it looked like someone ripped a big gouge out of the building. It looked like a big chunk of it was torn out right here in this corner, ripped right out, the south west corner. Yes, and I remember when the dust cleared and I looked back at 7 WTC, there was a huge gouge.”
• “We went to Vesey and Greenwich and didn’t see any damage on the north and east sides of WTC 7. When we looked on the south side of WTC 7, there had to be a hole 20 stories tall in the building, with fire on several floors.”
• “We went out and around Building 7, down to the parking garage and to Vesey Street. We walked west. There was a 40-foot-high pile of steel in the street after Tower 1 collapsed.” “The fire had entered building 7. Fire was visible in 30 windows spread across four of the lower floors.”

” ²⁷

Kevin Spacey (kommentator): “Pelted by debris when the North Tower collapsed, [WTC] Seven burned until late afternoon allowing occupants to evacuate to safety.”

Larry Silverstein: “I remember getting a call from the fire department commander telling me they were not sure they were going to be able to contain the fire. And I said, “you know, we’ve had such terrible loss of life, maybe the smartest thing to do is, is pull it, and they made that decision to pull, uh, and we watched the building collapse.” ²⁸

Time: Ca. 13:15-13:30
Location: The World Trade Center 7

“At approximately 1:15 p.m. to 1:30 p.m., the FDNY Chief Officer in charge of operations at WTC 7 recommended to his Commanding Officer that they should give up on efforts to save WTC 7. It was reported that the group of FDNY Chiefs who discussed the building conditions and FDNY’s capabilities for controlling the building fires formed the following conclusions concerning operations inside WTC 7:

• The WTC 7 building had sustained damage from debris falling into it, and they were not sure about the structural stability of the building.
• The building had large fires burning on at least six floors. Any one of these six fires would have been considered a large incident during normal FDNY operations.
• There was no water immediately available for fighting the fires.
• They didn’t have equipment, hose, standpipe kits, tools, and enough handie talkies for conducting operations inside the building.
• The reports that WTC 7 was making loud noises as it burned indicated to them that it might be unstable.”

²⁹

Time: Ca. 14:30
Location: The World Trade Center 7

“At approximately 3:20 p.m., FDNY gave the order to forego firefighting activity and for personnel to withdraw to a safe distance from the building. This was based on recognition that WTC 7 had already been evacuated, fires were growing in the building, the building had potentially sustained significant structural damage, the building was producing interior noise that indicated potential instability in the structure, FDNY had lost many of its assets that would be needed to fight the fires inside WTC 7, and there was no usable water in lower Manhattan’s hydrant system to fight the fires.” ³⁰

Time: Ca. 14:00-17:20
Location: The World Trade Center 7

“Between roughly 2:00 p.m., and the collapse of WTC 7 at 5:20:52 p.m., fires were observed spreading on the 7th floor through the 13th floor, with the exception of the 10th floor.” ³¹

Logic

Interestingly enough, the Truth Movement makes two arguments that are contradicting each other:

1. Nobody predicted the collapse of the World Trade Center 7, since this was the first time a building like this collapsed by fire alone. This is seen as evidence of an inside job.
2. Numerous news reports based on witness accounts from fire fighters, the police, journalists and others reported of an impending collapse. This is seen as evidence of prior knowledge to explosives having been placed in the World Trade Center 7 and thus evidence of an inside job.

Conclusion

There had been clear instructions issued to fire fighters, police officers and others in the area about the three buildings being evacuated, because in all three cases concurrent observations had been made that the buildings were damaged to such a degree that they would probably collapse.

The claim is therefore:

• False
• Without witnesses
• Undocumented
• Self-contradicting

Sources

0. Løbeseddel, i11time.dk
1. NIST: Structural Fire Response and Collapse Analysis, side 5
2. NIST: Structural Fire Response and Collapse Analysis, side 11
3. NIST: Structural Fire Response and Collapse Analysis, side 13
4. NIST: Structural Fire Response and Collapse Analysis, side 15
5. Special Report: The Day of the Attack, Time
6. “102 Minutes: The Untold Story of the Fight to Survive Inside the Twin Towers” New York: Times Books, 2004 p. 147
7. The Elevator Man’s Tale, Robert Jones, mekaniker, ACE Elevator
8. Joseph Callan, Citywide Tour Commander (F.D.N.Y.), New York Times
9. Better Communications Might Have Helped FDNY, CNN, September 11, 2002
10. John Perrugia, Division Chief (E.M.S.), New York Times
11. 9/11 Commission Report, side 304
12. Hugh Mettham, brandmand FDNY, New York Times
13. Mike Cancel, brandmand FDNY, Ladder 10
14. NYC Police Saw Sign of Tower Collapse, Study Says, Bloomberg
15. The Emergency Response Operations, NIST, NYPD SOD radio channel communications about the north tower, side 37
16. 9/11 Exposed Deadly Flaws in Rescue Plan, New York Times (kopi)
17. The Emergency Response Operations, NIST, NYPD Aviation 14, side 227
18. The Emergency Response Operations, NIST, NYPD SOD radio channel communications about the north tower, side 37
19. NYC Police Saw Sign of Tower Collapse, Study Says, Bloomberg
20. The Emergency Response Operations, NIST, NYPD SOD radio channel communications about the north tower, side 37
21. The Emergency Response Operations, NIST, NYPD SOD radio channel communications about the north tower, side 37
22. Kevin Gorman, brandmand FDNY, interview
23. Answers to Frequently Asked Questions, 30. august, 2006
24. NIST NCSTAR 1-9: Volume 1: Chapters 1 – 8, side 299
25. NIST NCSTAR 1-9: Volume 1: Chapters 1 – 8, side 300
26. NIST NCSTAR 1-9: Volume 1: Chapters 1 – 8, side 300
27. NIST NCSTAR 1-9: Volume 1: Chapters 1 – 8, side 300
28. America Rebuilds – A Year at Ground Zero, dokumentar, PBS
29. NIST NCSTAR 1-9: Volume 1: Chapters 1 – 8, side 302
30. NIST NCSTAR 1-9: Volume 1: Chapters 1 – 8, side 304
31. NIST NCSTAR 1-9: Volume 1: Chapters 1 – 8, side 243

Q & A