WTC "INVESTIGATION"?: A CALL TO ACTION
by Bill Manning
Fire Engineering magazine
January, 2002
Never again! In the wake of the World Trade Center, we are left with many thoughts-thoughts
of friends lost, thoughts of devastated families, thoughts of the tremendous
impact on so many lives for so many years to come. Yet, we-America's fire service-are
left with one critical thought: How can we prevent a disaster like this from
ever happening again?
Yes, it was the terrorist pilots who slammed two jetliners into the Twin Towers.
It was the ensuing fire, however, that brought the towers down. Make no mistake
about it: This high-rise collapse was no "fluke." The temperatures
experienced and heat release rates achieved at the World Trade Center could
be seen in future high-rise fires.
There are many, many questions to be asked by us about the World Trade Center
collapse and its implications on high-rise firefighting across the nation. Some
questions are political, many are technical, others are philosophical. Here
are a few (in no particular order) to think about.
* Given the typical resources of most fire departments, can we be expected to
handle every high-rise fire thrown at us? When was the last time your city manager
asked you for a complete list of resources that you need to fight a high-rise
fire, including personnel? When was the last time a high-rise building owner
asked if you would like him to install a special "firefighter elevator"
for your exclusive use during a high-rise fire? When was the last time a building
code committee called up a "downtown" battalion chief and asked him
what he thought of the unlimited area and height provisions found in all of
the model building codes-is it OK if we allow a 400-story building in your battalion,
Chief? The bottom line is, Can we really handle high-rise fires adequately?
Who are we kidding? Isn't this the "big secret" that Chief Vincent
Dunn has been talking about for years?
* Beware the truss! Frank Brannigan has been admonishing us for years about
this topic. It has been reported that the World Trade Center floors were supported
by lightweight steel trusses, some in excess of 50 feet long. Need we say more?
* Modern sprayed-on steel "fireproofing" did not perform well at the
World Trade Center. Haven't we always been leery about these materials? Why
do many firefighters say that they would rather fight a high-rise fire in an
old building than in a modern one? Isn't it because of the level of fire resistance
provided? How much confidence do we have in the ASTM E-119 fire resistance test,
whose test criteria were developed in the 1920s? ASTM E-119 is an antiquated
test whose criteria for fire resistance do not replicate today's fires.
* The defend-in-place strategy was the wrong strategy at the World Trade Center.
Many of those who ignored the directions to "stay where you are" are
alive today because they self-evacuated. Do you still use defend-in-place strategies
for large high-rise fires? When should you use them, and when should you not?
* We can see live broadcasts from Afghanistan, but we can't communicate via
radios in many high-rise buildings. What gives?
There are many more questions, more than we have answers for. What is clear
is that things must change. Where do we begin? By putting things in perspective.
The World Trade Center disaster was
* The largest loss of firefighters ever at one incident.
* The second largest loss of life on American soil.
* The first total collapse of a high-rise during a fire in United States history.
* The largest structural collapse in recorded history.
Now, with that understanding, you would think we would have the largest fire
investigation in world history. You would be wrong. Instead, we have a series
of unconnected and uncoordinated superficial inquiries. No comprehensive "Presidential
Blue Ribbon Commission." No top-notch National Transportation Safety Board-like
response. Ironically, we will probably gain more detailed information about
the destruction of the planes than we will about the destruction of the towers.
We are literally treating the steel removed from the site like garbage, not
like crucial fire scene evidence.
The World Trade Center disaster demands the most comprehensive detailed investigation
possible. No event in our entire fire service history has ever come close to
the magnitude of this incident.
We, the undersigned, call on FEMA to immediately impanel a "World Trade
Center Disaster Review Panel" to coordinate a complete review of all aspects
of the World Trade Center incident.
The panel should be charged with creating a comprehensive report that examines
a variety of topics including determining exactly how and why the towers collapsed,
critiquing the building evacuation procedures and the means of egress, assessing
the buildings' fire protection features (steel "fireproofing," fire
protection systems, etc.), and reviewing the valiant firefighting procedures
employed. In addition, the Panel should be charged with preparing a detailed
set of recommendations, including the critical changes necessary to our building
codes.
Please e-mail this (italicized) call to action to:
President George W. Bush (president@whitehouse.gov)
Senator Charles Schumer (senator@schumer.senate.gov)
Senator Hillary Clinton (senator@clinton.senate.gov)
FEMA Director Joe M. Allbaugh (director@fema.gov)
and to your own congressional representatives. To obtain e-mail addresses for
your representatives, go to www.senate.gov/contacting/index.cfm and www.house.gov/writerep/.
Francis L. Brannigan, SFPE
Glenn P. Corbett, PE
Deputy Chief (Ret.) Vincent Dunn, FDNY
© Copyright 2002
FAIR USE NOTICE: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of criminal justice, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.