I am not an expert on this, but I heard a report on a local NYC radio station last week (wish I could remember which one) which indicated that the FDNY or NYPD had dispatached a helicopter rescue team to take people off the roof of WTC if possible. According to the report no one made their way to roof, possible the access point was locked or otherwise blocked.

I was not on-site on the day of the disaster, but people there and in nearby buildings who were had nothing but praise for the actions of the rescue workers.

I noticed the same thing about Perfect Weapon, which, even if partially untrue (which i doubt) would make one heck of a good spy thriller!

I think that most of his(her?) points above have great merit. It's an awful shame that so many forefighters had no choice but to give their lives at that didaster, but ther's lots of other types of bombs that could do nearly as much damage to a highrise office building as the 757's did.

If the Trade Towers had been built to the standards of condominiums, for instance, the collapse probably wouldn't have happened. I have seen engineers comment that even older, sturdier buildings like the Empire State Building would have fared much better than this more modern Trade Center structure!

Most frightening of all, is the fact that the Trade Center was heavily over-built with a powerful steel support cage on 36 inch centers, and virtually no other low-budget commercial skyscrapers have a fraction of it's strength!

If those airliners had hit the Citibank tower, for instance, it probably would have keeled over, as it was alrady extected to do when they discovered the bad cross-member welding of it's crazily braced steel superstructure. They had to close off half of Manhatten when they discovered the engineering flaw, so they could repair it afterwards!

Roooftop or window level airborne rescue is the only way to save lives in such cheaply designed, erected and poorly ventilated and fire insulated structures.

Firefighters have enough work, already, dealing with the fire itself to be wasting precious time and resources trying to get to impossibly-stranded victims.

For you Paradiddle:

We have fireboats that have pumps strong enough to fire watersprays thousands of feet, so I doubt that pumping is an issue, and I doubt high pressure hose technology is such a serious one either. Those Sikorsky helicopters can lift immense weights, and coupled with a ultra high pressure ground pumper and hose truck could easily reach 80 floors with a water stream, just as ladders do.

I would concede to that point. The author displays extraordinary imagination and a talent for writing speculative fiction.

*chuckle*

Conceded as well. The ESB is of a completely different construction. It's smaller in height and area, so its lighter. It also has more poured concrete as part of its structural support. Collapse, if it happend at all, would have tkaen longer to occur. The point may be moot because hitting a thinner and shorter building would require a better pilot.

As alluded to earlier, I'm not a helo pilot. I don't know the specifics of flying (even under ordinary circumstances) near hi-rise structures. I do know that fires fed by large amount of jet fuel create their own weather systems. What ever difficulties created by the metropllis' weather system are compounded by a large fire, hundreds of feet off the ground. In all honesty, I think only a pilot could put an end to our speculation.

There were many, but the worst time I've had to offer a ladder to panicking occupants was from a ground apparatus to the 4th floor. Five of those occupants jumped onto the ladder (one hit the dirt) before it was properly placed against the building and secured for climbing. The ladder was ruined and the apparatus had to be towed away after the fire. It's important to remember that orderly evacuation is an ideal, not always a reality.

First of all, who is "we', and second. . .

Although I do this for a living, and have also taken (and taught)college-level courses on the subject, I'm thinking you may be right, and therefore, and everything I know about extiguishing petroleum fires is wrong. For instance, you may be the better one to explain how far/high AFFF can be pumped and still create an effective blanket at the base of the flame. Also explain for us all, what concentration should be used when dropping it from a helo.