9-11 Research: 7 World Trade Center (2024)

The Mysterious Leveling of Building 7

At 5:20 PM on 9/11/01 the only building with a World Trade Centeraddress that stood on a different block from the rest of the complex,47-story steel-framed7 World Trade Center,underwent a sudden total collapse.Officials and all government reports published since the attackthat mention the building blame its collapseon a combination of structural damage and subsequent fires.However, the available evidence on the condition of Building 7prior to its collapsefails to document more than superficial structural damage(from the "collapses" of the Twin Towers)and small isolated fires.

The official explanations of WTC 7's collapse are problematicfor several reasons:

• Fire has never causedany steel-framed high-rise building to collapse in any manner,let alone with the vertical precision of Building 7's destruction.¹ Other steel-framed skyscrapers have experiencedfar more serious firesthan Building 7.
• WTC 7 fell straight down,which necessitated that all of the load-bearing columnsbe broken at the same moment.Inflicting such damage with the precision requiredto prevent a building from toppling and damagingadjacent buildings is what the scienceof controlled demolition is all about.No random events, such as the debris damage and firesenvisioned by the official reports,or explosions from fuel tanks proposed by some,could be expected to result in such a tidy and complete collapse.
• WTC 7 fell precipitously,at a rate closely approachingthe speed of gravitational free-fall.That necessitated the sudden removal of structure near ground levelthat would have impeded its descent.
• The collapse of WTC 7exhibited all of the features of a standard controlled demolition.To suppose that a cause other than controlled demolitioncould produce an event with all of the features uniquelycharacteristic of controlled demolition defies logic.

FEMA on Building 7

Despite the inescapable logic of the above,the official theory for the collapse,as published inChapter 5 of the FEMA reportgoes as follows:

• At 9:59 AM(after the South Tower collapse),electrical power to the substations in WTC 7 was shut off.
• Due to a design flaw, generators in WTC 7 started up by themselves.
• Debris from thecollapsing North Towerbreached a fuel oil pipe in a room in the north side of the building.(This means the debris had to travel across WTC 6 and Vesey Street-- a distance of at least 355 feet --penetrate the outer wall of WTC 6,and smash through about 50 feet of the building,including a concrete masonry wall.)
• This, and other debris(that also made the journey across Building 6 and Vesey Street),managed to start numerous fires in the building.(Unfortunately, this event did not prompt anyone to turn offthe generators.)
• The backup mechanism (that should have shut off the fuel oil pumpswhen a breach occurred) failed to work,and the fuel oil (diesel) was pumped from the tanks on the groundfloor to the fifth floor where it ignited.The pumps emptied the tanks of all 12,000 gallons of fuel.
• The extant fires raised the temperature of the spilled fuel oilto the 140 degrees F required for it to ignite.
• The sprinkler system malfunctioned and failed to extinguish the fire.
• The burning diesel fuel heated trusses to the point where theylost most of their strength, precipitating a total collapse of Building 7.

The last point is the greatest stretch,since it asks us to believe that an eventthat would be expected only to cause the sagging of a floorinstead led not only to total collapse,but to such a tidy collapsethat directly adjacent buildings were scarcely even damaged.This is surprising behavior for a steel-framed skyscraperdesigned to survive fires, hurricanes, and earthquakes.

After laying out this highly improbable scenario, the FEMA report authorsconclude:

The specifics of the fires in WTC 7 and how they caused the buildingto collapse remain unknown at this time.Although the total diesel fuel on the premises contained massivepotential energy, the best hypothesis has onlya low probability of occurrence.Further research, investigation, and analyses are needed to resolve this issue.

Unfortunately for investigators hoping to resolve this issue,nearly all of the evidence had already been destroyed by the timethe FEMA report was published.

Documents and Command Center Destroyed

At the time of its destruction, Building 7 housed documents relatingto numerous SEC investigations.The files for approximately three to four thousand cases were destroyed,according to the Los Angeles Times.Among the destroyed documents were ones that may have demonstratedthe relationship between Citigroup and the WorldCom bankruptcy.²

Perhaps even more interesting than the loss of these case files isthe fact that WTC 7's collapse destroyed theOEM's command center on the 23rd floor.

References

1. Burning Diesel Is Cited in Fall of 3rd Tower, New York Times, 3/2/02[cached]
2. SEC & EEOC: Attack Delays Investigations, National Law Journal, 9/17/01[cached]