Slashdot Mirror

The World Trade Center was structurally strong enough to survive being hit by a large aircraft. And it did; the towers were not knocked down. But it had an inadequate fire protection system, and the fire softened the structural steel, causing building collapse.

The World Trade Center had inadequate protection systems in the 1993 bombing; the truck bomb in the parking garage knocked out emergency power and the fire pumps. Last time, they didn't even have battery backup on the emergency lighting. The FEMA study of the bombing and fire indicates only minor upgrades were made to fire protection systems; better emergency lighting and such. No improvements to sprinklers or new fire barriers were made, other than improving backup power to the fire pumps. Most of the improvements were to communications and control.

This was much worse than it should have been.