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CNN Live Saturday

Fires in Twin Towers Contributed to Their Collapse

Aired March 30, 2002 - 12:28   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Preliminary findings from a new federal report suggest that raging fires at the World Trade Center caused the collapse of the Twin Towers, not the impact of the hijacked airliners alone.

The report says the intense heat from thousands of gallons of burning jet fuel was greater than energy put out at a nuclear plant.

Jonathan Aiken has details on this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JONATHAN AIKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When each plane hit a World Trade Center tower on September 11, it was like taking 10,000 gallons of fuel in one spot and detonating it.

The draft of a federal report on the collapse of the twin towers, obtained by "The New York Times," found sprinkler and fire suppression systems in the buildings were disabled. And one investigator who has seen the report told CNN water lines that could feed fire hoses may have been cut as a result of the collisions and the ensuing flying debris.

The report, still in the works, and commissioned by both the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the American Society for Civil Engineers, does appear to have reached at least one conclusion. The Trades might have survived the impact of the planes, or the fires, but not both.

According to "The Times," up to a third of the 10,000 gallons of jet fuel each 767 carried on board may have been dissipated in the initial explosions and actually did little structural damage on its own.

But the rest of the fuel, roughly 6,000 gallons per plane, ignited materials in the buildings, spreading the blaze throughout the towers, eventually weakening the steel structure of the Trades.

Building experts say September 11 demonstrated more than the vulnerability of skyscrapers to unpredictable acts of terror.

GLENN CORBETT, FIRE SCIENCE INSTITUTE: The firefighters can't get up quickly into the upper reaches of a 100-story building in rapid succession. It takes a long time and effort to get to that point. AIKEN: A planned two-year, $16 million federal study could lead to changes in construction and engineering practices. There are some calls for a presidential commission to look at all aspects of the Trade Center collapse.

(on camera): And safety experts have suggested a federal agency that would do for building safety what investigators already do whenever there's an airplane crash, find out what happened and why.

Jonathan Aiken for CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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