ADVISORY/Heat Caused the Twin Towers to Collapse, Experts Say

Business Wire, Sept 17, 2001

Business Editors

ADVISORY...

--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 17, 2001

TOPIC: Construction and skyscraper design experts have stated that although the
World Trade Center's twin towers were built to withstand powerful impacts, it
could not withstand the extreme heat caused by Tuesday's plane crashes,
according to an article by The Associated Press. Hyman Brown, a civil
engineering professor at University of Colorado and Trade Center's construction
manager, stated the 24,000 gallons of jet fuel melted the steel of the twin
towers, the article says. Experts have further stated that the steel separated
from the concrete floors, which fell and created a "pancake effect" of one
floor caving into the next, causing the towers to collapse. EXPERTS:
ExpertSource can offer several highly qualified experts to comment on this
story:

Ms. Eve Hinman is president of Hinman Consulting Engineers. She is a blast consultant who designs buildings to be safe from terrorist attacks, for the federal government and private industry. Eve was on the blue ribbon team that developed new federal criteria to mitigate the effects of terrorist attacks on buildings. She was granted access to the Oklahoma bombing site to conduct a survey of the various building failures, the results published in her book, Lessons From the Oklahoma City Bombing. Eve is the only woman in the U.S. with this expertise, and one of only a handful nationwide who have her level of experience. 415/621-4423, ehinman@hce.com; PR: Roberta Guise, Guise Marketing & PR (roberta@guisemarketing.com, 415/979-0611).

Mr. Joseph D. McNamara is a research fellow at Hoover Institution, Stanford University. In 1985, Mr. McNamara - who retired as chief of police of San Jose, California, in 1991 -- addressed The Commonwealth Club of California on law enforcement and crime in the year 2000. At that presentation, he noted: "During the two days [at a symposium at the FBI academy], we were disturbed by a growing question. Why hadn't incidents like these taken place in the United States? No one had an answer. If anything, our country provides freer travel, freer access to firearms and less security than other nations which had hostages taken. There is still no answer to the question, which leads me to predict that as confrontations and tensions grow over foreign affairs, terrorist groups will demonstrate their hatred of our country on our own soil." McNamara also said he recalled, during his years as an officer with the New York Police Department, watching the construction of the World Trade Center towers. 650/723-1475, mcnamara@hoover.stanford.edu

Professor Zdenek P. Bazant, of Northwestern University, Department of Civil Engineering, is an expert in structural engineering and can discuss structural materials such as concrete. 847/491-4025 (secy. 847/491-3351), 847/491-3741 (University PR Phone)

ExpertSource cannot guarantee the immediate availability of these experts or their familiarity with this specific issue.

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