I'm impressed. From all of the reports, the appearance is that they've
managed to empty most of the building in less than 10 minutes.
Roeland Meyer wrote:
I'm impressed. From all of the reports, the appearance is that
they've managed to empty most of the building in less than 10
minutes.
According to:
http://www.foxnews.com/images/36149/1_22_wtc_layout.jpg
There was 18 minutes between the first crash and the second. People in
the second tower who began evacuation as soon as they saw the first
crash had enough time to get out (or at least below the level of the
fire from the second crash), if they moved quickly.
Each tower remained standing for more than an hour after their
respective crash (tower 1 remained for 1:45, tower 2 remained for
1:02). More than enough time for people below the fires to evacuate.
Of course, those at or above the level of the fire in building one had
little chance of escape, and people in wheelchairs may have been
trapped, but it is entirely believable if most of everybody else was
able to clear out in time. But we won't know for certain for quite some
time.
-- David
Assuming an emergency situation and only two stair wells:
People moving at a normal pace, two abreast means 4 people per second are
exiting the building. In 10 minutes thats about 2400 people.
I am sure they had more than 2 stair wells and people were moving far faster
than 1 person per second/stair.
Deepak
Point of information: my son Nathan had begun evacuation
procedures from the 58th floor in tower 2 shortly after the first crash
but when he reached the 44th floor (via the stairway) the PA system
announced that there was no emergency in that tower and people could
return to their offices. He took the elevator back up to 58 and was in
the midst of returning a phone call when the tower lurched from the
impact of the second plane. This time the evacuation continued without
interruption. I believe it took them ~12 minutes from the 58th floor to
exit the structure.
David Leonard
ShaysNet
Actually, when the first plane hit 1WTC (south), within 3 minutes there
was a PA announcement over the loudspeakers of 2WTC (north). The statement
was, more or less, 'there was an incident in 1WTC, and everything is fine
at 2WTC; you may return to your offices'. How do I know this? I heard it
over the phone when I called someone in 2WTC after the 1WTC incident.
The good news is that most people ignored the PANYNJ and evacuated the
building anyway.
A survivor interviewed last night (at ohgawdthirty - I'm a news junkie) said that she and several co-workers started to leave #2 after seeing the fire in #1. She reported that there were a very large number of people doing the same - the stairwells were full of people leaving. Building management came on the internal intercom and told everyone "We are in no danger, this building is safe. Stay where you are, don't leave, etc.".
A large percentage of the evacuators followed those instructions and went back up; she took the "like hell!" attitude and left - the plane hit #2 before she got to the bottom. It would *appear* that the building management announcement *may* have contributed to the loss of life by causing people who would have left earlier to stay put.
OF COURSE, the building management could not possibly have imagined the consequences - that another plane would hit them and they would suffer #1's fate. Undoubtedly a well-intentioned instruction - with tragic results.
ADM Yamamoto: "I fear we will awaken a sleeping giant". Terrorists: "History repeats itself..."
Dean Robb
PC-Easy
On-site computer services
www.pc-easy-va.com
OF COURSE, the building management could not possibly have imagined the
consequences - that another plane would hit them and they would suffer #1's
fate. Undoubtedly a well-intentioned instruction - with tragic results.
Still wrong, since #1 did fall, with at least some consequences for some of
the people in building #2.