These are desperate people, whose inability to face reality results in lying, dismissal of expertise, dismissal of evidence, refusal to answer simple questions, and retreat into fantasy. They are excellent representatives of the 9/11 "truth" movement, which is nothing more than a club for intellectual cowards.
One of the most commonly-cited conspiracist works is Graeme MacQueen's "
118 Witnesses: The Firefighters' Testimony to Explosions in the Twin Towers," which is fittingly published in that compendium of breathtaking ineptitude, the "Journal of 9/11 Studies." MacQueen, who calls himself "
a scholarly sort of guy," reveals either his agenda, his incompetent scholarship, or both, in the title of his paper, which properly should be called "Firefighters' testimony which includes words like "explosion" to describe events at the World Trade Center." Says MacQueen, "I believe most of the terms on which my research focuses, such as “explosion” and “bomb,” are less subject to ambiguity."
Really? Let's look at the accounts MacQueen includes of firefighters who use the words "bomb," "explosives," "secondary devices," etc. He lists 31 such accounts. Here's my analysis:
People in the "described something like a bomb” category – 31
Number who did not actually mention anything about bombs, explosions, devices, etc. – 1 (Walter Kowalczyk). I have no idea why MacQueen included Kowalczyk's account, which includes nothing about explosions, sounds like explosions, or any suggestion of explosives or explosive devices. That's truther "scholarship" for you.
Remaining people in "bomb" category – 30
Number who were describing the collapse of a tower – 30
Number who had no idea at the time that what they heard was the collapse of a tower (usually because they were inside another building). – 15
Number who saw the collapse of a tower, at least partially – 7
Number who explained that they knew the sounds were collapses – 2
Number who said they had no idea what was going on during the event – 4
Number who said, as of the interview date, that they thought they'd actually seen or heard explosives – 0
Number who have claimed since 2001 that they believe there were explosives in the buildings – 0
Please see this post of mine to read the relevant parts of those 30 accounts, as well as the many other terms unrelated to explosions used by the majority of witnesses to describe the collapses.
To date I have reviewed over 600 accounts by people who described what the tower collapses looked and sounded like. Only 11% used terms like "explosion." Again (and this can't be stressed enough) the recordings conclusively disprove the truther claims that explosive detonations brought down the towers, pulverized concrete to powder, and tossed tons of steel around the site like matchsticks. That simply didn't happen.
Far too numerous to list here are the accounts of firefighters who were in the north tower when the south collapsed and had no idea what was happening because they could not see the other tower. Almost all assumed that some other event was responsible for the tremendous shaking, noise, and wind they experienced, and their accounts,
taken in context, reflect that confusion and those assumptions. Those of us who didn't live through that terror can never know what it was like, but the following notes will give a small idea of the tremendous confusion and "fog of war" experienced by the first responders, as collected in the
FDNY oral testimony transcripts.
Bessler, Paul– Thought south tower collapse was secondary explosion or plane strike. Heard on radio, "Imminent collapse. This was a terrorist attack. Evacuate."
Borrillo, Nicholas– In north tower: south tower plane hit sounded like small explosion.
Brodbeck, Michael– In north tower, heard on radio that floors 68-70 of north tower collapsed: was actually south tower collapse.
Brosnan, Neil– Didn't know sequence of events until a week later.
Butler, John– Even after being on site for a while, didn't know plane had hit.
Camacho, Fernando– From north tower lobby, thought south tower collapse was small collapse. Saw north tower leaning before collapse.
Campagna, Frank– In north tower, didn't know plane had hit their building. From 30th floor, thought south tower collapse was explosion.
Cassano, Salvatore– Thought 2nd plane was secondary explosion from north tower.
Conzo, Joseph (E.M.S.)– Thought collapse of south tower was another plane strike.
Delgado, Manuel (E.M.S.)– Didn't know about 2nd plane until evening. Thought it was a secondary explosion.
Diaz, Jr., Roland (E.M.S.)– In #5, thought south tower collapse was airplane strike
Dixon, Brian– Heard second plane hit, thought was north tower explosion. Looked like bottom fire floor of south tower exploded out, then realized it was just a collapse. "Not that there was an explosion but that the windows blew out." Worried about secondary devices.
Dorritie, Robert– Thought south tower collapse was secondary device.
Drumm, John– In north tower 31st floor didn't know south tower came down until later in the day.
Fenyo, Christopher– Many people had felt that possibly explosives had taken out 2 World Trade Center. "That debate ended pretty quickly because tower 1 came down."
Fitzpatrick, Brian– Thought it was debris or an explosion or a secondary explosion or another plane. Warned that north tower leaning just before it fell.
Galasso, Joseph– Didn't know both buildings had come down. South tower, sounded like a waterfall.
Hansen, Eric (E.M.S.) – Didn't know 2nd plane hit, didn't know towers collapsed.
Ippolito, James– Thought south tower collapse was another plane. Second plane hit sound like train derailing.
King, Stephen. Battalion Chief – Didn't know north tower or south tower were hit by planes. In north tower, thinks south tower collapse is north tower coming down. "You can feel the air pressure building up. I mean, literally, it blows the windows in (the north tower from outside).
Kreuger, Conrad, PAPD P.O.– Didn't know until later that day that both towers were down.
Lakiotes, Art– Re: collapses: we all thought it was secondary explosives or more planes or whatever.
McCabe, Kevin– Thought south tower collapse was 3rd plane hit.
McGimpsey, Jason– south tower collapse sounded like a plane or bomb or something like that.
McNeur-Mccarthy, Linda (E.M.S.) – Thought south tower collapse was another plane hit.
Mecner, Edward– From north tower 23rd, sounded like a missile was about to come through the window. Didn't know south tower had fallen.
Mera, Wayne– Thinks they could lose top 15-20 floors. Second plane hit = massive explosion, thought it might be a bomb. Doesn't realize until later in the day that both towers totally collapsed.
Molina, Michael, PAPD Detective– Didn't realize until later that day that both towers were gone.
Murphy, James– Thought south tower collapse was 3rd plane hit.
Murray, Kevin– Thought south tower collapse was 3rd plane hit. Heard report of 65th floor collapse.
O'Flaherty, Brian– Thought north tower collapse was plane strike.
Olszewski, Janice (E.M.S.)– Didn't know south tower collapsed. Thought might be a bomb, another plane, etc.
Ondrovic, Patricia (E.M.S.) – Didn't know planes had hit the buildings. Tried to enter lobby of 6. Thought 6 blew up on her. Cars exploding. Coat caught fire. Thought she saw a plane explode over New Jersey. (FDNY transcripts and
here)
Orlando, Thomas– In north tower, thought south tower collapse was missile attack.
Piambino, Thomas– In north tower: didn't know "explosion" was the south tower falling.
Puma, Frank (E.M.S.) – Thought first plane strike was a bomb.
Reilly, Gerard– Thought south tower collapse was explosion in Vista Hotel. Didn't know tower had collapsed.
Reynolds, William– Many thoughts of various possible threats. Thought WTC 2 was destroyed by a bomb.
Ryan, William– Was on-scene just after collapses but didn't realize until about 3:00 that both towers were down.
Smiley, Gary (E.M.S.)– FBI people saying there were bombs in different parks and just running from one area to the next.
Sweeney, Frank– Some think second plane was a bomb. Didn't know north tower damage was caused by a plane. "The rest of the day we spent running from bomb scares and gas leaks."
Trojanowski, Stanley– Thought south tower collapse was bomb going off because north tower blocked his view.
Walker, Dan – Thought south tower collapse was north tower elevators falling.
Wall, William– Heard sonic boom from fighter plane: thought it was bombs.
Walsh, William– Didn't know south tower fell. Rumors of federal buildings being hit.
Wernick, Michael– Thought south tower collapse was airplane strike.
That paints a picture of massive confusion, (which was enhanced by poorly-working FDNY radios, the abandonment of the OEM center in WTC 7, and nearly nonexistent inter-agency communications). Some first responders didn't know that planes had hit the buildings. Some thought the second plane strike was a bomb blast. Many thought the south tower collapse was a plane strike. Some fleeing from the south tower collapse didn't know the building was coming down and thought an explosion had happened. Some on the scene during and long after the collapses did not know that the towers had fallen. Some didn't learn the sequence of events until days and weeks later. Six
years after the 9/11, John Schroeder didn't know that the south tower had collapsed before the north.
E.M.T. Patricia Ondrovic's accounts are revealing. She arrived on Vesey Street in her ambulance after the plane strikes and did not know that planes were responsible for the damage and fires she saw. When the south tower collapsed, she heard a roar and saw people run, and instinctively ran also, but after only a few steps was caught by the debris cloud. She did not know the tower was falling. She tried to enter nearby WTC building 6 (U.S. Customs Building) but was waved away by security guards. She saw flashes and heard popping noises along the ceiling of the lobby of building 6 and, even well after 9/11, thought those were demolition explosives detonating. As she headed west, she says an exploding car set her coat on fire. Near the waterfront, she thought she saw a plane explode over New Jersey. When she flagged down an ambulance, she asked to be driven out of the city. She was terrorized.
Just as Teresa Veliz, on the street, was "convinced that bombs were planted all over the place and someone was sitting at a control panel pushing detonator buttons," Patricia Ondrovic really thought she saw demolition explosives at work in building 6. Of course we know that didn't happen. Demolition charges don't make noises "like light bulbs popping," as Ondrovic described. They create
enormous blasts and powerful pressure waves that would be deafening, unmistakable, destructive to property (and certainly to windows), and likely fatal at close range. There were security guards in the lobby where those flashes and pops were. No one was killed there when the south tower collapsed. The building stood (although very heavily damaged by the north tower collapse and subsequent fires) and afterwards was searched for victims, then examined by engineers to determine its stability and the best way to tear it down. There was no attempted explosive demolition in building 6, nor did bombs detonate there. Ondrovic was simply confused. Similar pops and flashes were seen low in the south tower as it collapsed from the top: perhaps these were electrical shorts.
Lessons not learned
The lesson for conspiracists? These accounts must be put in context and must not be used to support a fantasy that neither the first responders nor the audiovisual, seismic, or physical evidence support.
Grame MacQueen has not learned that lesson. He falsely states, "Over 23 per cent of our group [of 503 first responders] are explosion witnesses." Further, his "explosion" category includes witnesses who describe the booming "pancaking" of floors as the collapses progressed, because the NIST investigation disproved floor "pancaking" as the cause of the collapse
initiations. The proximate cause of the collapses was the failure of the east face of the south tower and the south face of north tower. These failures caused the top sections of the towers to "pile drive" through the lower sections. Out of ignorance or from a desire to deceive, MacQueen commits a common truther error: he conflates the cause of collapse initiation with the result of the continuation of the collapses, which of course
did involve floors being sequentially pounded into each other by the huge, accelerating mass above.
FDNY Captain Jay Jonas, who survived in a 6th floor core stairwell of the north tower as the building collapsed around him, describes that experience:
Now, people have tried to get me to describe what it was like while the collapse was happening. It was a montage of different sounds and experiences. The sounds were a combination of sounds. This building collapsed in what’s called a pancake fashion. In other words, one floor would hit another floor and would collapse that floor and then collapse the next floor. And every time a floor would hit another floor, it created a loud boom and tremendous vibration.
The entire collapse of this 110-story building took 13 seconds. So it sounded like boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, you know, like that. And every time that happened, it shook the entire building. It shook the whole floor. So every time a floor would hit another floor, we’d be literally bouncing off the floor. We were being thrown around the stairway.
There was also this very loud sound of twisting steel all around our heads. These massive steel beams and girders were just being twisted around our heads just like they were twist ties on a loaf of bread. And a very loud, like a steel screeching sound, almost like a lot of trains coming into a subway station at the same time and all of them hitting their brakes at the same time.
There was tremendous air movement with the building coming down. The air movement was so strong that one of my fireman was standing on the fourth floor. You’ve got to figure with his gear and everything on, he’s well over 200 pounds. He’s about 180 pounds and with his gear, you gotta figure he’s about 250 pounds. This wind kind of picked him up and threw him down two fights of stairs.
We were getting hit with all kinds of debris. Thank God it was nothing that was going to really hurt us, but after it was all over, it was almost like we kind of got mugged. We were all bruised up and small cuts and things like that.
And then the collapse stopped.
In a day of first experiences for everybody, well here’s another one. I can’t believe we just survived that. It was very quick and during the collapse you couldn’t help but think that this is it. It’s over. This is how it ends. I kept waiting for that big beam to hit or that big piece of concrete to come down and crush us.
It never came.
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