Three buildings fell as a result of 2 planes crashing into 2 of them and you think there are no suspicious circumstances? But you are quite prepared to accept the explanation that dislodged fireproofing and lack of water supply for sprinklers is a valid reason for their collapse?
Listen Kid, I know you are kinda new to this whole "real world" thing, so I will try to go slow for you. Please feel free to rebut me if you can, or run away, whatever you choose.
I have been a firefighter for just about 15 years now. I was a NYC firefighter for almost 5 years, including 9/11. I also have a degree in fire science, and teach at the state fire college in Florida. Have been doing so for about 3 years. Now, on to the good stuff.
There were no suspicious circumstances on 9/11. At all. Not one. I knew that we didn't have alot of time to get people out of the high rise after the first plane hit. I knew it would collapse. We just couldn't fight that much fire with the lack of a standpipe system near the impact floors. Plus, the fire retardant that was on the beams is only rated for 1-2 hours. Now, when that plane crashed into the building, there was no doubt that most, if not all, of the fire resistant foam would come off. Hell, you could scrape that stuff off with a pocketknife. So, without the FRF, there was no chance of those buildings collapsing. I know this, because I was freaking THERE.
You still following along?? Good. Pay attention now, it gets kinda complicated, so I will go slow.
Unprotected steel will heat quite quickly. Heck, in the NGC's special, it took only 3:40s for a steel I beam to twist and warp from fire. That fire was nothing more than jet fuel. It was just a matter of time before things started failing. Sprinkler systems don't do **** for HUGE, ACRE SIZED fires that are SUDDENLY started because of a plane crashing into them. They wouldn't have been able to make even a dent in it even if they HAD been working.
Here are some facts for you.
On average, fire sprinklers only flow about 11-30 GPM. Even if you had 100 on each floor, that is ONLY 3,000 Gallons per minute. In comparison, 2 "2" inch lines will flow ~328 GPM EACH. Now, over a floor that size, there would most likely be about 15-20 lines, which equates to 4920 GPM.
So, in conclusion, even if there were the BEST sprinklers that had the MOST flow, and there were 100 of those sprinklers on each floor, it STILL would not have been able to put out that fire. Fire sprinklers in commercial buildings are designed for life safety FIRST, then firefighting SECOND. They are designed to handle small office fires, not huge explosions.
