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Former Chief of NIST's Fire
Science Division Calls for Independent Review of World Trade Center
Investigation
Alan Miller
Op
Ed News
Tuesday Aug 21, 2007
James
Quintiere, Ph.D., former Chief of the Fire Science Division of
the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), has
called for an independent review of NIST’s investigation
into the collapses of the World Trade Center Towers on 9/11.
Dr. Quintiere made his plea during
his presentation, “Questions on the WTC Investigations”
at the 2007 World Fire Safety Conference. “I
wish that there would be a peer review of this,” he said,
referring to the NIST investigation. “I think
all the records that NIST has assembled should be archived.
I would really like to see someone else take a look at
what they’ve done; both structurally and from a fire point
of view.”
“I
think the official conclusion that NIST arrived at is questionable,”
explained Dr. Quintiere. “Let's look at
real alternatives that might have been the cause of the collapse
of the World Trade Towers and how that relates to the official
cause and what's the significance of one cause versus another.”
(Article continues below)
Dr.
Quintiere, one of the world’s leading fire science researchers
and safety engineers, also encouraged his audience of fellow researchers
and engineers to scientifically re-examine the WTC collapses.
“I hope to convince you to perhaps become 'Conspiracy
Theorists', but in a proper way,” he said.
In
his hour-long presentation, Dr. Quintiere discussed many elements
of NIST’s investigation that he found problematic. He emphasized,
“In every investigation I’ve taken part in, the key
has been to establish a timeline. And the timeline
is established by witness accounts, by information from alarm
systems, by any video that you might have of the event, and then
by calculations. And you try to put all of this together.
And if your calculations are consistent with some of these
hard facts, then perhaps you can have some comfort in the results
of your calculations. I have not seen a timeline
placed in the NIST report.”
Dr.
Quintiere also expressed his frustration at NIST’s failure
to provide a report on the third skyscraper that collapsed on
9/11, World Trade Center Building 7. “And that
building was not hit by anything,” noted Dr. Quintiere.
“It’s more important to take a look at
that. Maybe there was damage by the debris falling
down that played a significant role. But other than
that you had fires burning a long time without fire department
intervention. And firefighters were in that building.
I have yet to see any kind of story about what they saw.
What was burning? Were photographs taken?
Nothing!”
World Trade Center Building 7 was 610 feet tall, 47 stories, and
would have been the tallest building in 33 states. Although it
was not hit by an airplane on 9/11, it completely collapsed into
a pile of rubble in less than 8 seconds at 5:20 p.m. on 9/11.
In the 6 years since 9/11, NIST has failed to provide any explanation
for the collapse. In addition to NIST’s failure
to provide an explanation, absolutely no mention of Building 7’s
collapse appears in the 9/11 Commission's "full and
complete account of the circumstances surrounding the September
11, 2001 terrorist attacks." [To watch a video of the
collapse, click here http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/IMAGES/WTC7_Collapse.wmv
]
Dr.
Quintiere said he originally “had high hopes” that
NIST would do a good job with the investigation. “They’re
the central government lab for fire. There are good people there
and they can do a good job. But what I also thought
they would do is to enlist the service of the ATF [Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives], which has an investigation
force and a laboratory of their own for fire. And
I thought they would put people out on the street and get gumshoe-type
information. What prevented all of this? I
think it’s the legal structure that cloaks the Commerce
Department and therefore NIST. And so, instead of
lawyers as if they were acting on a civil case trying to get depositions
and information subpoenaed, those lawyers did the opposite and
blocked everything.”
In
his presentation, Dr. Quintiere also criticized NIST’s repeated
failures to formally respond to serious questions raised about
its conclusions regarding the WTC building collapses and the process
it employed to arrive at those conclusions. “I
sat through all of the NIST hearings. I went to all
of their advisory board meetings, as an observer. I
made comments at all.”
Responding
to a comment from a NIST representative in the audience, Dr. Quintiere
said, “I found that throughout your whole investigation
it was very difficult to get a clear answer. And
when anyone went to your advisory panel meetings or hearings,
where they were given five minutes to make a statement; they could
never ask any questions. And with all the commentary
that I put in, and I spent many hours writing things, and it would
bore people if I regurgitated all of that here, I never received
one formal reply.”
Although
Dr. Quintiere was strongly critical of NIST’s conclusions
and its investigatory process, he made it clear he was not a supporter
of theories that the Twin Towers were brought down by pre-planted
explosives. “If you go to World Trade Center
One, nine minutes before its collapse, there was a line of smoke
that puffed out. This is one of the basis of the
‘conspiracy theories’ that says the smoke puffing
out all around the building is due to somebody setting off an
explosive charge. Well, I think, more likely, it’s
one of the floors falling down.”
Dr.
Quintiere summarized the NIST conclusion about the cause of the
collapses of the Twin Towers. “It says that the core columns,
uninsulated due to the fact that the aircraft stripped off that
insulation; they softened in the heat of the fire and shortened
and that led to the collapse. They pulled in the
external columns and it caused it to buckle. They
went on further to say that there would be no collapse if the
insulation remained in place.”
Dr. Quintiere then presented his and his students’ research
that contradicts the NIST report and points to a different cause
for the collapses; the application of insufficient fire-proofing
insulation on the truss rods in the Twin Towers. “I
suggest that there’s an equally justifiable theory and that’s
the trusses fail as they are heated by the fire with the insulation
intact. These are two different conclusions and the
accountability for each is dramatically different,” he said.
Dr.
Quintiere’s presentation at the World Fire Safety Conference
echoed his earlier statement to the U.S. House of Representatives,
Committee on Science, on October 26, 2005, during a hearing on
“The Investigation of the World Trade Center Collapse: Findings,
Recommendations, and Next Steps”, at which he stated:
“In
my opinion, the WTC investigation by NIST falls short of expectations
by not definitively finding cause, by not sufficiently linking
recommendations of specificity to cause, by not fully invoking
all of their authority to seek facts in the investigation, and
by the guidance of government lawyers to deter rather than develop
fact finding.
"I
have over 35 years of fire research in my experience. I worked
in the fire program at NIST for 19 years, leaving as a division
chief. I have been at the University of Maryland since. I am a
founding member and past-Chair of the International Association
for Fire Safety Science—the principal world forum for fire
research. ...
"All
of these have been submitted to NIST, but never acknowledged or
answered. I will list some of these.
1.
Why is not the design process of assigning fire protection to
the WTC towers fully called out for fault? ...
2.
Why were not alternative collapse hypotheses investigated and
discussed as NIST had stated repeatedly that they would do? ...
3.
Spoliation of a fire scene is a basis for destroying a legal case
in an investigation. Most of the steel was discarded, although
the key elements of the core steel were demographically labeled.
A careful reading of the NIST report shows that they have no evidence
that the temperatures they predict as necessary for failure are
corroborated by findings of the little steel debris they have.
Why hasn't NIST declared that this spoliation of the steel
was a gross error?
4.
NIST used computer models that they said have never been used
in such an application before and are the state of the art. For
this they should be commended for their skill. But the validation
of these modeling results is in question. Others have computed
aspects with different conclusions on the cause mechanism of the
collapse. Moreover, it is common in fire investigation to compute
a time-line and compare it to known events. NIST has not done
that.
5.
Testing by NIST has been inconclusive. Although they have done
fire tests of the scale of several work stations, a replicate
test of at least & [sic] of a WTC floor would have been of
considerable value. Why was this not done? ...
6.
The critical collapse of WTC 7 is relegated to a secondary role,
as its findings will not be complete for yet another year. It
was clear at the last NIST Advisory Panel meeting in September
[2005] that this date may not be realistic, as NIST has not demonstrated
progress here. Why has NIST dragged on this important investigation?"
[The
full text of Dr. Quintiere’s statement to the Science Committee
can be found at http://commdocs.house.gov/committees/science/...
]
Dr.
Quintiere is one of the world’s leading fire science researchers
and safety engineers. He served in the Fire Science
and Engineering Division of NIST for 19 years and rose to the
position of Chief of the Division. He left NIST in
1990 to join the faculty of the Department of Fire Protection
Engineering at the University of Maryland, where he still serves.
Quintiere
is a founding member and Past Chair of the International Association
for Fire Safety Science (IAFSS). He is also a Fellow of the Society
of Fire Protection Engineering and a Fellow of the American Society
of Mechanical Engineers. He has received numerous awards for his
contributions to fire science research and engineering, including:
·
The Department
of Commerce Bronze Medal (1976) and Silver Medal (1982)
·
The Howard
W. Emmons Lecture Award from the IAFSS in 1986
·
The Sjölin
Award in 2002 for outstanding contribution to the science of fire
safety by the International Forum of Fire Research Directors,
NIST
·
The 2006
Guise Medal by the National Fire Protection Association
His
presentation “Questions on the WTC Investigations”
was given twice at the 2007 World Fire Safety Conference; Education
Session M21 on June 4 (69 minutes) and Spotlight Session T54 on
June 5 (102 minutes). Recordings of the presentations
can be purchased from the National Fire Protection Association
at http://www.fleetwoodonsite.com/index.php?cPath=...
For
a list of over 180 other engineers and architects who question
the official investigation into the events of 9/11, please visit
http://PatriotsQuestion911.com
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