Edward S. Munyak, BS ME, MS Eng. Mgmt., PE – Licensed Professional Mechanical Engineer and Fire Protection Engineer, State of California. 20 years experience as a Fire Protection Engineer for the U.S. Departments of Energy, Defense, and Veterans Affairs. Contributing Subject Matter Expert to the U.S. Department of Energy Fire Protection Engineering Functional Area Qualification Standard for Nuclear Facilities. Member, Board of Directors, Northern California - Nevada Chapter, Society of Fire Protection Engineers. Currently Fire Protection Engineer for the city of San Jose, CA, 10th largest city in the U.S.
Presentation at the 2007 National Fire Protection Association World Fire Safety Conference "High Rise Buildings and Large Fires - Structural loads & thermal strain - What can happen"
"We will find that the government investigations into building collapse [at the World Trade Center] must consider controlled demolition as far more probable since fire effects collapse could never be duplicated. ...
- The concentric nearly freefall speed exhibited by each building was identical to most controlled demolitions.
- The aircraft impact and fire severity effects were magnified in the NIST reports.
- Collapse of WTC 1, 2 & 7 were not caused by fire effects. ...
The NIST fire results proved that the fire loading in WTC was consistent with all building code assumptions and that the steel frame temperatures were not even close to the critical temperature of steel 593 degree Centigrade. Analysis also showed that the fire in WTC 2 [South Tower] was almost under control and running out of fuel when it suddenly and totally failed in less than one hour. Analysis further shows that the fire was oxygen starved hence not nearly at hot as other high rise fires. The official reports and conclusions had many technical distortions and obfuscations of the excellent research input in arriving at a flawed, politically driven conclusion of building performance."
Editor's note: WTC Building 7 was 610 feet tall, 47 stories. It would have been the tallest building in 33 states. Although it was not hit by an airplane, it completely collapsed into a pile of rubble in less than 7 seconds at 5:20 p.m. on 9/11, seven hours after the collapses of the Twin Towers. However, no mention of its collapse appears in the 9/11 Commission's "full and complete account of the circumstances surrounding the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks." Watch the collapse video here. And six years after 9/11, the Federal government has yet to publish its promised final report that explains the cause of its collapse.
Presentation to the Northern California - Nevada Chapter, Society of Fire Protection Engineers 4/21/06: "A steel frame building with the mass of WTC 1 or 2 could have partial structural collapse after aircraft impact only if the heat output was at least 100 times the heat release rate of the accountable fuel load and ventilation conditions in the south tower.
This fire would need to involve every floor from impact floor to the roof with most windows broken and providing plenty of oxygen as in the Edificio Windsor fire in Madrid.
This most severe fire would need to burn for at least 12 hours before loss of strength from heat; and thermal strains from expansion and contraction caused partial collapse."
The Northern California - Nevada Society of Fire Protection Engineers
Statement in support of Architects and Engineers petition:
"I have collaborated with a research chemical engineer (P.E. in CA also) and he has worked with NIST reports that positively show that the jet fuel contributed very little to the duration of the fires and that in fact all the fires were very weak in historical perspective. They were oxygen starved as evidenced by the black smoke. If you dig deeper into the NIST reports they confirm that steel temperatures were low.
I presented for continuing education credits at the NFPA World Safety Conference in Boston, MA 6/4/2007. My presentation showed that all three WTC "collapses" have no resemblance to any previous high rise fire, full scale fire tests in the UK involving much higher steel temperatures, or computer simulations using finite element analysis.
