Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Inside the Twin Towers - Discovery Channel Special - Live Thread
Discovery Channel ^ | 9/3/2006 | n/a

Posted on 09/03/2006 5:19:29 PM PDT by Pyro7480

The image of featureless steel structures catastrophically crumbling into a fatal dust storm was indelibly imprinted on the minds of millions of people around the world. Yet the enormous plumes of smoke, the soaring balls of fire and the sheer scale of the buildings masked the human face of the tragedy. For the first time, through drama supported by interviews and archival footage, TV audiences will be invited to venture inside the towers to follow the stories of more than a dozen individuals whose daily routine is swept aside by events that changed the world forever.

Based on the testimonies of survivors, victims’ families, emergency workers and city officials, Inside the Twin Towers opens with a glimpse of the everyday world of work and office life. It is easy to relate to Melanie de Vere, the 30-year-old British publishing executive helping to host a conference in the North Tower, and also with Stanley Praimnath, a banker devoted to his religion and family. We meet Hong Zhu, the broker who was caught up in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, and Jan Demczur, the window cleaner who knows so many faces throughout the buildings.

In an instant, fate decrees who will have the opportunity to escape and who will not. Some have the option of being able to leave, but not all have the strength to do what is required to survive. On Sept. 11, 2001, American Airlines Flight 11 struck the North Tower at 8:46 a.m. and in the following 17 minutes, Melanie, Hong and Jan find that they are among the thousands of people suddenly confronted by confusion and uncertainty. While they search for answers, individuals such as construction manager Frank De Martini are fighting to rescue those trapped by tons of debris. Frank, supported by his colleagues Pablo and Mak, are pushing their way up into the wreckage of the dying building, rolling back the boundary between life and death.

Outside the North Tower, New York officials, supported by the Port Authority, are mobilizing the largest rescue operation in the city's history. Well over 1,000 emergency staff are being deployed, an organized evacuation has begun, and the critical decision that the fire cannot be fought has been made. Most of the North Tower’s elevators have stopped working and any firefighter attempting to reach the seat of the blaze will take more than an hour to climb up to the 91st floor. It is at this level that the three emergency stairwells have been severed by the direct force of the remnants of the aircraft. Rescuers will not be able to climb any farther – nor will anybody be able to descend from the higher floors. At least 1,300 people are trapped on the 19 floors above and immediately below the point of collision. Then the second tower is hit.

Stuck in elevators, confronted by dark and smoky exit routes, or hemmed in by burning wreckage, office workers in both towers were beyond the immediate help of the outside world. Individuals were forced to rely on their own resources in making the best of the options available to them. In buildings 110 stories tall, where fires burning at 1,300 degrees Centigrade were melting the steel floor supports, it was a perilous journey down to the ground. Not everybody would escape before the towers collapsed.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: 911; discovery; discoverychannel; fifthanniversary; insidewtc; islam; islamist; muslim; muslims; twintowers; worldtradecenter; wtc
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 141-143 next last
To: patriot_wes
...Yea right! ...<

Didn't have to melt the steel for it to fail.

The steel in the floor trusses softened enough for them to begin to collapse.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/defense/1227842.html?page=4&c=y

41 posted on 09/03/2006 6:36:54 PM PDT by FReepaholic (This tagline could indicate global warming.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 34 | View Replies]

To: SleekMaid

#&%$ing terrorist scum. They all need to die. If that was his baby, then a daddy was lost.


42 posted on 09/03/2006 6:36:56 PM PDT by Pyro7480 ("Love is the fusion of two souls in one in order to bring about mutual perfection." -S. Terese Andes)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 37 | View Replies]

To: WoodstockCat

She worked in the Towers, and left before 9/11.


43 posted on 09/03/2006 6:37:34 PM PDT by Pyro7480 ("Love is the fusion of two souls in one in order to bring about mutual perfection." -S. Terese Andes)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 39 | View Replies]

To: Doc91678

wtc.nist has the facts and is an exhaustive report that doesn't deal in hyperbole and wishes.
I recommend it to everyone for reading and understanding the impact, the fuel factor, how much fuel burned outside the building, the path of the fires after the impact.


44 posted on 09/03/2006 6:39:41 PM PDT by WoodstockCat (General Honore: "The storm gets a vote... We're not stuck on stupid.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 40 | View Replies]

To: WoodstockCat
I left a few months before 9/11 to start my own business.

Had survivors guilt while watching the towers fall from my apartment balcony.

45 posted on 09/03/2006 6:44:27 PM PDT by SleekMaid
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 39 | View Replies]

To: FReepaholic

It's worth noting that besides the weakening of the steel at high temperatures, that the steel also expands significantly. This places huge undesigned-for stresses at the connections (like where beams tie into columns). You get a failure going on one beam, weight gets transferred to the adjacent beams, they fail, etc, and the whole thing comes down.


46 posted on 09/03/2006 6:44:46 PM PDT by FreedomPoster (Guns themselves are fairly robust; their chief enemies are rust and politicians) (NRA)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 41 | View Replies]

To: Pyro7480
F%$#(*g Muslims. I'm watching now.

Everyone needs to be reminded often.

Religion of Peace, my @$$.

ML/NJ

47 posted on 09/03/2006 6:44:59 PM PDT by ml/nj
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Pyro7480
#&%$ing terrorist scum. They all need to die. If that was his baby, then a daddy was lost.>>>>

His daughter Lisa worked at AON with him. She lived.

Cant imagine her pain.

48 posted on 09/03/2006 6:46:18 PM PDT by SleekMaid
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 42 | View Replies]

To: SleekMaid
AON Corporation
49 posted on 09/03/2006 6:48:26 PM PDT by Pyro7480 ("Love is the fusion of two souls in one in order to bring about mutual perfection." -S. Terese Andes)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 48 | View Replies]

Comment #50 Removed by Moderator

To: patriot_wes

So are you one of the believers in the conspiracy theories???


51 posted on 09/03/2006 6:50:05 PM PDT by Pyro7480 ("Love is the fusion of two souls in one in order to bring about mutual perfection." -S. Terese Andes)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 50 | View Replies]

To: patriot_wes
Otherwise, even if the temperature of the fire had been as great as 1,000 degrees C, which it was not, the collapse would have involved gradual and asymmetrical sagging and buckling, not the complete, total and abrupt destruction (from the top down) that was actually observed.

You have heard of weight, right? It wasn't just steel up there.

52 posted on 09/03/2006 6:51:44 PM PDT by Pyro7480 ("Love is the fusion of two souls in one in order to bring about mutual perfection." -S. Terese Andes)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 50 | View Replies]

To: patriot_wes

take your "controlled demolition" crap back to DU you scum...


53 posted on 09/03/2006 6:52:00 PM PDT by WoodstockCat (General Honore: "The storm gets a vote... We're not stuck on stupid.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 50 | View Replies]

To: bannie
I saw that documentary. It was filmed by two French guys shadowing a engine company. Very vivid and very graphic. When it first aired in 2002, it was like watching the whole thing live again. Watching the scenes in the lobby of one of the towers where a NYFD chaplain was wandering around praying quietly, while bodies thumped on the sidewalk outside, and the company lieutenant tried to establish a plan, was shocking to the core. It was the chaplain that really struck me..
54 posted on 09/03/2006 6:57:21 PM PDT by cardinal4 (America, despite the usual suspects, stands firmly with Israel..)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: cardinal4

those thump and thuds every minute are absolutely chilling.


55 posted on 09/03/2006 6:58:36 PM PDT by WoodstockCat (General Honore: "The storm gets a vote... We're not stuck on stupid.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 54 | View Replies]

To: WoodstockCat

Im getting angry just watching. And we have a DU troll on here to boot..


56 posted on 09/03/2006 7:00:22 PM PDT by cardinal4 (America, despite the usual suspects, stands firmly with Israel..)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 55 | View Replies]

To: cardinal4

He's been on here since '99, so in the years since, he has drunk the Kool-Aid.


57 posted on 09/03/2006 7:01:00 PM PDT by Pyro7480 ("Love is the fusion of two souls in one in order to bring about mutual perfection." -S. Terese Andes)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 56 | View Replies]

To: WoodstockCat
This show is hard to watch.

Those poor firefighters had to walk up carrying hundreds of pounds of gear.

They would have been exhausted by the time they got to the fire. Too tired to fight it.

Several years ago, I wrote to the NYC Fire Commissioner suggesting that the fire department pre-position fire fighting equipment every 10 or 15 floors in high-rise buildings.

They could then send "quick-response" teams that were'nt laden with heavy gear, up to the pre-positioned equipement in order to fight the fire.

58 posted on 09/03/2006 7:01:50 PM PDT by FReepaholic (This tagline could indicate global warming.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 53 | View Replies]

To: patriot_wes

It has been well documented how damage to the flimsily bolted floor supports weakened them enough to fail. insufficient fire protection that had been just sprayed on. nothing had to melt since steel loses most of its strength well before that temperature.


59 posted on 09/03/2006 7:02:33 PM PDT by omega4179 (What have you done to help moderate muslims bring Islam into the 9th century?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 55 | View Replies]

To: All
This has been posted before, but I think it should be heard daily.

Before you click this link, know that you will witness the death of Kevin Cosgrove and 3 others in real time.

The MSM keeps asking, "is it too soon for a movie, is it too soon to relive that terrible day?" Hell yeah it's too soon, it is too soon for us to not be still angry, it is too soon for us not to still be demanding revenge!

The truth about 9/11 is that 3,000 Americans died, many begging for their lives, in more fear than anybody should ever have to live through, and they died very slow, horrible deaths.

http://www.nothingtoxic.com/media/1153567378/Chilling_911_Call_From_the_World_Trade_Center

60 posted on 09/03/2006 7:03:43 PM PDT by txroadkill
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 141-143 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson