- Author
- Averill, J. D. | Mileti, D. | Peacock, R. D. | Kuligowski, E. D. | Groner, N. | Proulx, G. | Reneke, P. A. | Nelson, H.
- Title
- Federal Investigation of the Evacuation of the Wrold Trade Center on September 11, 2001.
- Coporate
- National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD Colorado Univ., Boulder John Jay College, New York City, NY National Research Council of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario
- Book or Conf
- Human Behavior in Fire. International Symposium, 4th. Proceedings. July 13-15, 2009, Interscience Communications Ltd., London, England, Cambridge, UK, 7-14 p., 2009
- Keywords
- human behavior | World Trade Center | evacuation | evacuation time | high rise buildings | human response | fire investigations | legislation | disasters | methodology | occupants | fire models | stairwells | impact | peoplemovement | egress | fire fighters | time | time estimation
- Identifiers
- scope of the US Federal investigation; telephone interviews; face-to-face interviews; focus group interviews; World Trade Center (110-story-high) Towers, Manhattan, New York, September 11, 2001; occupant characteristics; evacuation initiation delay; normalized stairwell evacuation time; occupant speeds in the stairs; impact of wider stairwell on stairwell evacuation time; aids and constraints to evacuation
- Abstract
- The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) announced its building and fire safety investigation of the World Trade Center (WTC) disaster on August 21, 2002. The NIST WTC Investigation was conducted under the authority of the National Construction Safety Team Act (Public Law [P.L.] 107 231). The goals of the WTC Investigation were to: (1) investigate the building construction, the materials used, and the technical conditions that contributed to the outcome of the WTC disaster (2) serve as the basis for: ° Improvements in the way buildings are designed, constructed, maintained, and used; ° Improved tools and guidance for industry and safety officials; ° Recommended revisions to current codes, standards, and practices and ° Improved public safety. The objectives of the NIST-led Investigation1 of the WTC disaster were to: (1) determine why and how WTC 1 and WTC 2 collapsed following the initial impacts of the aircraft; (2) determine why the injuries and fatalities were so high or low depending on location, including all technical aspects of fire protection, occupant behavior, evacuation, and emergency response, (3) determine what procedures and practices were used in the design, construction, operation, and maintenance of WTC 1 and 2, and (4) identify, as specifically as possible, areas in current building and fire codes, standards, and practices that warrant revision. The Investigation included eight interdependent projects that, in combination, met the objectives. A detailed description of each of these eight projects is available at http://wtc.nist.gov.