David Evans, Project Leade

Building and Fire Research Labo

National Institute of Standards and Tec

U.S. Department of Commerce

dave.evans@nist.gov

Federal Building and Fire Safety Inves

of the World Trade Center Disast

Investigation of Active Fire Protectiv

Project 4

December 2, 2003
OUTLINE OUTLINE

• Objective and Scope• Areas of Focus• Project Organization• Engineering Teams• Project Tasks• WTC Buildings 1, 2, and 7 Fire Histor• 9/11 Fire Alarm History (Building 7)
NIST is investigating the design, capabilitie

performance of the installed active fire-protin WTC 1, 2, and 7 and their role in fire conresponse, and fate of occupants and respo

Objective ObjectiveScope

Three systems are being investigated: the system, including the fire standpipes and phoses; fire alarm system; and the smoke msystems. 
Areas of Focus Areas of Focus

• What were the performance limitations of the 

sprinkler systems after rupture of the water s

• What was the capacity of the sprinkler syste

to retard fire spread?

• What, if any, are the default alarm signals or 

a damaged WTC 1 and 2 system?

• Was the manual smoke purging system use
Organization of Project 4 Organization of Project 4

• NIST investigators leading three groups 

protection system contract experts.

• The engineering groups are organized by 

protection system specialty.

• Each group is examining the one type of 

system in all three WTC buildings.
Expert Contractors Expert Contractors

• Sprinklers, Standpipes and Pre-connected H

Hughes Associates, Inc. of Baltimore, MD

• Fire Alarms

Rolf Jensen and Associates, Inc. of Fairfax, 

• Smoke Management

Hughes Associates, Inc. of Baltimore, MD
Sprinklers, Standpipes and Pre Sprinklers, Standpipes and Pre

-co

co

Hoses 

- Tasks

• Document the design and installation• Document the design and capacity of the wa

including provisions for redundancy

• Identify differences in the designs between W• Document the normal operation and effect o

functional systems for fire control

• Assess the probable performance of the sys

September 11, 2001
Fire Alarms Fire Alarms - Tasks

• Document the design and installation of t• Document the normal expected operatio

the fully functional systems, including proredundancy

• Document modifications made to fire ala

WTC 1 and 2 after the 1993 bombing

• Assess the probable performance of the 

September 11, 2001
Smoke Management Smoke Management 

- Tasks

• Document the design and installation of the • Describe the normal operation in fire emerge• Assess the probable performance of the sys

September 11, 2001
• NIST gathered information on significant fires in t

occupancy and prior to 9-11-01

• The extensive records of fire incidents kept in the 

the PANYNJ were lost

• Information was collected from FDNY [434 Burea

Fire Reports (1970-2001) and 87 Bureau of Fire Records (1977-2001)]

• There were 12 significant fires defined by NIST a

multiple sprinklers or equivalent in addition to the fire starting on floor 11 of WTC 1 and 1993 parkinbombing

Fire History of WTC Buildings 1, 2 

Fire History of WTC Buildings 1, 2 
3 standpipe Ince

lines

5/19/75 2 Core Area on floor 32

Multiple, # not Sus

listed

Construction shanties on 

floor 3

5/20/88 7

Mec

fa

3/22/93 2 Fan motor room on floor 108 2 heads

Duct work over grill in 2 heads Non

restaurant on floor 107

4/12/77 2

11/10/99 1 Computer room on floor 104 3 heads Non

Dumpster fire on floor 106, 2 heads Non

compactor room on floor 107

6/7/86 1

11/1/85 1 Storage closet on B-4 level 3 heads Sus

Garbage dumpster in service 2 heads Sus

elevator lobby on floor 43

9/10/85 1

Office space on mezzanine 2 heads Ince

level (Floor 2)

1/27/85 1

12/23/83 1 2 dumpsters on B-4 level 2 heads Sus

9/23/77 1 Dumpster on B-4 level 2 heads Not c

9/9/77 1 B-6 level storage room 2 heads Non

Date Bldg # Fire Location # Sprinklers Caus

12 Significant Fires in WTC 1, 2, an

12 Significant Fires in WTC 1, 2, an
• WTC Building 7 fire alarm system was monit

Protective Systems, Inc. outside of the WTC 

• The fire alarm record was reviewed to find in

the fire conditions in building 7 on 9/11/01

• Although a great amount of information is co

detectors throughout a building and stored bsystem, typically, and in this case, no specifiinformation is sent out of the building

Fire Alarm Information from Buildin

Fire Alarm Information from Buildin
WTC Building 7 Fire Alarm System WTC Building 7 Fire Alarm System 

Central Station Monitoring Record Central Station Monitoring Record 

09/11/01 10:00:52 1 1510 CO TO CLASS 09/11/01 06:47:43 COMMENT: RIC: WIL09/11/01 06:47:03 RIC 4210 PLACE ON 09/11/01 06:47:03 COMMENT: 091101 6409/11/01 06:47:02 COMMENT: TEST: ALL09/11/01 06:05:01 RP 20 TIMER TEST