After the planes hit the WTC, why didn’t we see any helicopters or other firefighting equipment used on the towers from the outside? Is there simply no way to put out a fire that high up, except by running hoses up the stairs and using the pre-existing plumbing?
Various fire officials have all but stated that a fire of that magnatude as high up on the buildings as it was, would be extremely difficult to extinguish. NYC does indeed have Fire equiptment that could do the job, but #1: The fire being mostly jet fuel, they would have had to load up with special chemicals to put it out. You cannot put out a jet fuel fire with water alone. (I’ve had some experience in this area) and #2: They really didn’t have a heck of a lot of time before the buildings collapsed to bring this stuff into play. It was pure chaos out there.
Let’s also remember that there were fire personel in the buildings, and I assume that they were also trying to do something about the blaze. They are all heroes, every one.
Ditto what catmandu2 said. From crash to collapse was around 2 to 2 1/2 hours. Also, before Tuesday, the largest number of NY firemen lost in one building collapse was 12; as of today, 300 firemen are unaccounted for. Even taking into consideration that dozens of voluneteer firemen from the East Coast are arriving to help out, the FDNY has to operating at less than normal efficiency.
Thanks. I wasn’t implying that the firemen weren’t doing their best. I was just curous about whether there is currently any firefighting equipment that can reach that height from the outside.