From The 9/11 Article Series – Article #4: WTC7 Collapse
On September 11, 2001 WTC Building 7 collapsed into its own footprint around 5:20 PM even though, unlike the Twin Towers, no commercial jet crashed into it.
The National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) was tasked by the U.S. Congress to determine what caused the collapse of WTC 7. In August 2008, after investigating for almost seven years, NIST finally announced its findings. At the very beginning of the presentation Dr. Sivaraj Shyam-Sunder, the lead investigator for NIST, stoically declared, “We did not find any evidence that explosives were used in the collapse of building seven.”
He went on to say:
“We ran down detailed computer simulations of blasts – blast scenarios what you see in the – capable of crippling a column. The size of blast could have produced an incredibly loud sound that was not recorded on videos of the collapsed building nor reported by the witnesses.”
https://www.c-span.org/program/news-conference/investigation-of-world-trade-center-building-7/193741
Regarding his claim about the lack of witnesses who heard explosions Shyam-Sunder is demonstrably wrong. On August 12, 2005 the New York Times published voluminous oral histories from firefighters, paramedics, and emergency medical technicians after a court of appeals forced New York City to release the records it was withholding. Additionally many other credible witnesses have come forward to describe explosions they heard just before WTC7 collapsed. For example, Craig Bartmer, former NYPD officer is on record stating: “All of a sudden…I looked up, and… the thing started peeling in on itself…. I started running…and the whole time you’re hearing “thume, thume, thume, thume, thume ” I think I know an explosion when I hear it.”
https://www.ae911truth.org/evidence/videos/video/12-wtc-7-sound-evidence-for-explosions 1:25 – 1:57 Minutes (Emphasis added.)
Daryl a medical student interviewed that evening said:
“We were watching the building actually because it was on fire
the bottom floors of the building were on fire and you know we heard this sound that sounded like a clap of thunder. We turned around we were shocked to see that the building was uh uh well it looked like there was a shock wave ripping through the building and the windows all uh busted out.”
Then went on to say:
“It was horrifying then uh you know about a second later the bottom floor caved out and uh the building followed after that.
We saw the building crash down all the way to the ground. We were in shock.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47ZNFQ1ReXs&t=1265s 21:32 – 22:16 Minutes
Then there is this account from Kevin McPadden former Air Force medic who was a first responder:
“You heard explosions like BA-BOOOOOM! It has like a distinct sound it’s not like when compression like boom
boom boom boom boom like floors that were dropping and collapsing. This was BA-BOOOOOM and like you felt a rumble in the ground like almost like you wanted to grab on to the something. That to me I knew that was an explosion there was no doubt in my mind.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47ZNFQ1ReXs&t=1265s 22:16 – 22:46 Minutes (Emphasis added.)
Tom Sullivan Demolition Expert Licensed by NYFD to handle explosives says:
“I knew from day one that this was a controlled event. …
“We were told by the NIST report that fire [in WTC7] caused one column to fail and from that point we had a global collapse of the building. I don’t see how this could actually happen in real life.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5IgqJXyLbg
Paramilitary at Building 7?
One of the most astounding accounts regarding the cacophony on that hectic day comes from FDNY Capt. Richard Patterson detailing how he and a fire chief were denied entry to WTC7 by paramilitary men! According to Patterson this happened about a half hour after WTC1 collapsed.
In his own words:
“Chief Fox said to me, ‘Richie, I got a 40-story building going here to beat the band. I got nobody to put it out with.’”
Patterson continues with: “That was the moment when the, construction worker, the fellow in the brand-new hard hat, brand-new Corduroy, jacket, brand-new gloves, brand-new dungarees, brand-new boots, carrying a coil of wire over his shoulder, he paused momentarily and mentioned, ‘That building will be coming down about 5:00,’ and then he continued on.”
https://vimeo.com/1174618538?fl=pl&fe=vl
53:41 – 54:15 Minutes
Now for the bombshell:
“I said to my three guys, ‘Stand by here a minute.’ And now, Chief Fox and I walked over toward the entrance of seven, and there were two, para-militarily clad men, sort of, khaki uniform as it were. Uh, no insignia of any kind, sunglasses, ballistic vests of different, pockets and things. And of course, they each had the black rifle. Uh, and so when Chief Fox and I attempted to make our way into seven, they closed ranks shoulder to shoulder and told us, ‘This building is secure.’”
The astonished captain exclaimed:
“That’s the first time in, in my, first and only time before or since, a total of 36 years in this business, counting the, the years before I came on the FDNY, that I’ve been denied access, you know, while in, while in firefighting gear from a building that’s on fire.”
https://vimeo.com/1174618538?fl=pl&fe=vl
55:07 – 56:17 Minutes
FULL STOP!!
An FDNY Captain claims that he and a fire chief were informed hours before the event that WTC7 would collapse. He was even told what time the collapse would occur. WTC7 collapsed at 5:20 PM DST. Patterson went on to note it was the only time in his career he was denied entrance to a burning building while clad in firefighting gear.
First responder Patrick Dillon provided a similar account of armed paramilitary personnel ordering him to exit WTC7.
According to Dillon while he inside the WTC7 lobby Battalion Chiefs come in through the revolving doors. Dillon was not able to identify them because his attention was drawn to two men behind them clad in black ski masks armed with what he identified as Uzis.
In his own words:
“I don’t know what they were or who they were but the Battalion Chiefs started yelling at us ordering us to get out of this building get out of this building, they’re going to pull the building.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wk3FDeVuDWo 1:28 – 2:23 Minutes
In another interview Dillon explained the explosions he heard followed by the collapse of WTC 7.
“I remember feeling like freight trains underneath the Earth shaking the Earth, even shaking me. That’s when um we all saw uh building seven crumple in the middle like uh way up at the top it buckled, it buckled and then dropped.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47ZNFQ1ReXs&t=1265s 23:25 – 23:38 Minutes
While the WTC7 building was burning but before it collapsed Richard Rotanz, Deputy Director of New York’s Office of Emergency Management, along with a crew entered the building to assess the damage. To his total amazement they discovered an elevator car that was literally blown out of its shaft and laying some distance down the hall!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47ZNFQ1ReXs&t=1265s
Many qualified witnesses reported explosions inside WTC 7. In its report the NIST resolutely ignored every single one of them.
– National Security Correspondent Mark Adams