Seven World Trade Center

I was nodding off in front of the television the other night when the BBC documentary "The Third Tower" came on, all about the so-called conspiracy theories re what made this building drop in its footprint on 9/11. I had to run out to the shed to see if the project decal was still on my toolbox nearly thirty years later. Sure enough! Seven World Trade Center it says across the top. Silverstein Tishman Frankel Steel Structures it says across the bottom. In between is an architect's rendering of the completed tower. My God, I've touched history with my own two hands! And controversial history, apparently.

The steel for WTC 7 came out of the Frankel fab shop in Milton. I did some time there in the mid eighties, first as a fitter and then as an inspector. Overall it wasn't a bad gig. The plant manager was a guy the lads had nick-named Bunglaow Bill, which we thought a witty allusion to the fact that he knew absolutely nothing about steel fabrication or high-rise construction. It was rumoured he got his job because he was a golfing buddy of the company president and had the good judgement to let the president win regularly. I suppose sucking up to the boss is still an important part of making it up the managerial ladder, but back in the day it was often the only qualification required.

The WTC 7 job was memorable because it was a steel-fitter's nightmare. Part of the building sat astride a power station that couldn't be disturbed. The load-bearing columns had to work around this, which resulted in all sorts of funky angles in the connector plates. There was many a night of heavy-duty head-scratching to endure as that job was going through the shop.

I'm bemused by the rancour that these so-called conspiracy theories attract. When you watch the show  the only thing that is beyond dispute is that the building fell into it's footprint. After that, I think it's the official story that should draw derision, not the conspiracy theories. I'm sure that the farther away you are from ever having worked with steel the easier it is to believe the building just fell down, but just for fun ask any steel-fitter or iron-worker what they think. It takes a LOT of heat to compromise a steel beam, and it'll turn rubbery long before that happens. Nothing I saw in the documentary ever got rubbery - just poof, straight down. The structural columns in a building like this can weigh four or five tons apiece. Sorry folks, this stuff doesn't just fall over because there was a fire on the other side of the building for a few hours.

So for sure there are some mysteries to be solved here, but the think tank here at Falling Downs has come up with a plan; give Larry Silverstein a ride on the old waterboard. Maybe treat Rudy Giuliani to a dunk too, just to see if his memories match Larry's. Don't knock waterboarding. It got us Osama, after all. It can get us to the bottom of this mystery too.