I listened to the morning news on National Public Radio this morning to hear the news of the Windsor Tower in Madrid. Had it collapsed in a mushroom cloud of concrete dust? Had metal beams been thrown tens of meters sideways as the tower fell to the ground in a few seconds after burning "like a candle" for nearly 24 hours?
How odd. There were no news reports about the Edificio Windsor near the Corte de Ingles (note the connections to Rio Tinto, who owns the land they stand on).
This was incredibly odd. If the building was still standing after burning like a torch for 24 hours, then something is very wrong with either our building techniques in the USA - or something is very wrong with the FEMA Building Performance Assessment Team study carried out by engineers with the American Society of Civil Engineers at the World Trade Center in 2001-2002.
If the building had fallen, well then the theory advanced by the BPAT, that fire can cause steel framed concrete building to fall into piles of rubble, would have been validated.
So, I listened. And I listened. Nothing. NPR was not interested in this event and what it had to say about 9/11.
I am corresponding with Dr. Gene Corley, team leader of the BPAT to see what he has to say about this fire.
What is very interesting about this fire is that it has resulted in exactly what I said should result in such an event. Even if some of the supporting trusses fail, the main central columns should remain, UNLESS cut by some other means (e.g. explosives) in the basement.
I suggest that you look at the excellent photos on this Madrid-based website:
http://www.elmundo.es/documentos/2005/02/windsor/index.html
Click on "entrar" and follow along by clicking on "siguente."
Photo: Here one sees the tower after many hours of burning. The central support columns and concrete center are still intact but some of the trusses from the upper floors have given away and allowed parts of the top ten floors to collapse. Note how differently this event has progressed compared to 9/11.
