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9
HEROISM AND
HORROR
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9.1 PREPAREDNESS AS OF SEPTEMBER 11
Emergency response is a product of preparedness. On the morning of Septem-
ber 11, 2001, the last best hope for the community of people working in or
visiting the World Trade Center rested not with national policymakers but with
private firms and local public servants, especially the first responders: fire, police,
emergency medical service, and building safety professionals.
Building Preparedness
The World Trade Center.
The World Trade Center (WTC) complex was
built for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Construction began
in 1966, and tenants began to occupy its space in 1970.The Twin Towers came
to occupy a unique and symbolic place in the culture of New York City and
America.
The WTC actually consisted of seven buildings, including one hotel, spread
across 16 acres of land.The buildings were connected by an underground mall
(the concourse).The Twin Towers (1 WTC, or the North Tower, and 2 WTC,
or the South Tower) were the signature structures, containing 10.4 million
square feet of office space. Both towers had 110 stories, were about 1,350 feet
high, and were square; each wall measured 208 feet in length. On any given
workday, up to 50,000 office workers occupied the towers, and 40,000 people
passed through the complex.
1
Each tower contained three central stairwells, which ran essentially from top
to bottom, and 99 elevators. Generally, elevators originating in the lobby ran
to "sky lobbies" on higher floors, where additional elevators carried passengers
to the tops of the buildings.
2
Stairwells A and C ran from the 110th floor to the raised mezzanine level
of the lobby. Stairwell B ran from the 107th floor to level B6, six floors below
ground, and was accessible from the West Street lobby level, which was one
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