“Almost 12 weeks after the terrorist atrocity at New York’s World Trade Center, there is at least one fire still burning in the rubble – it is the longest-burning structural fire in history.”
“Deputy Chief Charles Blaich of the New York City Fire Department would not predict when the last fire might be extinguished. But compared to the situation at the end of September, when aerial thermal images showed the whole of Ground Zero to be a hot spot, conditions today are much safer for the workers clearing the rubble.”
“This is in part due to the use of a special foaming agent called Pyrocool FEF [which] makes the water in the foam much “wetter” so that it flows over and coats surfaces.”
“The use of FEF foam began on 28 September, with thousands of gallons being pumped into the rubble. One target was the large Freon tanks that had served the WTC air-conditioning system and might have exploded. Blaich told New Scientist: “The foam also extinguished the fires in World Trade Center No 7, the wreckage of a 40-story office tower.””
Robert Tinsley of Pyrocool “says there are several reasons for the longevity of the fire: “First, this is not a typical fire by any means. The combustible debris is mixed with twisted steel in a mass that covers 17 acres, and may be 50 metres deep. This is the one all future fire scenes will be measured against.””
“The other reasons are human. For nearly three weeks, Tinsley says, city officials insisted that work at Ground Zero was a rescue operation, meaning it would have been inappropriate to flood the rubble with water. As a result, he says, “the fires had a 17-day head start when we arrived.””
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“One hundred days after the suicide attacks that brought down the twin towers of the World Trade Centre and killed nearly 3,000 people, the final fires have stopped burning at Ground Zero.”
“For months, acrid clouds of smoke from the site could be smelled several miles away in Brooklyn and upper Manhattan. The fires, fuelled by documents and office furniture, had been so strong they needed a near-constant jet of water sprayed on them.”
“”You couldn’t even begin to imagine how much water was pumped in there,” said Tom Manley, a firefighters’ union representative. “It was like you were creating a giant lake.””
“At times, the flames slowed the work of clearing the site. Flare-ups would occur from time to time as demolition and rescue crews exposed the debris to the air.”
“Clearing the site is expected to take another six to nine months, with work focussing on the seven floors of compacted rubble underground.”
“Small hot pockets continue to be discovered and a fire engine remains on standby at the site. Though the flames are out, the New York fire department still considers Ground Zero an active fire scene.”
Read more: Ground Zero’s fires still burning and Ground Zero stops burning, after 100 days
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