Interesting Article

[E40FDNYL35]

August 31, 2003 -- The fiery hell that raged inside the World Trade Center on 9/11 has been recreated in a test that highlights how today's office space can be dangerously flammable, as these dramatic pictures show.
Using a cubicle based on the offices of insurance firm Marsh & McLennan - a north tower tenant that lost 295 employees - federal fire experts conclude it was more likely the heat of burning office materials brought down the tower, rather than jet-fuel-fed flames.
This test, conducted by National Institute of Standards and Technology last month, showed the fuel from the plane that crashed into the tower burned out quickly - but the fire it created grew in intensity by up to another 300 degrees as it consumed office products and structures.
The computers, cubicle walls, furniture, files and paper - recreated on detailed information supplied by the insurance company on the exact materials used in their offices - blazed at temperatures that reached 1,200 degrees, the NIST test found.
The test fire burned for 33 minutes before the 386 pounds of material were consumed and reduced mostly to ash and gases.

[lutan1]

Whilst all this is interesting, will we see a change in standards in the design and construction of furniture and other related stuff?

Maybe, maybe not- but even if we did, there's still millions and millions of homes and busineses that will have the old stuff in place for many years to come...

[MFDExplorer51]

That is a very interesting article. I have always wondered how much of a fuel package there really is in office buildings and such.

[RalphSafety]

Office Furniture

The article is interesting, offices have lots of combustibles, mostly made of wood and plastic, and with the common "open concept" design, no compartmentalization, a fire could really get rolling if a short period of time.
A fews things to remember about the WTC:

1--The sprinkler systems were immediately rendered inoperative by the impact of the planes, so there was nothing to control the fire.

2--While the fuel burned up quickly, it would have immediately ignited everything combustible, rather than a typical fire which starts in one place, grows in intensity, and then spreads from one cubicle to the next.

3--The impact also likely opened breaches in the floor slabs, especially if it ripped out conduits and pipes, allowing fire spread between the floors