Fall and Rise: The Story of 9/11: A gripping biography of triumph over tragedy

by Mitchell Zuckoff

Yet despite the damage, despite the death and destruction, in the immediate aftermath of the assault, the North Tower still stood. It absorbed the unthinkable blow, bending and swaying but not breaking. Even with its relatively spindly design and sparing use of steel, the tower had what engineers call “reserve capacity” that allowed it to support a far greater load than its own weight plus the weight of people and furnishings. When Flight 11 severed more than forty exterior and core support columns, the building instantly and automatically redistributed the load to undamaged neighboring columns. That kept the North Tower upright and prevented the immediate deaths of survivors in and above the impact zone, as well as more than seventy-five hundred men and women on lower floors who streamed toward undamaged stairwells to try to escape. With its load redistributed, the tower could have remained standing indefinitely, potentially allowing rescue workers to reach everyone who survived the initial damage. If not for the fires, that is.