Only Demolition and Severe Earthquakes Have Leveled Skyscrapers

Steel-frame high-rises have been in use for over a century.

• No steel-frame high-rise has ever collapsed due to fire.

• Other skyscrapers have been ravaged by severe fires. Examples include:
  • One Meridian Plaza fire blazed for 18 hours, gutting 8 floors.
  • First Interstate Bank Building fire burned for 3-1/2 hours, gutting 4 floors.
  Both fires exhibited:
  • Large emergent flames
  • Extensive window breakage
  • Blazes filling multiple entire floors
  These fires were much worse than those in the Twin Towers and Building 7.
  Neither fire significantly damaged vertical steel columns.
• Outside demolition, total collapses of steel buildings are extremely rare, even in the event of severe earthquakes.